Please don't do what I just suggested!

Thanks to Jill Konrath for writing about this in her blog. Jeffrey Gitomer normally has so much sales wisdom that I'm hoping there is a part of this video just after this clip that says "I was only joking. Please don't do what I just suggested!"

In a "Sales 2.0 World" it's not about tricking people. Why start a long-term relationship with a client based on a trick?

I have heard some variations on this kind of voice mail approach and I don't like any of them. Some people have suggested calling a prospect and leaving a voice mail that just states your name and number and that's it. Or why don't you call up and just outright pretend to be a client for them? Where do you draw the line?

In the second half of this video Jeffrey talks about prospects that don't call back after you have submitted a proposal. In my experience this problem occurs because something has failed in your sales process (see "Has Your Proposal Gone to Neverland?"). You don't need tricks to get a call back from a prospect who wants to do business with you. They will call.

What do you think? The end justifies the means?