Being on the other side of a sales pitch is BRUTAL.

ok so I am an AE and never get prospected to.


BUT


my boss had this random request come though that sounded like a company wanting us to sign up for a conference but they were vuage and he asked me to set the meeting and see what was up. (thanks boss)


  • This guy was indeed trying to get us to pay to join a conference.
  • 30 minute meeting.
  • He talked for 25
  • Made jokes about how bad his team was (like what??, one of them WAS ON THE CALL!)
  • Used the word "Value" at least 20 times.
  • Kept telling me it wasn't about the money (then....what are we doing here?)
  • Made me want to vomit.


I have not heard a sales pitch THIS bad since I made the mistake of having Universal Windows Direct come to my house.


What is the worst sales pitch you have had to endure???

😂 Sales Humor
🏰 War Stories
👑 Sales Strategy
27
E_Money
Big Shot
16
💰
Worst pitch I've gotten was this time a guy came to me and got me to invest in this "luxury" music festival on a "private island" sounded amazing, but it didn't pan out. 
E_Money
Big Shot
5
💰
Yes, this is a Fyre Festival joke. You're welcome #neverforget
Mr.Pickles
Arsonist
1
Sr. Customer Success Manager
Memory pills
TennisandSales
Politicker
4
Head Of Sales
I heard about that....i heard it was.....fyre

Ok ill let my self out. 
funcoupons
WR Officer
3
👑
I heard the bologna sandwiches were 🔥
CuriousFox
WR Officer
4
🦊
I simp for a good bbq bologna sandwich. 🔥
E_Money
Big Shot
3
💰
They came in free Styrofoam containers that you could take home.  
Sunbunny31
Politicker
8
Sr Sales Executive 🐰
Can't really give you a worst one from work, outside of stupid email sales pitches asking me if "I'm a content creator at x company" which, no, I'm an AE, which you would know if you had taken 1 second to check LI.

I can tell you the best pitch was when we went to Home Depot to pick up a new toilet seat, and left with an appointment for solar panels.   Which are now on my roof.  
TennisandSales
Politicker
1
Head Of Sales
ha! I need to know more about that pitch! 
Sunbunny31
Politicker
5
Sr Sales Executive 🐰
LOL.  It was all timing, tbh.    We were not in any hurry, and had been talking about taking a look at solar now that the finances made sense (the technology is more established, and it made sense to get some installed because they would finally pay for themselves).  The rep was literally just standing there and said "have you considered solar for your home?" and that was it.  Right place, right time.   I just thought it was funny that we had gone to HD to spend ~$30 on a new toilet seat and ended up getting $20K worth of solar installed.
NotCreativeEnough
Big Shot
1
Professional Day Ruiner
solar guys have some pretty good pitches sometimes. and its an easy product to show the value for. I considered getting into solar sales for a little while but I don't see it being a truly long term career option. It's just the hot product right now. 
CuriousFox
WR Officer
6
🦊
Oof brutal. @poweredbycaffeine gets pitched to a lot. I bet he's got a story or two. 
Sunbunny31
Politicker
2
Sr Sales Executive 🐰
I'm here for that.   
poweredbycaffeine
WR Lieutenant
9
☕️
Worst pitch was a parter calling us to pitch us on our own product. He thought our product name was the name of the company and had no idea that we produced it.
Sunbunny31
Politicker
1
Sr Sales Executive 🐰
I'd have been laughing so hard at that. 
DungeonsNDemos
Big Shot
1
Rolling 20's all day
So you bought it right? Lol I wish I could see the look on his face when he realized who you were.
poweredbycaffeine
WR Lieutenant
2
☕️
AR and AP would have entered a terminal loop!
Pachacuti
Politicker
3
They call me Daddy, Sales Daddy
When you know all the tricks and you know a good sales pitch from bad one, it can be tough to sit through one
Sunbunny31
Politicker
3
Sr Sales Executive 🐰
You've got that right.  
Justatitle
Big Shot
2
Account Executive
Sad reality is most people are so focused on what they care about (making the sale) they forget to find out why the buyer should buy their product 
Lioness
Good Citizen
2
Sr Field Enterprise Account Executive
And that's really sales 101.
DungeonsNDemos
Big Shot
2
Rolling 20's all day
Mine is also a conference. I had been asked to go as a favor for our team to a smaller conference that was supposed to have 100 attendees. 
Well when I got there the number was actually about 30 people. (so I'm at a booth looking like a jackass). 

And then the organizer who had promised these numbers comes over to me and starts pitching the next conference. lmao
I just nodded and said sure and then made sure everyone at my company knew to never say yes to them again.
Lioness
Good Citizen
1
Sr Field Enterprise Account Executive
It was during an interview. I asked the person I would have been reporting to a question. Rather than answering the question asked, he went into zombie mode and launched into a pitch (that didn't address my question) and even whipped out the slides. 
TennisandSales
Politicker
1
Head Of Sales
hahaha yikes!!!
hunnybunny
Opinionated
1
SaaS Sales
Timeshares. I used to sit through the presentations for all the free shit they give you for listening, but OMG I always wanted to rip my eyes out. And they don't take no for an answer. They also have a SPECIAL OFFER JUST FOR YOU. K just stop, can I go on my sunset dinner cruise now? 
NotCreativeEnough
Big Shot
1
Professional Day Ruiner
whenever I go to buy a new car I'm always amazed by how bad the sales people are. You would think you stepped in a time machine and went back to the 80's the way they try to sell. Makes me cringe. 
LordOfWar
Tycoon
1
Blow it up
I get these all the time, my boss falls for the bs intro of having "an opportunity" for us and passes to to me to follow up and it always ends up being something like this or pay to get on their listing site (yes please let me just commoditize myself for you, thanks).

It's always brutal and for some reason the UK guys are extra pushy.
TennisandSales
Politicker
2
Head Of Sales
haha well im glad im not the only one!! 
Mr.Pickles
Arsonist
0
Sr. Customer Success Manager
Shared Vacations - never ever let that cult get close to you.
andrea
Valued Contributor
0
Global Head of Partnerships
Anna Delvey trying to pitch me her foundation project.
saaskicker
Celebrated Contributor
0
Enterprise AE
Some of the reps trying to get people to sign up for Clear in the airport are beyond terrible. 
Oldskool
Personal Narrative
0
Senior AE
What is vuage? JK. 

Yes, I am one of those veteran sales persons who internally rages at horrible sales pitches and tactics, which I get all the time because I own a consulting biz. 

Worst tactic is either the immediate post connection LinkedIn pitch or the spamming of my company inbox with absolute garbage pitches. 

If you are doing any of this, you deserve things I cannot mention here.