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The Sad Proliferation of Deceptive Sales Tactics
Straight from the school of cereal box university
It’s sad.
Lately, it seems like everyone is flocking to cereal box university to get their sales permit.
The increasing desperation of so-called braindead influencers and hustlers is pity-worthy, if somewhat understandable, but only based on the general state of the world.
Even so, you can’t make a good case that their methods don’t throw good sense and caution right to the wind. Try.
Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.
Good luck building a long-term business on the back of methods that trick people into giving you money.
The “Post Your Links Below” Method
These posts are as common as flags on the fourth of July. I see them daily, and I wish I didn’t (I need to curate my newsfeeds better).
In big, bold letters accompanied by a colorful, eye-catching background they proclaim:
“We’re looking for music to showcase on our radio show (or podcast, or live stream). Drop your links below!”
Or something to that effect.
What musician in their right mind wouldn’t be curious about such an opportunity? What musician wouldn’t drop their links?
Well, here’s what happened when I “dropped” my link. I was told “sounds great, but you need to reach out to me via email — it’s on our Facebook page” as if I had done something wrong by following instruction.
To add insult to injury, they couldn’t be bothered to say they were expecting an email in the first place, let alone provide the email address where I was to contact them. They’d already wasted my time, and now they expected me to hunt for their email address.
When I finally did email them, and heard back, again they said, “Wow, this is some great work. It certainly deserves to be heard by thousands of people” before they launched right into their sales pitch.
Wait. I thought you were looking for content… when in fact you were just looking for customers.
