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Answers (8)
Best Answer
- wetdawgs
- Contributions:26841
Thanks for the compliments. You made my day, and the sun broke through the clouds just as I read your post (yes, true!). Thumbs up to you (too bad I can't give you two, but consider it done by karma).
You will be happy to see that the Zillow moderator agreed with you and did some damage to the guy's infomercial.
You will be happy to see that the Zillow moderator agreed with you and did some damage to the guy's infomercial.
- BungalowMo
- Contributions:232
Right. The old "my way or the highway" approach. These high dollar "pro's" are hired to build the company & promote the product and all they end up doing is causing chaos, which in turn, causes the real workers & great sales & technical folks to jump ship.
Then the company is left with the high dollar bozo, who can't lead a team of cats to catnip.
It really is a shame when people like him come to a site such as this & try to push their product, not even trhough a backdoor, but through the basement window. I just hope he got the hint & went elsewhere.
The fact that we all can freely give opinions, ask for information, provide many different options & subsequently weigh it all out is the basis for this site's (and many others I frequent as well) existence. All without shoving any singular idea down anyones throat.*
*Although I do admit to being on the side of preservation rather than renovation when it comes to historic homes & old properties in general. I can't help it, it's a passion of mine. Something that is over 100 years old...I think we should do our part to preserve it, since once it's gone, there's no getting it back.
Then the company is left with the high dollar bozo, who can't lead a team of cats to catnip.
It really is a shame when people like him come to a site such as this & try to push their product, not even trhough a backdoor, but through the basement window. I just hope he got the hint & went elsewhere.
The fact that we all can freely give opinions, ask for information, provide many different options & subsequently weigh it all out is the basis for this site's (and many others I frequent as well) existence. All without shoving any singular idea down anyones throat.*
*Although I do admit to being on the side of preservation rather than renovation when it comes to historic homes & old properties in general. I can't help it, it's a passion of mine. Something that is over 100 years old...I think we should do our part to preserve it, since once it's gone, there's no getting it back.
- hpvanc
- Contributions:2579
Unfortunately it is the only way many of these salespeople seem to know how to communicate, regardless of whether they are in a social or business situation. Have you ever been stuck on an airplane with a passenger near you, (sometimes not actually selling anything at that moment) every sentence is structured with the emphasis and cadence of a salespitch, and apparently the passengers stuck within his row either don't have the will to tell them to shut up or headphones to put on and pretend to go to sleep?
As to the negativity comments, I once worked for a company that elevated that theory to its ultimate height, all challenges to marketing ideas were considered negative and not allowed, what happened is what would be expected, the "greatest marketing" ideas were put into practice, alienating existing and potential customers, and in very short order the only thing left to sell was the shell of the former company itself. Unfortunately the "great mind" that was hired to help grow the company from 400+ employees when they started, was retained until the sale when the company was back down to low double digit number of employees. Apparently much beloved by the venture capital providers.
As to the negativity comments, I once worked for a company that elevated that theory to its ultimate height, all challenges to marketing ideas were considered negative and not allowed, what happened is what would be expected, the "greatest marketing" ideas were put into practice, alienating existing and potential customers, and in very short order the only thing left to sell was the shell of the former company itself. Unfortunately the "great mind" that was hired to help grow the company from 400+ employees when they started, was retained until the sale when the company was back down to low double digit number of employees. Apparently much beloved by the venture capital providers.
- BungalowMo
- Contributions:232
So this got me thinking & I noticed he's only got 4 contributions here. 3 of them were his question & 2 answers on that post.
So I went to his profile to see what was the other "contribution"...imagine that...another question:
http://www.zillow.com/advice-thread/would-it-be-a-benefit-if-you-could-have-a-100-impenetrable-entry-doors-that-are-customized/419352/
Same pitch in nearly the same wording. No other contributions to anything else on the entire site.
Kind of reminds me of a nasty headache, you just want it to go away.
So I went to his profile to see what was the other "contribution"...imagine that...another question:
http://www.zillow.com/advice-thread/would-it-be-a-benefit-if-you-could-have-a-100-impenetrable-entry-doors-that-are-customized/419352/
Same pitch in nearly the same wording. No other contributions to anything else on the entire site.
Kind of reminds me of a nasty headache, you just want it to go away.
- BungalowMo
- Contributions:232
SoCal Engr...After re-reading all the responses, yours did crack me up too!
"You're obviously trying to pimp something. Why don't you just tell use what it is...in a non-self-promoting kind of way."
He couldn't do it...at theast the non-self-promoting part.
I just figure that if you have a product you want to advertise, do the right thing and pay for it.
Just a smarmy dude in my eyes. Glad to see other members & the moderators agreed.
