Unethical Offline Prospecting?

Had to chuckle a bit - did it become 'unethical' when it didn't work?

I think of ideas like this as 'parasite marketing". Why would a business want to deal with someone who begins by abusing a function of that business?

Of course there are better ways - cold calling and ads would be a start. Visiting the business - networking with local business groups, etc. I'm not an offline marketing expert but common sense would tell me to listen to a better "teacher".

Hi sunshne721,

That was an incredible bad idea.

I suggest that you ditch the marketing course and add that " well-known marketer" to your email block list. Don't let fools and idiots become your role model.

It isn't that it's unethical, it's that it's a terrible way to prospect.
I own a business with websites. If someone acts like a customer, at the beginning, to then switch to a sales presentation....I immediately say "No".

The "Let's anger the prospect then try to sell them" approach is silly.
And this is the exact type of technique that continues to get repeated in sales books, and in courses...by people that have never used it, and do not know how to prospect to sell the thing they are training you to sell.

I can promise you, the author of this course never even tried this approach once. It's the kind of thing that sounds inventive, but would fall flat on it's face if anyone ever tried it in real life.

I don't know how to say this without just coming out and saying it.

I wrote a book on Sales Prospecting, and one on Selling Advertising (which is what you are doing).

But the single best way I know to get the low hanging fruit in that business is to contact the people who are spending money on print ads already. If you have any local coupon books or a local newspaper, just see who's paying for print advertising. These people are buyers. They buy advertising from ad reps. And what you are selling is essentially advertising. Just call them and tell them you saw their ads and you have an idea that will make their advertising pay better. Then ask for the appointment.

I promise you, whoever sold you that course, never sold anything in their life, using the method you describe.

The "Pretend to be a prospect first..." idea is so inept that the fact that it may be considered "unethical" is almost immaterial.

.

A valuable lesson learned, always check, the value and authority of people flogging you something. Do some research and don't trust anybody without some real life references and backup. Shady marketing gives everybody a black mark

This is a prime example of a "con-man technique" typically promoted by someone who doesn't know
how to sell. Someone who doesn't know how to sell, can't teach you how to sell, either.

What they usually do is promote "one-size-fits-all" tricks and gimmicks, as a way to avoid the sales process.

As you've discovered, tricks and gimmicks don't work in the real world.

At some point, maybe you'll decide to stop wasting your time and money, and learn some real selling skills.

When you do a world of opportunities will open for you.

Ron

PS I wrote my post before I saw Claude's. Go back and read his again.
He's so "right on!" it made my teeth hurt...and that ain't easy.

PPS I've read Claude's book on selling advertising. If you had spent your money on Claude's book, I believe we would be talking about how well your completed project went and how much value you received from Claude's book. Think about it.

An extremely powerful way of connecting to potential leads, is simply by ordering a pizza to their address with a note on top / or inside. This of course, is only good for businesses that are perfect and seem like they would fit your services well! Even if you spent $100 on 10 pizza's, you'd only need to get one client paying you $100's or even $1000's monthly..

It's not as unethical as it is just plain stupid.
The thing I do is grab Verizon yellow pages and see whose advertising. You know these guys are spending money on ads. Approach them.
I'm more concerned that you didn't give us the guys name. I personally like to know who to stay away from.

That is not allowed on the forum.

just talk to them, get an email or something and talk to them

Nothing wrong with reaching out to a company through there online forum but if your doing it and "pretending " to be a customer thats completely idiotic and you killed your sales process before it even started. I contact companies through there website all the time but I don't pretend to be a customer I just write something compelling that gets them to respond and then I get there number and call them to close them.

What you should be doing is cold calling these people instead of hoping and praying for them to respond to you online. Get a good script, pick up the phone and call.

Definitely not a good idea to base your legitimate business on such scammy business tactics. I never do business with any company that employs such tactics, and I've seen a boatload of slimy approaches over the years.

And, if you did manage to catch a new customer using those types of tactics, they would more than likely end up being nightmare clients who would have no hesitation in screwing you over! Remember, like attracts like!

Are you sure the technique isn't to use the "Contact us" form to simply prospect..as you would send them an e-mail? I've seen this in a few books and it's not a bad technique...as long as you are up front with them.

