Ever watch the show “Supernatural”?<\/p>\n
It’s by FAR one of my favorite TV shows. <\/p>\n
In fact, it’s 1 of only about 4 or 5 I watch at all.<\/p>\n
Basically, it’s about two brothers who travel around in a cool car listening to classic rock and killing evil supernatural beings — like vampires, werewolves, ghouls, monsters, demons, etc.<\/p>\n
Total “Generation X” TV show.<\/p>\n
And it’s especially cool when they snag demons in a “devils trap.”<\/p>\n
This is a special circle drawn on the floor (or ceiling) that, when a demon enters it, they cannot get out. And the two brothers can basically do whatever they want to them while the demons are in there — torture them, exorcise them, beat the crap out of them, whatever.<\/p>\n
And you know what?<\/p>\n
This exact same thing goes on in business, too.<\/p>\n
This is where, instead of persuading<\/em> people to buy, scummy businesses try to “trap”<\/em> people into buying. <\/p>\n But instead of a magic circle… they use “tricks” and games.<\/p>\n Like (for example) suckering people with bait & switch to get you in the door… keeping you waiting purposely (to make you feel like you’ve “invested” time and won’t want to leave)… or (and this is a doozy<\/em>) matter-of-factly asking you to “just initial real quick” some innocent looking (but binding) contract… etc<\/p>\n All VERY common customer traps.<\/p>\n But all extremely dumb, too.<\/p>\n Because even if someone does buy, they’ll NEVER buy from you again, and will almost certainly tell OTHERS not to buy from you either.<\/p>\n Which kind of sucks, doesn’t it?<\/p>\n Especially in the age of social media sites — where one bad comment zips around the globe with a few taps on the keyboard and a push of a button.<\/p>\n Bottom line?<\/p>\n We don’t need to trap people into buying or listening to us. We don’t need “tricks and tactics.” And we don’t need to play games with anyone’s heads.<\/p>\n I’m not saying that stuff doesn’t work.<\/p>\n But it’s like losing weight by snorting cocaine each day instead of exercising and eating right:<\/p>\n It may work SHORT term, but in the end it’ll kill<\/em> your sales.<\/strong><\/p>\n For 101 easy and ethical ways (no shady tricks required) to sell — online, offline, or on the sideline<\/em> — check out:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n