Worst Sales Call Ever There’s no doubt that at one time or another you’ve been subjected to a bad sales call. Or perhaps you brought it upon yourself by claiming that free set of Calloway Clubs and iPad from the timeshare people; whatever, be it car sales or insurance, I am sure it has happened along the way. Here’s mine. A cautionary tale. It begins with a telephone ring. To be honest, my desk phone rarely rings. In fact it rings so infrequently that sometimes I have to think for a minute what that sound is when it does ring. Oh right. The desk phone. My screen said it was a company I will call the XYZ company (while the initials are made up the company does go by three initials). A very undereducated person with poor language skills was “appointment setting” – using the old “our consultant – “Mr. John” --is in your area” line and asking if they could see me. Despite the fact that this women was doing a very poor job I suppose I felt sorry for her and said yes. I’m a soft touch I suppose on appointment setting and I believe in professional courtesy since I am in sales as well. (Although I am surprised at how many people don’t do this, yet their own livelihood and company depends on securing appointments and sales meetings but that’s another story.) Hours later a far more professional man calls me to confirm that indeed an appointment has been made. I confirm. Mr. John shows up promptly at 8 AM on the appointed day, an older man, who is selling consulting services, although he has a hard time describing just what these services are. He tells me he lost his job at a Fortune 500 company some years back and then his wife lost her job and he has found a new home with XYZ because they care about their people. He keeps telling me I’m an “important” man and he doesn’t want to waste my time – yet continues to do so. He mentions this twice during the sales call. And then he actually pulls out a contract, one page, and begins to fill it in as he talks. Finally he gets to the end of his pitch and asked if I will sign. The consulting will be for 3 days and if I’m not satisfied I don’t pay. If I am satisfied, it’s $1000. Now I’ve seen this contract trick before – and done better than this – at a car dealership. Then I actually did buy, specifically because I wanted the car, and the price was right. But this time I say, no, I will have to review this with my CFO and senior team. He seems astonished by this fact. And then, wait for it…….., he actually pulls out his mobile phone and calls his sales manager! Right at my table in my office. He explains that he’s here with customer number12345 (Yes, I have been assigned my own customer number) and he’s explained everything – which he tells the manager, listing all their services, and that I won’t sign. Then, yes -- he hands me the phone to talk to Mr. Sales Manager, who proceeds to ask me if their consultants can come back next Monday. I say no. He proposes Tuesday. I say no. He continues to press for a date. I continue to say no. He asks why not. I repeat that I need to do my due diligence and look them up on LinkedIn. He then gets very perturbed and I hand the phone back to Mr. John. He asked me if the man was too pushy. I say yes. He pretends to sympathize with me. I’m not buying it. I fold up his contract and hand it back to him along with his card and stand up and tell him we are done and escort the poor man out the door. I almost feel sorry for him. I’m sure when he began his career he wasn’t like this and perhaps he was once a good business person. But now he’s a shill. And after he’s gone I spend an hour reading about his parent company, and that it’s alleged to be a scam. On RIPOff Report online there are scores of testimonials from former employees and customers alike who tell of how they have been scammed by the company, and some very telling articles by major media outlets on the company. Sixty Minutes would have a field day with this company. And while I wasted my 60 minutes with Mr. John, he’s provided a case study in how to NOT sell.