Using their "Contact us form" just means that your e-mail won't end up in the spam filter. And contacting them isn't the same as pretending you are a potential buyer...leading them on.

It probably does actually say to pretend to be a customer. I've seen it advocated in some WSOs myself, maybe even on a thread or two on here. It's a terrible idea. Why would anyone do business with someone that starts the relationship off with a manipulative misrepresentation? It's just awful business. Honestly, I've seen so many shady things in WSOs over the years. Not much surprises me anymore.

Lets break this down a bit... for the most part, the strategy is not all that bad

Right off the bat... identifying those that are actually spending. This is something that is brought up here time and again.. an overall good strategy.

As already noted in the responses above.. here is where the strategy goes south... there is more here than meets the eye. I would without question fill out the form tho - read on to understand why.

Here is where things get interesting. I am all about success in the work that I do. One of the most important aspects of any campaign working is for the client to understand the work that is needed once a process is set into place. IF you get a response you have a client that understands this... I would then approach them via phone, walk in whatever, never to mention I used their form for further details. You know they are spending money.. and you know they are following through with their leads... both are good indicaters!

But what about the others.. the ones that do not respond? To be honest.. these are the ones that I would target. They have shown that they will invest.. that's good, but they are not following through... So you approach them as such... As a test, I filled out your online form.. you did not respond.. I can design a funnel that turns that request, into a phone call for your services... no online work would be needed on your end.. the potential customer would be educated and ready to purchase when they do contact you directly.. is this something you would be interested in?

I see nothing unethical at all.. what is "slimey" here is the approach. The rest of the process is very much common to some extent - replying back to the request is where it gets shady.

But the key factor is the fact you mention you tried with a "few" business' and only got one response. Those other business' that need the most help.

That's a garbage way of trying to land a client. Move on from that process.

Even though I have a choice to do this, I wouldn't. If I were in the situation of the business owner, I would be pissed! Come on, I was hoping for a client! LOL

Anyway, there are even better ways to do it. Has anybody ever heard of cold calling? You should try that

The unethical thing is the guy selling this crap for money.

I've had people do this to me before and it sucks. It's one reason not to have a contact form.

I've also had people leave me messages on my cell phone pretending to be prospects and then start pitching me. Finally one company I set an appointment with and no showed just to get my point across.

The other thing I don't like about it is they are sending money to Google each time you click an ad. It's costing them money for you to sell them. Now that sucks!

I wouldn't want to be treated like that. I think it falls outside of the "cost of doing business" equation.

i own a retail store.
A similar thing is when a rep stops by the store and pretends to be interested in buying something, just because they don't know how to start a sales approach.

They come in with a clip board and dressed nicely. But eventually, I ask "what's this?" and point to the clip board.

Another thing that humans do is...after I talk to them for a minute about their deal...they walk around the store...looking at vacuum cleaners saying things like "Oh, this is a nice one" and "Wow. this one is reasonably priced". They think that by making a a show of acting like thy are interested in buying something...that I'll be more likely to buy from them.

It's just a mild irritation, and a waste of time.

One day an old man came in the store and bought something for $2. He made a big deal out of the fact that he saw an ad on the local grocery store receipt, and that's what caused him to come in.
I knew what to expect. Of course, the next day his daughter (who sells the ads on the grocery store receipts) called to ask if I get any response from the last ad. (she was selling the next ad).

I said "No. Nobody has come in off the ad" (knowing she sent her dad in)
She said "Nobody at all? Nobody mentioned the ad?"
Me "No. nobody".

Truthfully the ad was a bust (except for her dad) but I decided right the that I'd never buy from her again.

A far better way would be to look at their website and see if there is a little something you can do for free, like add a Facebook like box for example.
You could then contact them, saying you have noticed the problem, here's a solution (you could point them to your youtube video telling them how to do it themselves) lets hope we can do business in the future.
Then market your other services. You have already established a good relationship with out scamming anyone

This is one terrible marketing course. It's so wrong in so many levels I mean I just can't believe that some people make money out of offering these type of "courses", which are utter non-sense.

You may want to reevaluate your subscription with this "well-known" marketer or better yet, sever all ties.