Her aggressive approach to business proves why the rat race mentality injects unnecessary poison into the startup ecosystem.
It’s rare that I laugh in a customer’s face…but the words she spewed in her heated rage were laughable if nothing else. They were laughable because this would-be customer had scheduled this call to insult, test, and school me on my own business. Oh, and she had us confused with another company, which made the entire exchange all the more ludicrous.
To her credit, she’s a bright, successful professional in her own right: She’s a doctor, whose reviews applaud her medical knowledge over her bedside manner — and I can see why. I mistakenly assumed her credentials afforded her more credence than the average customer, friend, or colleague. 36 minutes into the most demeaning, inaccurate rant I’ve suffered yet (including my years on Wall Street, so that’s saying a lot), I realized just how wrong I was.
Here are the three myths she perpetuated as she defiled my business and dismissed our accolades, proven outcomes, and concrete achievements. And no, I didn’t stoop to her level and trash the competitors like she hoped; to her surprise (and dismay), to be a successful CEO, you actually don’t have to.
No.
If you’ve ever seen the famous “Sell me this pen” bit from The Wolf of Wall Street, you may have an idea of where I’m going here. This irate woman — who’d already verbally pulverized me for my unfamiliarity with a new fly-by-night copycat competitor who’s apparently attempted to profit off my company’s coattails — challenged me to change her mind. Literally.
She flippantly said: “I obviously haven’t made up my mind yet; that’s the only reason we’re still talking.”
She said that after lauding that fly-by-night copycat as her preference, praising their website, their social media, and their perceived prestige.
I’ll admit, they did a decent job attempting to profit off the eery similarities between their and our name and value proposition. That said, a cursory dive just a tad deeper into their “website” and “social media” would reveal just how much — or how little — substance they possess.
It takes about five minutes to prop up a simple Webflow site (which is what they used — no shade to this copycat or Webflow, it’s a great no-code option for landing pages and simple websites). Conversely, it takes years to build up the vast social proof, prestigious partnerships, and diverse array of long-term client outcomes we have. The other company may have fooled the untrained eye with a few splashy graphics, but when it comes to actual proof points, they fell flat…
Nonetheless, this disgruntled woman liked their website’s layout. And she liked that they had a few thousand followers on socials…no mind the fact that their accounts followed many times more people, and their engagement ratio was a decimal so small it rounds to 0.0%.
She was incensed by the fact that we’d confused her. Yes, you read that right: My company — that has been around for years (and publicly known, with articles everywhere from Forbes to Yahoo Finance…) was somehow deemed the scammer, responsible for confusing her with the fly-by-night copycat.
After all that, she challenged me — no, she commanded me — to change her mind. And perhaps I could have, but did I want to? That’s a hard NO.
Some businesses take the hard sell approach, and perhaps that can pay off. In my personal experience, however, if acquiring a customer feels like pulling teeth, they may simply be the wrong customer. That’s where this would-be customer went wrong: She assumed it was my job to change her mind. I disagreed.
Takeaway: No, you do not have to convince the wrong customer that your company is the right purchase.
Some customers will never be satisfied, and if you can spot those bad apples early on, steer them towards somebody else’s doorstep or else risk finding out they’re far more trouble than they’ll ever be worth.
Regardless of your stance on politics, Michelle Obama’s famous words “when they go low, we go high” hold merit when it comes to avoiding dangerous traps from vengeful business enemies. In my case, the enemy was this raging prospect, who teased me into trashing the competition.
She hurled dig after dig, jab after jab, throwing competitor comparisons in my face and pitting my company directly against the competition. In fact, these were her words: “You know it’s a very competitive space; you should be worried.”
The fear-mongering morphed into disparaging contrasts, for which she awaited my retort. I declined.
I was honest with her: I told her that we had never heard of this particular competitor, and I wasn’t really sure they were a competitor at all, by their fly-by-night nature and limited history. Their website age was 0, and it did seem they’d just sprung up out of nowhere…
Her response? Blame and shame for our lack of focus on the competition.
“How can you possibly run your business if you haven’t even heard of this competitor?”
I’ll tell you exactly how: By focusing on our customers, our offerings, our partnerships, our growth, our evolution, and our expansion opportunities. Sure, we employ an SEO team and keep a finger on the pulse of the industry and large competitors, but no, we don’t spend 24 hours a day stalking the burgeoning newbies in the space or planning their defamation or takedown. And to be honest, I think that disappointed her…though that wasn’t the only thing that disappointed her.
You see, this woman clearly applied her medical school, Ivy League graduate, queen of the rat race mentality to the startup world: She believed that in order for one person or company to win, others have to lose. Personally, I beg to differ. We serve a growing market of over 20 million people in the US alone, with the direct opportunity to encompass another local 20 million with a few small tweaks. In other words, yes, there are enough customers to go around, and no, we don’t need a monopoly to be profitable, thriving, and successful.
Takeaway: While the sum zero mentality may work in sports games or competitive job interviews, it isn’t required for success in business. There can be — and often is — more than one winner per industry.
“I’m actually disappointed that I was able to purchase on your website. There was no selectivity. You’re just going to let everyone use your products and services?”
Yes, she actually said that. This woman was disappointed — her words, not mine — that we catered to anyone and everyone in the target market interested in our products and services. She wanted the business to be exclusionary. She wanted to feel as if she, being an intellectual rung above her peers, deserved and earned the opportunity to purchase from us, but others shouldn’t.
My response? YES, our products and services are for everyone who’s interested and able and willing to purchase them.
It’s a free country, and while my company’s price points may not fit every budget, we have no reason to exclude interested customers seeking to use and benefit from our products and services. I actually couldn’t believe a person would utter such an elitist, prejudiced request out loud to a total stranger and business owner.
Oh, but she had no idea I was the business owner; that was beyond clear. It was as if she’d assumed the “dismiss the waiter” syndrome, like a rude diner disrespecting their well-meaning server. They would never treat the CEO that way, but a waiter? What respect do they deserve? A lot.
I don’t care if you’re talking to me, my intern, my assistant, or a former client; there’s just no place for disrespect in my business or in my circle.
Takeaway: If a would-be customer asks you to betray your own moral compass and employ discriminatory business practices, perhaps they’re showing you enough true colors to confirm they’re the last person you want to sell to. And if they’re rude on the basis of title, that’s another clue your company is probably better off without them. Why invite that negativity anywhere near your business? I’d bet big bucks the revenue they’d bring in pales in comparison to the bad karma they’ll attract.
