When your prospect tries to rope you into an MLM scheme

Published: Wed, 10/05/22

October 5, 2022

TOGETHER WITH

We’re now in the final sprint of 2022, otherwise known as Q4. Thankfully, there’s a lot of certainty out there and the economy is NOT being weird at all right now… right? Right!? Take a break from all that with this week’s edition of The Quota, where we’ll tell you about a company in the UK that allegedly misled their D2D reps, share a sales fail about motion sickness, and give some advice to an insurance rep who’s being roped into an MLM. Let’s go.

NUMBER OF THE WEEK

Only 2% of sales happen during the first point of contact.

Source: IRC Sales Solutions

SALES ROUNDUP

Here’s what’s happening in the sales world this week:

Salespeople aren’t on their way out just yet, but Volkswagen and Amazon appear to be taking the first step toward eliminating the car salesperson by replacing them with Alexa technology on test drives. Starting this fall, VW customers in select regions of the United States can schedule an in-person Alexa-guided test drive of the ID.4 electric SUV. You can read more about the proposed drive here.
It’s hard to believe (unless you’re a part of Gen Z), but Glengarry Glen Ross is turning thirty – and it’s still as culturally relevant as ever. The Guardian is honoring the anniversary by looking back at the film, (originally a play by David Mamet, who rewrote the script and added a new role for his friend Alec Baldwin), and discusses why the sales movie still resonates all these years later. You can read it here.

FEATURE

robert_s/Shutterstock.com

Direct Sales Horror Stories: From Bad to Worse

A year-long BBC investigation took a look at the working conditions of dozens of ex-sales agents, most of them in direct sales, and the resulting picture was not pretty. In short, young salespeople are being promised six-figure salaries and upward mobility, but the companies they work for never seem to deliver on these promises, or worse.

Lauren, 20, was laid off from her bartending job in 2020, so when she saw an ad for a sales job with all the bells and whistles, she leapt at the opportunity. Her dreams of driving a nice car and helping her mom retire all of a sudden seemed within reach. All she had to do was “hustle,” right?

Matt, 25, also signed onto a direct sales job with the promise of a six-figure salary and his own direct sales company. Instead, he was working 80-hour weeks without benefits, minimum wage, or paid sick leave, and was only making a commission, categorized as “self-employed” by his company. 12 hours a day, six days a week, for 14 months, and after all that, he only had £7,900 to show for it (that and a maxed out credit card).

Lauren too was told she would be self-employed, only earning a commission, but that if she put in the work, she wouldn’t be doing door-to-door sales for long. Three weeks later, she limped into the office with swollen feet only to have her boss refuse her a bathroom break she needed because she was on her period. She had no choice but to bleed on her clothes.

Her manager’s response?

"He said: 'You're not giving 100%.'” Lauren told the BBC. “He asked: 'Do you even want this? Do you want to retire your mum? Your period can't stop you from doing that.' I just felt so humiliated." Lauren concluded that working for this company was akin to “selling your soul.”

Matt and Lauren were both working for Credico, a Canadian company that boasts 15,000 sales agents worldwide and is one of the direct sales industry leaders in the UK. Credico is a middleman, contracting out to smaller sales companies which then assign their employees to sell for big-name brands.

Matt says Credico likened itself to Uber for new recruits. "We were the taxi drivers, and the passengers were the clients. So Credico [would] connect us and the clients together, they would give us the training materials and they will act as a go-between," he told the BBC. But the self-employed label didn’t provide sales agents any freedom to make their own schedules – only the freedom to take an occasional sick day and not get paid.

Experts criticized the working conditions at Credico and their "deeply misleading" job postings that spoke of a base salary. Labor MP Darren Jones, chair of the House of Commons Business Committee, said “[workers] are being exploited because they think they're signing up for an exciting job with a good salary that gives them prospects, and actually, they arrive at the office and they're told they're self-employed, commission-only, door-to-door salespeople."

"Exploitative practices have no place in our society, and we will investigate cases of malpractice," a government spokesman told the BBC. He said the government had introduced employment status guidance so that people could better understand what their employment rights were.

Credico’s spokesman was sure to emphasize that their contracts are written in “plain language,” their agents “enjoy the flexibility that self-employment brings,” and that the well-being of their contractors was “extremely important to them.”

Matt and Lauren are now in other sales positions. Matt is in a salaried sales job, and Lauren is in a marketing job she enjoys, where she says she uses the skills she gained in direct sales.

"I want young people to be aware,” she said. “Please don't get caught up in the hustle and the go-getter lifestyle. You will get there 100%.”

