Apparently sales and marketing are important for business. Having always considered myself to be terrible at them I invested in training. My issue is I don’t want to be pushy or slimy. I found someone who promoted their on-line sales and marketing course as a new specifically non slimy and sleazy way. I contemplated, investigated, and jumped in, keen to learn and full of hope. A few weeks in we were being told to offer ‘bribes’…can you hear my heart sinking? I contemplated some more. I don’t have to bribe, I can leave that and learn the other stuff. Phew. By the final module we were being told to use techniques which were creating a lot of resistance. Feeling vulnerable I reached out on the weekly coaching call, submitting a question asking if there was another way and what I could do to help my resistance. Well…I received a very public and humiliating ‘smack down’ (as it was described afterwards on the forum). Apparently if I am not willing to use established tried and tested psychological sales techniques I am cheating potential customers. Apparently it is a consumer society and we are kidding ourselves to sit using laptops and smart phones thinking it is anything other. Apparently my resistance is because I hate rich and successful people. Apparently I can use these techniques, or I can sit whining on the side lines with my business that will never make a difference or any money. The download of the call emailed out the next day came with a warning about the language which was used in the “height (and fun!) of the moment.” I was genuinely shaken and upset. After an exchange of emails I withdrew from the course and received a refund As it was a pre-submitted question I had no chance to respond. So – for the record. I didn't sign up for established tried and tested. I signed up for new and non-slimy. Who says we live in a consumer society? I don’t. Yes, I have a smart phone and a lap top. So what? I looked at my needs and picked a good match. I am not a deluded victim of consumerism because I own and enjoy them. They don’t define me or the world I live in. I do not hate or resent rich and successful people. I am grateful to be rich and successful in many ways. And Hello, I joined the course because I wanted to develop greater future success. I do not hate success! I was not wining. I asked for help on a coaching call. Why disrespect my business, my clients, and those who visit my website with such aggression? And here is why I don't care if I suck at sales and marketing.... What is perceived as tried and tested to someone else is slimy and sleazy to me. Yes, these things work well for many other people and their businesses, but they don’t work for me and mine. The sales and marketing lessons on this course were outdated and cynical. The internet has opened up a whole new world. I do not need to compromise myself (and my clients) to make short term profit increases. My business will grow in a way that is authentic to us at its own pace. This new world allows us to build meaningful relationships with people we may never meet in person. That amazes and inspires me. I want to nurture those relationships, not exploit them. Everyone is welcome here on my blog, even if you have no intention of ever hiring me. I would never speak to anyone the way I was spoken to. Everything is open for discussion, and when people reach out to me for help I always try to support, and signpost onward if I am unable to help. My name is Charlotte and I suck at traditional sales and marketing. I would love to serve you and I am not going to let sucking stop me from trying. With Love And Light Charlotte xx
15 Comments
Anthony
8/5/2013 04:37:26 am
Dear Charlotte,
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8/5/2013 05:18:50 am
Hi Charlotte,
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This made me smile as I was going through my e-mails this morning Charlotte. You DO NOT suck at sales and marketing - you are blazing the new path of authentic business I think! There's always room to grow and we should totally write a new sales and marketing book!
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Thank you for sharing your rant. Having been in TV advertising sales for 18 years (before leaping into my own business), I can tell you that bribes and scare tactics only ever pay off (financially) in the short term. False Gurus eventually become exposed.
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8/5/2013 04:14:11 pm
Hi Charlotte... as a former marketing and website girl, I can so understand and relate to your post. I always cringed at being "grouped" with them. What I know more than anything in today's world of marketing mayhem is showing up authentic to who you are and what works for you is what WORKS! As Leonie says in her Ebook... this is what worked for me, but it may not work this way for you. It's about finding what uniquely aligns with you and feels good, because what feels good... always works. :) XO-A
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9/5/2013 04:58:15 am
"My name is Charlotte and I suck at traditional sales and marketing. I would love to serve you and I am not going to let sucking stop me from trying." LOVE THAT. Great! Sorry to hear about the experience of a mentor/ teacher doing a bad job... *sigh* but I love your stand on it.
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Well said my lovely! I felt the same way in 2006 when I had pretty much decided to give up on my business because I just didn't want to do what I was being asked to do. Luckily I found a course (sadly no longer running) about finding your natural way to market and sell, with great emphasis on SERVING people, It saved my business. I suspect you will SHINE at sacred sales and beautiful sharing what you do (marketing)...and I bet there's other people on that course with a bad feeling in their tummy but trusting that person to be the 'expert'. Congratulations to you for getting out and being strong. xx
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11/5/2013 01:55:45 pm
Charlotte, I love your authenticity in the face of all the marketing hype that's out there. You're inspiring me to worry less about all that (it's so overwhelming and really...there's just too much) and just be me instead. :)
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11/5/2013 03:25:26 pm
Yeah. I suck at marketing as well, which explains why I sell two books a month on a good month. Unfortunately we have to if we have a product we're trying to sell and I'd love to find an answer that is something other than pushing myself on someone else.
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Hi Charlotte,
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