I Don't Do "Sales Calls"

This one time I was on a really intense sales call...

Somehow my ADHD procrastination that day had pulled me through a random webinar sales funnel and I was suddenly talking on the phone (gasp!) with a guy named Chad. He was pitching me the latest "life-changing" 12-week coaching "experience" that I was about to miss out on it! Oh no! ;-)

Throughout the sales call, Chad managed to do the following:

1. blatantly ignore my lack of consent

2. gaslit me and my experiences

3. negged me strategically right before he...

4. expected me to give him $10,000+

I couldn't help but nervous-laugh him off the phone! (Worth noting: This was the same laughter that ended all those dangerously awkward online dates I've experienced.) Yikes, Chad. *Double* yikes.

The online coaching community is notoriously awful about this kind of thing and they aren't the only industry. Coercion and manipulation are all over the business world. The more I've learned about trauma, the more I am horrified to remember my own sales "tactics" were just learned systems of my recreated (religious) trauma. More on that later...

Side Note: Tactics?! Really?! Couldn't those business guys think of something more original than war metaphors? Alas, the patriarchy... Sigh... I digress...

So let me be super clear, what I do now is not a sales call. I've worked way too hard to unlearn that shit. Besides, I'm the furthest thing from embodying the persona of "Chad." Any attempt at that would be a full-on lie and direct conflict with my personal values.

What I do today, is what I did way back in the day, when I was a Suzuki cello teacher—a meet-n-greet! It's like a coffee chat with your cool, tatted-up, auntie who happens to know a lot about business and trauma. It's a chance for both of us to:

• check each other out "in person" via Google Meet

• learn more about our stories and goals
  

• have some coffee/tea and meet the fur-babies

• and ask about any dealbreakers, if needed

A Meet-n-Greet typically lasts about 45-minutes. Usually, I'll follow up via email with personalized recommendations, resources, referrals, or any next steps discussed in our call. There are no strings attached, seriously.

If this resonates with you, I'd love to chat. I'm ready whenever you are!

Also, if you've stopped doing "sales calls" in your business, I'd love to hear why and what you're doing now!