BETTER PROSPECTING? YES, PLEASE

Datanyze is a unique B2B contact assistant. Our tool enables sales reps to connect with their ideal prospects and enriches Linkedin profiles in real-time with email addresses and direct dial phone numbers.

You can also leverage Datanyze's free Directory pages to get more insights into your ideal prospects, including, but not limited to, ice breakers - curated information to arm you with related data on what's happening in a prospect’s world.

You can learn more about Datanyze here.

MEME OF THE WEEK

Source: Instagram -- Sales Humor

QUIZ

What does the acronym BANT stand for?

A. Billing, Acceptance, Necessity, Trust
B. Buyer, Authority, Necessity, Timing
C. Broccoli, Apples, Nuts, Tomatoes
D. Budget, Authority, Need, Timeline

SALES FAILS

Each week, we bring you the most cringe-worthy sales moments from across the web. To submit your sales fail story for consideration, click here. (Don't worry, you'll remain completely anonymous).

“About eight years ago, I was working as an outside sales rep for a family-owned cleaning supply company. We supplied businesses with things like paper towels, soap dispensers and soap, and other janitorial items that everybody needs. It wasn’t a bad gig.

There was one account that I had been trying to land ever since I joined the company. It was a company which owned a regional chain of gas stations. The owner of my company had been after this customer for years, but had never been able to get a meeting. But I happened to know somebody who knew the owner and basically called in a huge favor to get the meeting.

The person who owned the gas stations wouldn’t take the meeting himself, but he put me in touch with his head of operations, who agreed to meet me at a restaurant to hear my pitch. The restaurant was downtown in a really high-traffic area, so I made sure that I left extra early so that I wouldn’t be late.

But on the way there, it was raining, and I hit a ton of traffic. It was basically stop and go, up hill, down hill, the whole way there. By the time I got to the restaurant, I was feeling incredibly car sick, and I thought I was going to throw up.

I decided to try to tough it out, but the whole meeting, I was basically fighting nausea while trying to pitch our products. At one point, I even excused myself to go to the bathroom where I was able to splash some water on my face and collect myself. But my pitch was so bad, and I’m sure I looked pale as a ghost the whole time.

The prospect, to his credit, was polite about everything, but I did catch him looking at me suspiciously every now and then. Once dinner was over, he said he’d think about it and to follow up with him a few weeks later. When I reached back out, he thanked me for the time and the dinner but said they were going to stick with their current vendor.”

Anonymous Location withheld

GRAPH OF THE WEEK

Source: LinkedIn Poll -- September 2022

WORTH A PEEK

Ever wonder what it’s like to sell to some of the richest people on the planet? Fiona Maureso, a senior yacht charter broker in France started as a deckhand and stewardess before working her way up to selling trips that cost upwards of $1.4m (!) a week. You can read all about her job, including the challenges, here.

ASK THE QUOTA

Want to submit a question and be featured in our advice column? Click here. (Don't worry, you'll remain completely anonymous).

Dear Quota Team,

I'm in a bit of a dilemma. I have a client that I sold life insurance to about a month ago. They were big policies, and he bought coverage for both himself and his family. Now, he keeps calling about this new MLM thing he's doing, selling some sort of vitamins.

He's been calling on a regular basis and wants me to come check it out and join his team. I keep stalling the meeting but every so often he keeps calling and sending SMS messages asking when I’m free for a meeting.

How do I politely turn him down without the risk of losing any business that I sold him? Not sure if it would go that far but I’m curious to hear your thoughts and how you guys would tackle this situation? Thanks!

Not Interested in The Great White North

Dear Not Interested,

Do any of these vitamins cure motion sickness, because the sales rep from this week’s Sales Fails section could use some help!

Since it doesn’t sound like you’re willing to take the meeting (understandable), you want to figure out how to turn him down without any risk. But here’s the problem: there’s always risk. You work in sales, one of the riskiest professions on the planet – there’s no such thing as a risk-free conversation with a prospect or customer.

That being said, if you’re willing to embellish a bit, you should be able to mitigate your chances of getting a bad response. A good approach would be to come up with a reason that’s out of your control.

For instance, you could say that your employment contract doesn’t allow you to sell any other products, even if it’s on your own time. Or, if you’re married/in a relationship, you can say that there’s no way your significant other would put up with you picking up another side hustle with all the hours you’re currently putting in at work. The less you make it seem like it’s a personal decision, the less it’s likely to sting (if it even stings at all).

Of course, you could also just be vague and say that the timing isn’t right, or that you have too many other things going on – all of which are perfectly understandable responses. But as long as you don’t insult or denigrate this guy’s business pursuits, you should be alright!

Quiz Answer: D

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Today's email was written by Ken Kupchik, Erica Furgiuele, Steve Rado, and Emily Hill.

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