Is sales always manipulative?

[mr_engineer]

30 minutes ago, Paul Boldyrev said:

@mr_engineer I'm actually thinking of trying to make prospects conscious for our sales talks... do you think that could work?

No, it won't work. Because the decision to be conscious has to come from within. No matter how well-intentioned you are, no matter how well-intentioned any spiritual teacher is, you can't wake up someone who doesn't want to wake up. 

It is a very good and commendable intent. Unfortunately, it would not be realistic. 

For someone to genuinely be a conscious consumer, they would have to critically look at their spending-patterns, their addictions and to not waste money on addictions and coping-mechanisms. They would have to think like an investor and build their lifestyle like that. This is why the previous step to hardcore investing is to be a conscious consumer! 

If you really want a conscious market to sell to, here's my suggestion - go one step deeper into the business. Into marketing. There, what you do is in your market-profiling, you integrate and understand the mindset of your market. This is where you figure out how to position something of genuine value to fill a gap. Then, when this is your product and you enter sales with this product, sales will go much more smoothly. 

HTH!! 

[Paul Boldyrev]

@Nilsi Guess I'll have to see for myself. I'm open to what you're proposing - but also, I'm open to the possibility of there being an ethical way of doing sales

(BTW, found the genealogy of morals in my bookshelf. Gonna read it in Deutsch :))

[Paul Boldyrev]

@mr_engineer I actually currently work as a freelance copywriter, and you definitely have a good point. I'll think about how I can show the value of insurances and investment plans  better...

However, I've found that especially the insurance industry is very negatively motivated. You get insurances in order for things NOT to go sour if you are in a shitty situation. The most effective way of marketing this would entail telling horror stories haha

 

Thanks!

[Devin]

@Paul Boldyrev

       What type of insurance do they sell? There is a customer base that rejects high pressure salesmen, know your products, be quick and clean, there's a customer base for that, they purchase more by trust than price and reject pressure, because they don't trust them.

 

[Paul Boldyrev]

@Devin Yeah, I'm actually one of their clients and they haven't been pressuring at all. A little manipulative, but I've experienced worse... and sales is manipulation, anyway.

 

And yeah, I'll need to dig into their offer a lot

[Nilsi]

On 3/12/2023 at 11:09 PM, Paul Boldyrev said:

@Nilsi Guess I'll have to see for myself. I'm open to what you're proposing - but also, I'm open to the possibility of there being an ethical way of doing sales

(BTW, found the genealogy of morals in my bookshelf. Gonna read it in Deutsch :))

Of course you can do sales "ethically" (I'm assuming you have some kind of Kantian/Christian conception of ehtics) - it just won't be any fun.

Persuasion is an art form - what you want to attempt is the equivalent of fighting MMA with your arms tied behind your back.

1) you'll get absolutely smacked by everybody doing serious sales 2) even if your work environment is supportive of so called "conscious selling," it's still an ugly apeing of what sales is really about.

Edited March 17, 2023 by Nilsi

[Arcangelo]

@Paul Boldyrev your integrity is up to you.

I work in sales. Best job ever. Commissions baby!

 

 

[Arcangelo]

@Ulax

On 3/10/2023 at 0:28 AM, Ulax said:

@Paul Boldyrev I'd say its always manipulative, just to varying degrees.

A lot of sales, to my opinion, inherently involves exploiting vulnerabilities in human psyches, so as to try and influence to people to act differently compared to how they otherwise would.

That said, the way i see it most industries are full of manipulation, again just to varying degrees. 

I try to hypnotize my customers mimicking their tone of voice, and asking them questions that I already know the answer...

Which is: Yes.

 

I love psychology, therefore I love sales.