"You're obviously trying to pimp something. Why don't you just tell use what it is...in a non-self-promoting kind of way."
He couldn't do it...at theast the non-self-promoting part.
I just figure that if you have a product you want to advertise, do the right thing and pay for it.
Just a smarmy dude in my eyes. Glad to see other members & the moderators agreed.
- SoCal_Engr
- Contributions:5666
Check out the post, and you'll see that Zillow agrees that the content "crossed the line".
For the most part, the obvous "cross the line" situaiton is when contact info is included in the post. Somewhat strangely (from the perspective of "but, it's okay on other sites"), the post may be 100% responsive to a question, but having the info in the signature counts as "self-promotion". Pesonally, I agree with this policy and believe it stops many ugly signature blocks and senseless answers just to get the signature block on the page.
There is another brand of self-promotion that is disguised (often poorly) as a Public Service Announcement, but contains no contact information. Sometimes, it does include a "if interested, contact me through my profile". However, these posts seem to at least adhere to the letter of Zillow's policy - though not the spirit.
Had Mr. Doorsalesman simply posted "Have you heard about these doors?" he probably would have been okay. Even including some basic info about the doors would probably not have resulted in the moderator edit. IMHO, what pushed these posts over the line is the combined effect of the multiple posts. Zillow tends to let some marginal posts alone, unless a pattern-of-abuse starts to become evident. Of course, the admission of "yes, I'm selling these" was a definite nail-in-the-coffin.
For the most part, the obvous "cross the line" situaiton is when contact info is included in the post. Somewhat strangely (from the perspective of "but, it's okay on other sites"), the post may be 100% responsive to a question, but having the info in the signature counts as "self-promotion". Pesonally, I agree with this policy and believe it stops many ugly signature blocks and senseless answers just to get the signature block on the page.
There is another brand of self-promotion that is disguised (often poorly) as a Public Service Announcement, but contains no contact information. Sometimes, it does include a "if interested, contact me through my profile". However, these posts seem to at least adhere to the letter of Zillow's policy - though not the spirit.
Had Mr. Doorsalesman simply posted "Have you heard about these doors?" he probably would have been okay. Even including some basic info about the doors would probably not have resulted in the moderator edit. IMHO, what pushed these posts over the line is the combined effect of the multiple posts. Zillow tends to let some marginal posts alone, unless a pattern-of-abuse starts to become evident. Of course, the admission of "yes, I'm selling these" was a definite nail-in-the-coffin.
- BungalowMo
- Contributions:232
Yes Dawgs...you know who I mean. I just think his back-door way of trying to peddle his product is pretty cheesy.
Thanks for the link. I was actually looking for (what turned out to be the good neighbor policy) some sort of rules regarding this. Without even ever reading this. I have always tried to conduct myself on here in a way to give answers or opinions on topics I find to be of an interest to me.
In these answers, if I am in a strong disagreement with either the original poster or another forum member, I don't like to just spew my opinions, but rather give reasons or documented findings to support my view.
But this guy wonders where the "negativity" is coming from....well it's coming from the fact that he thinks we're not smart enough to know he's pedalling his product.
If he was playing by the rules, he would simply say...here's my product. Any one interested? Email me.
BTW....wetdawgs...I really like a lot of your posts. Great point of view, with a touch of humor now & then too! You & sunnyview are my 2 favorites! :0)
Thanks for the link. I was actually looking for (what turned out to be the good neighbor policy) some sort of rules regarding this. Without even ever reading this. I have always tried to conduct myself on here in a way to give answers or opinions on topics I find to be of an interest to me.
In these answers, if I am in a strong disagreement with either the original poster or another forum member, I don't like to just spew my opinions, but rather give reasons or documented findings to support my view.
But this guy wonders where the "negativity" is coming from....well it's coming from the fact that he thinks we're not smart enough to know he's pedalling his product.
If he was playing by the rules, he would simply say...here's my product. Any one interested? Email me.
BTW....wetdawgs...I really like a lot of your posts. Great point of view, with a touch of humor now & then too! You & sunnyview are my 2 favorites! :0)
- wetdawgs
- Contributions:26841
Are your referring to the door salesman infomercial? I'm also concerned about it. If it were real estate, he would have been zapped by Zillow moderators days ago.
Here are the two places to start:
Good Neighbor Policy.
And Rachel's comments here. (it is a "best answer" to the post so might not open precisely to the right spot).
Here are the two places to start:
Good Neighbor Policy.
And Rachel's comments here. (it is a "best answer" to the post so might not open precisely to the right spot).
Salesman/self promotion question
Just curious, as I found a post that seems to be doing this.
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