You might be a sleazy salesperson if...
...you make fun of your customers behind their back. Alot
...you don't just take advantage of an opportunity, you take advantage of a customer
...you don't keep private information private
...don't treat your customers with genuine respect
...cheat someone out of something
...view your prospect as being your opponent
...have a fake smile
...wear polyester ties
...wear a top that is two sizes too small (applies to men and women)
...or even one size too small
...you can't help out a colleague without expecting something in return
...your ego is bigger than your humility
...take anything of the customer's that isn't yours
...hit on your customers
...say "trust me"
...show too much leg
...act like a gangsta
...you line up with other salespeople, peering out the windows of your car dealership
...with binoculars
...eat in front of your customer, unless you're dining together
...wink a lot
...your perfume/cologne lingers two hours after you've left the room
...prematurely bring your sales manager into the conversation to "close the deal"
...tell a unabashed lie to your prospect
...don't do what you say you were going to do
...use colorful language in front of your prospects that don't use colorful language
...you call a customer "babe" or "baby" or "honey"
...say inappropriate things around children
...look anywhere in your customer's home that you shouldn't (if you sell in the home)
...chomp on gum while with a customer
...say "I gotta go take a dump" to a customer, unless that's how your customer talks
...don't play by the rules
...don't know the rules
...don't care that you don't know the rules
...wear too much jewelry
...have breath, clothes, or a body that smells like an ashtray or worse
...have too many buttons unbuttoned on your blouse or shirt
...stand around your store or showroom talking trash with other salespeople, especially when customers are present
...answer your cell phone when with a prospect
...itch yourself where you shouldn't
...for too long
...you think know the world evolves around you
What salespeople do you know that are on the sleazy side? What else should be on the list that I'm missing?
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Skip Anderson is the Founder of Selling to Consumers Sales Training,
a B2C and retail sales training and management consulting company. Skip
is nuts about helping companies and individuals sell more.
Laughing too hard to actually add to this list. So not the Sales Club type of person.
Posted by: Sales Club | 08 May 2009 at 07:04 AM
Thanks Sales Club. I've known a few of these chaps in my day, perhaps you have, too.
Posted by: Skip | 08 May 2009 at 08:19 AM
As an experienced purchaser I have seen plenty of sleazy sales people. I must state for the record that most of members of the sales force were good guys.
Posted by: Martin Lindeskog | 08 May 2009 at 07:51 PM
Martin, I agree - most sales professionals are good guys (and women).
Skip
Posted by: Skip | 08 May 2009 at 11:00 PM
Problem is that it is the sleazy ones that keep the stereotype for the whole profession alive.
Posted by: Christian Maurer | 11 May 2009 at 12:57 PM
Christian, I know! So let's fight back and have non-sleaziness, high professionalism and highly effective selling become the new normal!
Posted by: Skip | 11 May 2009 at 05:21 PM
The article is awesome. I appreciate the author. Whether you want to improve your skills, time management or productivity, exceed goals or reduce stress, coaching will help you realize your potential and impact your professional and personal life in a positive.
Posted by: Sell by Caring | 07 August 2010 at 08:26 PM
I think this post is right! I assure you that if you have those attitude you cannot convince a costumer especially your post on
....cheat someone out of something
...view your prospect as being your opponent
...have a fake smile
this are the attitude of some agents.
Posted by: Blue Cross California | 01 December 2010 at 02:01 PM