What is wrong with this guy?

**ClickHere2Surf.com** · March 14th, 2005, 01:18 AM

I've asked someone to ask one of my software competitors why he should choose their software over mine prentending he was hesitating between buying one of those two.

He replied:

Dear <name>,

Thank you for your question. If you buy <our software>, we will give you a 60-day money-back guarantee. You will be able to decide if you want to switch to a foreign ebay seller at any point in time, and we will give you the money back if you think they actually add some new features that we don't have.

I don't want to compare features because it brings back bad memories because all their 'features' are copied straight from us (like 4 user accounts,
built-in web browser, etc.) [Actually I've been around longer and he's been copying my every move]

<their software> will probably continue to add features to their program--after we develop them for ours [I've had every feature before I had even heard of them]. But if you want American innovation instead of foreign rip-off artists, you are welcome to buy <our software>. Even if it costs $5 more [Actually $15 more, and it's poorly written and does much less].

To be honest with you, I don't think <their software> will last more than one more month. Mark my words. [huh? I've been selling it for far longer than they have and have over 5 times more users and sell more than 5 times more per week than they do]

Thanks,

<our software> Support

WOW, what's his problem? I've never seen such an unprofessional and attacking [the competitor] reply. Could it be that he's just jealous I sell so much more than he does? I still don't understand the very few users that still pay more for his inferior and very poorly written software (I've tried it and it's badly made, non-standard, complicated to understand, etc).

**TechZ** · March 14th, 2005, 01:40 AM

Some people will say anything for a quick sale, and boost their ego.

**gazzak** · March 14th, 2005, 03:52 AM

Working closely with our sales team has opened my eyes to the absolute cr4p they spout most days. If it was our place they would have said much worse about a competitior.

Now if someone asked you why they should buy your software over theirs then what would you have said? Nice things?

Rise above it and make your software even better, that's the best reply.

**ClickHere2Surf.com** · March 14th, 2005, 03:58 AM

When people ask me why mine is better, I tell them politely without ever saying insults towards my competitors, that looks really unprofessional anyway, he called me a rip-off artist when in reality he's the one copying my every move.

In any case my software is already much better and he can be ready to be blown far away when I have my new version out with many many new major changes, but I'm doing my final college project now so it'll be a short while before I can even start on the new version.

**ClickHere2Surf.com** · March 14th, 2005, 04:05 AM

By the way, I just put a counter on my ad page showing my current number of registered users like this:

Forget it, I can't post HTML, anyway I'm at 1220 so far, my question is, was it a good idea to put a "registered user" counter on my ad page and soon on my website? Is there any downside?

**gazzak** · March 14th, 2005, 05:24 AM

Originally Posted by ClickHere2Surf.com

By the way, I just put a counter on my ad page showing my current number of registered users like this:

Forget it, I can't post HTML, anyway I'm at 1220 so far, my question is, was it a good idea to put a "registered user" counter on my ad page and soon on my website? Is there any downside?

Many moons ago I sold a golf statistics program I made. The first registration number I gave was 5341 or something like that, then moved up 1 number at a time from there. It seemed to work OK. I would suggest you DO put a registered counter on your page but start it at over 10,000. Play the game.

(what does your software do anyway?)

**WebHead** · March 14th, 2005, 01:34 PM

When dealing with a sales rep, you can always tell if they are shady or if they are using high pressure tactics or other evil methods. When I was in sales at AT&T Wireless,.. we were taught:

- Never disparage the competitor

- Always tell your customer what your product "can" do. Remove the words, "can't" "don't" "won't" from your vocabulary. I.e. "here's what my product CAN do". "here's what I CAN do for you". Etc.

- Isolate, empathize, overcome objections when dealing with the customer. I.e., "I totally understand what you are saying, and if I were you I might feel the same way, however, my [insert product] CAN [insert a postive message about your product].

- ABC's. Always Be Closing the sale. You are either selling something or being sold something.

Based on what I know,.. that guy just sounds desperate to close the sale. The customer will probably pick up on it too if he's got an ounce of intelligence.