I recently decided to try my hand at sales. I have a long-term interest in selling a particular kind of product, but since the job I want is commission only and requires sales experience, I'm starting with a non-commission sales job to get my feet wet and make sure I can stand selling at all.
The company I’m selling for specialized in marketing online tech support services, mainly to seniors who are tech illiterate. I have no interest in the company or its product and the further I get into the sales training, the less I like the company.
The sales process goes like this: a tech illiterate person, usually elderly, types something like “I can't get into my email†into a search engine. Our company's site is one of the most prominent search results, and the link directs them to a page that prompts them to enter their contact information so we can call to help. They more tech illiterate the lead is, the more likely he is to assume this is part of his ISP’s service. Once we get his info, we call him.
The sales agent asks to connect to the lead’s computer to do an audit of his system. Even if his particular problem obviously has nothing to do with his system. The naive lead thinks he's talking to some nice person who’s going to get him back into his email for free, but the real purpose of the audit is to see what kind of services his computer would benefit from (things like malware removal, software updates, security upgrades, cleaning up superfluous startup programs, etc. and to find out what he does with it) so the agent can upsell later in the call. So right off the bat, the agent is starting the conversation under what I feel are false pretenses.
The agent is required to start selling the “fix†for $149 regardless of how simple of a problem it is. The fix necessarily include a “tuneup and optimization†and malware removal even if that is not part of the lead's concern. The lead can talk the price down to $99 or $49, but I feel ridiculous even starting at $149 and suggesting that that's somehow good deal for something simple like a password reset. As a rebuttal when the lead declines because the price is too high, the suggested rebuttal script is, “I understand, but it's absolutely what needs to happen, and we're definitely going to be the cheapest option to get the work done.†Which is bullshit because it doesn't necessarily need to happen, and a few other services do offer cheaper options.
The "fix" is meant to be a prelude to selling the person on a month-to-month membership that includes a lot of services like cloud storage and unlimited tech support in the future. These services are valuable to some people, so I have no problem with it in and of itself. However, although we're not required to use them, most of the suggested scripts we're encouraged to use are gimmicky at best, and in a few cases they're outright dishonest. For example, we’re taught to say that the particular antivirus program included in the company's service offering is better than whatever program the lead is already using (dubious, PC mag rates a few common programs higher) emphasize that it's used by “hospitals and universities†(while a few dozen institutions of those types apparently do use it, the majority of them don't), and then say it normally retails for $100 (the real price is $20-50).
If the customer states that he owns multiple computers, we are required say ad verbatim “let's get that one connected tooâ€â€”that is, assume the lead wants to do it rather than ask. Bleeegh.
To the company's credit, at no point are we required to use high-pressure tactics, refuse to take no for an answer, or do anything flagrantly dishonest like make up issues that the customer doesn't really have. But some of the things were expected to say are too far out of line with reality for my taste. I just feel extreme discomfort trying to sell a person on something that has nothing to do with his reason for contacting us. Should I just bail now?