Really though, it was great meeting you and you embody all the things you mentioned in this post and then some.

Keep on fightin’ the good fight, my brother.
.-= Spike Jones´s last blog ..Laying Down On a Sword =-.

Thanks again!
Keith
.-= Keith Burtis´s last blog ..Giving you FREE reign to pick my brain! =-.

My point hopefully better stated is a word of caution:
If people are truly professional frauds, that will take care of itself.

But very often, in my personal experience, the people who beat me for sales…
or who didn’t do things the way I thought was “the right way”…
the people I thought I knew better than and wanted to call “snake oil salesman”… were still pretty good.

They did a good job and they collected a well deserved check.

What I didn’t want to admit was this: I was outsold. I got beat.
++++++++++++

On the generational issue: I’m in school again because I think no one expects an old guy like…uh…me… to know this stuff even if he does. Hopefully, I can better market myself with a better and current education. But, even I tend to trust you young whippersnappers for expertise!
There’s your generational issue dammit!

Thanks.
.-= Mike Coombs´s last blog ..Full Sail =-.

I am not privied to much of the information you all speak of, but I do find it interesting. Perhaps the key for you is to never be satisfied and continue to adapt as technology, people, and competition adapts around you. As for the generation to generation comment, I experience the same setbacks in my own field. It is only now through my own hard work and confidence that what I personally sell is true, that my own clientelle, albiet a much different one than yours, is beginning to grow with convinced, dedicated, and trusting students. It is my job to now provide that service in the best way possible because that is what I have sold and promised. So, when speaking of generational gap and seniority, if you will, patience, hard work, and perservenrance, in my experience, is the key. Then when you have put in the time and become that senior member yourself, you can remember how it was for you, and you can choose not to continue that trend of behavior.

I’m not sure we’re disagreeing here though unless you’re saying that it’s okay for snake oil salesman to profit as long as people keep giving them their money?

I agree that we often encounter push back from those people ahead of us. I think older generations frequently push back on people my age, citing entitlement and other things that just aren’t necessarily true (at least of the entire generation or as a sweeping generalization.)

Are those ‘lucky people’ you speak of actually that lucky, or is it possible they predicted the trend and were ahead of the curve?

And I’ll only say this about selling in the social media space. So many traditional, old-school sales people still rely on the hard sell. 3-4 e-mails (after not received a response since the last meeting or the initial e-mail) is ignorant. I’ve always had much better success with providing so much value that the additional opportunities, sales, upsales took care of themselves.

Haven’t heard from you in ages! Hope everything is going great, and that you’re keeping an eye on Nisha. You two are in the same office now right? At least same company? (I forget sometimes, forgive me.)

I always wonder if they just blindly pursue the $$$ or if they secretly hope that they’ll never be found out. Like are most phony consultants aware they’re full of it, and realize what they’re doing or are they so blind to the BS that they don’t know any better. That’d be an interesting discovery, I think.

And I have an excess of notes, but haven’t even had a chance to type them up internally for the office yet. If and when I do I’d be happy to share them with you.

Everything has to work together from the beginning, and just because someone can tell you why and how to do something, doesn’t mean they can actually execute. I think that’s where the best rise above the posers.

And I suspect you’re right as well. Some of the best snake oil salesman might find enough people to prey on to get theirs, and that’s okay. I’ll keep my dignity.