Being an aggressive marketer is an admirable trait. It means not sitting behind and doing nothing but approaching your prospects with something to offer. According to Encarta, being aggressive is “characterized by or exhibiting determination, energy, and initiative”. It shows that you know what you want and you will get it no matter what it takes.
However, let me share with you my experience as I have been a victim of aggressive marketing today. Someone approached me at a local mall and offered me a raffle ticket for a contest to win $10,000. I thought I should give it a try not because I want to win the money but because I want to find out how these types of businesses work. I am well aware on my percentage of winning. After all, I may learn something new at the end of the day so it will not hurt me. She told me they are doing this only for promotion purposes and there is absolutely no payment involved. I just need to go to their office for a presentation about their services so I followed her.
At first, the woman who entertained me was really nice. She talked to me and asked about my life. I feel like a million bucks because it makes me feel that she actually cares about me. The same happened when I got into their office. I was passed on to another person and greeted by a lot of their employees. When I got inside I was asked to sit down and was even given some drinks. The guy talked to me about their business briefly then began relaying their services one by one. I thought my job is only to listen. I was happy because I learned about that guy’s life because I keep asking him questions as well. That is until they asked for my card. I thought they will only use it to confirm my identity then they began swiping it in the cashier. With that, I stopped them.
Right from that instant, my perception about them changed. These people are being nice to me not because they like me but because they see me as money and not as a person. The moment I told them that I do not like to proceed, the guy kept on repeating the same thing over and over again and I know that he will not stop until he closed the sale. When I was not convinced, he then left and he was substituted by another sales person. That sales person asked me how the other guy did. I figured he is his manager so I told him how nice he was. But this guy asked me why I did not convert and proceeded with the transaction. I told him I was not ready then he told me that it only means that I did not like the other guy. I liked him as a person but that does not mean I have to pull out my money to prove it.
From that moment, I began to get tired. The guy who first talked to me disappeared and they started to treat me like I am nothing. They asked me to wait and they wasted my time. And all of that is for the simple reason that I cannot close the sale. I told them that I will seek their services when I need it but they told me that I have to close the sale today. While it is true that they may get a sale at that instant with me, it will only be because I got drowned in sales talk and not because I found their services really valuable to me. And since they pushed me away, the next time I need their services, they will be out of my options with the way they treated me.
This little story on what happened with me today is an example on how businesses can lose customers by being too aggressive in their marketing. I am not against being aggressive altogether. Just look at what happened to me. I am also a potential customer. But they only treated me as such for a short time. If not, they make me feel like I am nothing. With that, they are out of my options when I do consider their services in the future.
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