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Ask HN: are soft lies in sales okay?
11–20 of 35 posts
Re: Ask HN: are soft lies in sales okay?
#12As I understand it, "Ask HN" posts are supposed to be local, not on another site. But perhaps that was a white lie in your perspective?
"Ask HN" posts are supposed to be local
Why? What if you want to include a chart or a picture in your 'Ask HN' post?
Re: Ask HN: are soft lies in sales okay?
#13[deleted]
Re: Ask HN: are soft lies in sales okay?
#14It depends entirely on what your goal is. If you want to create a billion dollar company it's probably essential. If you want to sleep well at night it's a mistake.
This is a very cynical way to view the world. I reject it completely. Being dishonest might benefit you in the short term, but building a reputation for honesty is a huge long term advantage.
Re: Ask HN: are soft lies in sales okay?
#15If you have to ask if its okay, it isn't for you.
I don't think that this sort of blanket statement is universal in the way that your tone implies.
Re: Ask HN: are soft lies in sales okay?
#16If you make a sale, you've committed yourself to making the lie come true (or at least hiding it's lack of truth). Say goodbye to your development schedule and/or your tech support budget.
Of course, hardcore sales people who don't mind lying will cheerfully say 'all's fair in love and war, and no battle plan survives first contact with the enemy!'. Lots of business people love war metaphors because competition justifies all sorts of things, and when someone asks whether customers are the bombed out civilians in this scenario they can say 'it's only a metaphor, don't take it so seriously!'.
If it's a question about your product, don't, although it's OK to say 'were looking at it - and that's all I can tell you'. If it's a question about your company the answer is don't, but nor should be afraid to assert your privacy. If it's output rather than response to a question (eg a whiff of bullshit in your sales literature, I'd say avoid anything more specific than 'our product is the most awesome' that can't be justified.
Re: Ask HN: are soft lies in sales okay?
#17If you make a sale, you've committed yourself to making the lie come true (or at least hiding it's lack of truth). Say goodbye to your development schedule and/or your tech support budget. Of course, hardcore sales people who don't mind lying will cheerfully say 'all's fair in love and war, and no battle plan survives first contact with the enemy!'. Lots of business people love war metaphors because competition justi…
tl;dr it's ok to lie to competitors, but not to your customers.
Re: Ask HN: are soft lies in sales okay?
#18Never. Trust lost is trust lost forever.
Reminds me of the parable of a man who sometimes stretched the truth in business. He went to a guru for help with his "problem".
The guru's advice: "Take these 10 feather pillows, slash them open, and release the feathers to the wind. Then come back tomorrow."
The next day the man returned for more advice, "Now go get the feathers."
Re: Ask HN: are soft lies in sales okay?
#19It depends entirely on what your goal is. If you want to create a billion dollar company it's probably essential. If you want to sleep well at night it's a mistake.
This is a very cynical way to view the world. I reject it completely. Being dishonest might benefit you in the short term, but building a reputation for honesty is a huge long term advantage.
You're right, it is very cynical. Unfortunately it's also true. I have seen people rise to fame and fortune, and very few of them have done so by building a reputation for honesty. It appears to me that 80% of the people that "make it" financially have done so by lying or cheating at some point in the game. The remaining 20% have made it by having an impeccable reputation that they build on. It's not the norm though. There seems to be differences in these numbers depending on what industry you're in. Construction appears at one end of the spectrum to be thoroughly corrupt, Software appears at the other end to be very trust and reputation based. That said, I know people in the software industry that have lied and gamed their way to their fortune.
I don't particularly like it, I just observe the world I live in, and not the world I would like to live in.
Re: Ask HN: are soft lies in sales okay?
#20As I understand it, "Ask HN" posts are supposed to be local, not on another site. But perhaps that was a white lie in your perspective?
"Ask HN" posts are supposed to be local Why? What if you want to include a chart or a picture in your 'Ask HN' post?
I guess it's a convention that comes with the fact that people (in many cases) look more kindly on "Ask HN" types of posts and upvote them more generously than external articles.