Scam Awareness Month

With one UK help body saying 22,000 fell victim to scams last year, here is a list of 27 scams to be aware of.

There are three haunting categories; door-to-door, too good to be true, prey on your fears.

As I read it, I thought how distressingly often I’d seen so many at first hand. Then I lamented the fact that unlike just about every other profession, these practices have unfairly labelled all salespeople as ‘scammers’.

For instance, why aren’t bankers treated the same – or as they deserve, worse? They are monsters. They are not ‘too big too fail’. They must stop being fêted by governments.

So, here’s a different slant. I thought about what can happen when on a competitive bid. Say, left down to the last two. One that you’re possibly in the driving seat of. What worth the five scams of the competition’s salesrep?

Price Crash

The pen is hovering over the dotted line. Then you get a call from your client-side champ. The competition has dropped a bombshell. Their price has plummeted. Completely gone through the floor. Usually due to some new policy from HQ, or a new accounting policy that’s changed pricing across the board. Whilst they still want to partner with us, their biggest of bosses has a separate attitude. To be on the final two means both can do the job, so why not choose the silly-priced cheapest?

Do Everything But Cheaper

You are constantly labelled as over-priced. Pirateers who profiteer. The competition state that all the “functionality”, capability or what the prospect is looking for is definitely provided by them. And for less money.

World Will End With Career Over

Those navy-suited IBMers of the last mid-century have a lot to answer for. There’s a sinister evolution today. Your competition take a key prospect aside and with a wink and a nudge will say that many people they know have been at best, ‘moved sideways’ after buying from your firm. Who’d want a repeat of that..?

Crash Of Resource

Fake urgency is introduced by your competitor. They find the one element of their proposal that the prospect may actually have at one point quite liked, and say that it will disappear off the table – for seemingly ‘legitimate’ reasons, like resource allocation or imminent supersession – so the deal must get done now. Right now.

Time Limited Discount

And finally, perhaps the most commonplace. Distinct from the ‘price crash’ scam. A delicious discount is tabled by your foe. But it has conditions. It can only be in place for a day or two. Strangely, it must expire come month-end. It was by pure luck it got secured in the first place. Some smart internal politicking with some faceless bigwig the other side of the world by your boss’s boss secured some crumbs from a specific global discount pie. Just for you today, mister prospect.

Any of these hit one of your deals, the odds are someone is out to scam you.

Are you ready for them?