Mind games, money making tricks, and unethical selling techniques, are still used by many sales people despite being bad business practices. I've listed below some of the common tricks sales people use when influencing customers to buy from them. They are used by large and small business sales operations and can bring down or give a bad reputation to not just a company but a whole industry. Look at what happened with the vacation time share and holiday club marketplace. A whole industry tainted by a few companies using questionable sales techniques that were at best unethical and at worst illegal.

You can't build a long term large or small business sales enterprise based on money making scams. A successful sales operation should be built on relationships with your customers, repeat business, and customer referrals. Not one-off sales made with false claims and sales tricks to close the deal. So here are some examples of the sales mind games and influencing techniques that you should avoid.

Lying about who you work for

This is a common sales scam to gain a sales appointment with a prospect and to manipulate the buyer and close the sale. It was used by agency sales people trying to convert domestic power customers away from their existing supplier. In the UK they would start the conversation by saying they were from British Gas and were helping people find the best package for their gas and electric supply. This was to get them through the door and gave them some credibility. They felt it was more productive than saying they were from a competing company and were trying to get the customer to change.

There were cases reported in the media where elderly and vulnerable people were left totally confused. Some had signed contracts without reading them because the nice sales person said they needed a signature just to say they had called and completed the interview. Only when they received notification some time later that their power supply had been cancelled and was changing to a new supplier did they realize something was wrong. By that time the sales person had spent their commission and had moved on to the next money making scam. The power companies received bad publicity and lost trust and credibility.

False referrals

This sales scam is being used at the moment by off shore telesales and telemarketing companies offering to resolve all your outstanding debt problems. The reason they are giving for calling is that you have outstanding debts. This is a pure guess and in the current economic climate many people they phone will have debt problems. Some even claim to be calling you because your bank has contacted them. They ask who you bank with as a security question and then confirm that you answered correctly. Imagine a person receiving the call that has real debt problems. They think their bank has asked these people to call. All kind of thoughts will run through their mind, which is exactly the way this sales mind control trick works. They have a prospect at the end of the line that is now either panicking or thinks the sales caller has the credibility of their bank behind them. When the credit crunch eases and debt is no longer a hot prospect area, the off shore money making scams will move on to the next short term money maker.

My manager wants to know what I did wrong

Another bad business practice that some direct sales operations use is the manager feedback call. The sale person has presented their product and tried to close the sale, but the prospect has not agreed to buy from them. After several attempts to get the sale the sales person appears to have given up and the prospect relaxes and drops their guard. The seller then asks if they can use the phone and call their manager as he cares about customers and wants feedback on what the salesperson has done.

After a short conversation the sales person hands the phone to the prospect saying their manager would like a quick word and some feedback on how the sales person presented the product. The sales trick then used is for the manager to try and close the sale. One way is to ask what the seller would have needed to do to close the deal. The answer is then used to come back with another proposal. There are variations on this scam such as the sales person being reprimanded in earshot of the prospect in order to create sympathy from the prospect. Another way is for the manager to use his power to get the prospect a special deal, but only if they agree to the sales today.

These mind games and scams have been used in some industries for many years and the same ones are still around today. I often invite sales callers in just to see their strategies. I recently agreed to a sales appointment for double glazing. The presentation was very poor and objection handling came down to one stock answer, which was to offer a lower price with guaranteed credit if I signed today. After several attempts to close me the seller reached for his phone and called his manager. The manager asked how much I had been quoted and I answered. He said that was far too much and the sales person was new to the company and had given me the wrong price. That's strange I said, only a moment ago he was telling me what a great company you were and how he had worked for you for over twenty years so he knew all about the great products. There was a silence that I wasn't going to break. The salesman, sat in my living, room was going red with embarrassment. The manager at the end of the line couldn't come up with anything better than he was getting his staff mixed up.

Is it any wonder the double glazing market suffers from a reputation for poor sales ethics when these sales techniques are used? There are many very reputable companies in all direct sales markets, but many have to overcome the credibility issues created by a small minority that are more focused on money making scams than they are on providing a great service that will gain them repeat business and stacks of referrals.