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How to Spot Unethical Sales + Avoid Them Yourself

Foundation, Sales

June 12, 2022

Every industry has some sketchy members, so how do you spot the scams? How do you stack up?

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Now here’s the thing, I doubt that you’re intentionally trying to scam someone. You’re not WeWork or Elizabeth Holmes or any of the other major businesses we love to watch documentaries about that stole and manipulated people out of their money. I know that’s not you. The problem is that there are so many people giving just…absolutely terrible advice. Advice that would never work in the real world with other businesses. So let’s run a quick test to see if you’re able to gauge how fair your sales tactics are.

PS. Why is this important before we start talking about sales? Because awareness of how you’re doing things now only makes this training even more impactful. Let’s double down on sales that feel good versus sales that maybe are a little below the standards you’d like to meet.

There are 4 steps to ensuring that you are being fair in your sales methods. The goal of ethical sales is that you present information in a way that you’re educating the consumer on your services and authority, giving them options that make sense for the price and your experience, and allowing them to reach their own conclusion for what is best.

Price Fairness

Price fairness is obviously the most important and obvious part of being an ethical business owner. But how do you ensure the price is fair? Valid question. What you want to do is consider the following:

  • What is the market average? Do you want to be aspirational/above market average or affordable/below market average?
  • Whose wallet is paying for this purchase? (Is this grocery money? A business expense? A corporate budget?)
  • Who makes the most money from this investment, my business or the return they get on my service? (Spoiler, it should always be your client)

Give yourself 2 points if your client makes the most money on this exchange and you can clearly answer question 1 and 2.

Give yourself 0 points if you’re not sure of any of the answers.

Take away 2 points if you make the most money from this exchange.

Autonomous Decision Making

Every time I use the word “autonomy” I get someone asking about it. Autonomy is independence – is someone able to make a decision for themselves and see it through without any reprimand? (Feel free to send this to the Supreme Court for a reminder). It’s vital that your clients or leads or customers have the ability without any pressure to make a decision on their own time about whether or not to move forward. They are allowed to say no, and should feel free to do so without pressure, anger, backlash, or any other negative reaction. Here are some things to think on:

  • Do you make potential clients decide on the spot if they’re in for a service, sale, or payment?
  • Do you give them a timeline by which they have to sign up? (This is different if doors close – but for an evergreen offer, are you saying they have to tell you in 2 days?)
  • Are you giving them words/phrases to use to tell their partner how to justify the decision because they’re nervous they may not be on board?

Give yourself 2 points if all of the above answers are no. Kudos to you.

Give yourself 0 points if you haven’t really started selling that much yet so you haven’t been in the position to say the above.

Take away 2 points if any of the above answers are yes. Even if you answered yes to just one.

Clear Connection of Knowledge + Compensation

Next up, we want to ensure that your experience connects to the price that you are selling your services for. Now, I’ve seen 25 year olds sell a $45k package for how to be a multi 7 figure business owner. Maybe they were fit for that. However, the price you charge has to mirror your real life experience (thus why people share that they worked in corporate – it’s actual application), and has to be mindful of the transformation you can confidently create for clients. We often hear “charge your worth” which is a tangent for another day because y’all cant afford that $15 billion dollars I’m worth. Instead, we want to charge their perceived value. Let’s think for a sec:

  • If you have high pricing, do you have 5+ years of experience? -or- If you have low pricing, are you still finding your footing and gaining more experience/expertise?
  • Are people saying that they cannot believe how much they got for the money they spent with you?
  • If you were to charge a local brick + mortar business for the same service, would they accept the price (aka your pricing doesn’t just work for the online space)?

Give yourself 2 points if you can answer yes to all three questions.

Give yourself 0 points if you’re not sure of any of the answers.

Take away 2 points if any of the above answers are no. Even if you answered no to just one.

Opportunities for Trust + Clarification

Finally, we want to consider how confident they can be when making the decision. This is where it becomes important to give them educational material that covers both emotionally how they’ll feel before/after but also deliverables, timeline, process, and more. When focusing on ethics, you want your clients to have an understanding of what they will receive with the investment. The less questions the better (although questions are normal, they happen, and they’re fair!):

  • Do you have a sales page with all product/program/service deliverables, and exactly what they can expect?
  • Do you share the price or a price range for the service publicly on a sales page?
  • Is there an opportunity to talk to you for free about if this service is right for them (unless you industry legally does not allow free consultations)?

Give yourself 2 points if you can answer yes to all three questions.

Give yourself 0 points if you’re not sure of any of the answers.

Take away 2 points if any of the above answers are no. Even if you answered no to just one.

How did you do?

Did this open your eyes? Make you think a bit more about how fair you’re being in business? Let’s see how you stacked up.

If you have 8 points – you’re doing a stellar job and should be really proud of yourself. Team AP seal of approval for you.

If you have 4-6 points – you are well on your way but have some room for improvement. I hope this gave you something to think on!

If you have 2 points – you’re making moves! Keep striving to be a bit more fair and open with clients, and you’ll see more sales.

If you have 0 points – you either haven’t started yet or… who knows maybe you had a coach tell you some of this is okay.

Here’s the thing to remember about all of this. I’m not the rule maker. I’m not God. I’m not judge + jury. And I’m definitely not above anyone. What I’m hoping this does more than anything is make you more aware of how powerful the consumer is above all. Our clients, our leads, our customers – they drive the ship. This is their money as part of the exchange, and sure it’s also our time and resources. Just as much as we need to be validated and compensated for our time, they need to be respected and cherished, as they chose US as their investment instead of going elsewhere. If you feel like you’re forced into a decision, I wouldn’t trust that person, myself. If you don’t understand their pricing or it doesnt make sense compared to their experience, I’d ask some questions. If you can’t find much information without getting on a call with someone, I’d be a little annoyed or worried.

In short, care more about your clients than your bank account. Whenever I’ve seen people care more about money, the service and the marketing is meh or desperate. When I see people care about their people, I see service and appreciation and success.

I’d prefer success where my clients feel supported. But hey that’s just me.

Talk soon x Ashli

Are you really worried about your selling strategy? Worried that people will say no to you? Well on an episode of the Unfiltered Entrepreneur Podcast, I recorded a Walk+Talk episode, where I post an off the cuff thought, about sales, selling, and why we sometimes revert back to some not so great sales tactics. Click here to listen to my episode “You’re Overthinking Sales” and let me know what you think.

Available on Apple Music + Spotify.

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i'm Ashli !

Your partner in crime. Entrepreneurship older sister. Full time dork and part time typo creator. Here to bring my 10+ years of Devil Wears Prada fashion experience to female entrepreneurs so you learn *real* business tips.

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