The Fastest Way to Lose a Customer

The fastest way to chase away a potential customer is to call him an idiot. Simple. You don’t have to use those exact words, but whenever your sales pitch implies that a customer is stupid if he doesn’t buy from you, you’re doing just that – calling him an idiot.

For example, you’ve already lost the sale by starting your call with claims that you can save your customer money, without knowing much about how he operates his business. Your intentions might be noble, but such a statement is liable to be interpreted as, “He’s implying that I’m a bad negotiator and didn’t get the best deal I could for my company.” Now the customer feels insulted; good luck getting him to buy from you now.

Sales strategist Maura Schreier-Fleming lambasts this idiotic sales strategy in her blog post on AllBusiness.com.