Years ago, I travelled to a town in Edo state called Igueben to write NECO GCE. It was a rough venture. And through all the hustles and bustles, I survived. It was time to go back home. I decided to do some shopping before leaving.
Being a Chelsea fan, what I wanted more than anything was a Chelsea Jersey. I moved to the line where jerseys were sold. Bright colours of different jerseys embraced my eyes. Didier Drogba's Chelsea shirt, Ballack's Chelsea shirt, Van Persie's Arsenal shirt, Ferdinand's Man u shirt and many others. I looked through in excitement. I was in a fix as to which stall to enter. They all sold same thing.
A man walked up to me and caught my hand. "Fine boy, come buy from me, buy From me".. He repeated those words, his hands tightly gripped mine. I struggled to release my hand from his grip to no avail. Then I yelled. He took his hands off but will not leave me alone. When he saw how irritated I was, He resorted to his second tactic- BEGGING. I had never been begged like that in my life. He told me he had not made one sale since the day before. That I should help him, and buy from him. He begged sore. All these just got me irritated and more irritated. I released myself from him and moved. Took some steps and bought same wares he sold, from someone else.
In marketing, as an entrepreneur, there is a law you should know, for your own good.
NEVER BEG!
It's dangerous to your career. When you beg, you are telling the prospect, "I don't believe the value of my product/service is sufficient enough, so just have pity on me and patronise me".
You are resorting to emotional blackmail and guilt tripping. And that's for losers.
If your product is as good as you say it is, make people see so. If they don't, laugh them off as the losers, and find the next person.
Its a world of 8 billion people! There ought to be at least 1000 people 'crazy' enough to believe you.
Au revoir!