Bamboozled
Last night I found myself immersed in a delightful chat with a woman at the grocery store. We sank deep into conversation-- peppered with compliments on my bag, my sense of style-- discussing shopping and careers in the cereal aisle like fast friends.
She asked about my job. I said I was a writer. She said she worked in design and helped women start their own businesses. We exchanged business cards. I had a lovely time.
And then came the pitch.
She slipped it in unobtrusively, in an upbeat, cheery tone. She worked for a well-known direct-sales company. (I won't name names.) She was building a local business development team of like-minded women (or something along those lines) and she'd love the chance to chat with me about her work.
Her presentation was flawless, but I felt bamboozled. I left the store shaking my head in awe, feeling like a sucker.
Chatting with my coworkers today, I've discovered that this was not an isolated incident. One coworker had a nearly identical experience at a clothing store a few years ago.
As a journalist with a background in business, I know how hard it can be to solicit comments or contacts, but I question this underhanded approach. It seems disingenuous not to state your aim from the start, prompting chatty, unsuspecting consumers to offer up their time or, worse yet, their contact information.
This is not a knock on the company in question; it's a giant in its field, and business is business. This is just an attempt by a baffled batter to draw a new pitch.
Comments
Elisabeth -
Because you've shared this experience with so many other women, there must be some sort of company directive instructing its sales folks how to pitch potential clients...which is scary.
If the company's products are exceedingly poor, only then could I imagine a sales pitch like this. Do they really need business that badly?
Posted by: Daniel | November 16, 2007 8:39 AM
I've been caught, too, and I've learned that the words "starting a business" are the red flag. The real question is, if they truly are "a giant in their field," why aren't they open with their businesses and products? They obviously have spent big bucks researching, developing, evolving, and teaching these sales techniques to their associates. The image and stigma associated with "them" would be much more positive if they would just invest those dollars in traditional retail promotion to the public. Instead they target candidates one at a time, like some Orwellian underground society. Who's really benefiting?
Posted by: Tami | November 16, 2007 1:28 PM
Actually, D., I've used this particular company's products and they're excellent. However, the company org model may be flawed, at least for the 21st century, in competition with so much available online. In the direct sales game, the sales people make money selling the goods, but they make the REAL money recruiting other people to sell the goods, b/c the recruiter gets a percentage of each recruitee's sales, w/o lifting a finger. Some folks who got involved a couple of decades ago, when more people(women) spent more time at home and direct sales was easier made a ton this way; it's a lot harder now.
I agree; the pitch is underhanded, and the similarity over time and space indicates that a) it's a company training module and b) it hasn't changed. That's not a good sign when everything else in the marketing/sales game, not to mention the economy, has changed so completely.
Posted by: Lisa | November 17, 2007 9:47 AM