Police Marketing Translator: Spotting a Hidden Sales Pitch!

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Been getting hit up by outside companies who are just trying to do their part to help you out of your recruiting mess only to wind up on a high-pressure sales call and an unrelenting email mailing list?  😩

Yeah, not fun…here are five seemingly innocent phrases to watch out for that are tell tale signs you’re about to get sold...keep reading! 👀

Hey everyone, it’s Tom Sye your Police Marketing FTO, and this week, let me give you some access to my sales talk translator and the innocuous sounding phrases that salespersons use to try to get you on the phone so they can sell you. 🤖   

Now…I’ve only been back at my agency for a little over a month and already I’m getting hit up left and right by marketing companies, recruiting coaches, media advertising executives, and the like all wanting to spend a few minutes to introduce me to their great ideas that are going to solve all of my recruiting problems.  With no pressure, of course.  I’m sure you’re getting a fair share of these too. 🙄

Before you get bamboozled and talked into something your agency really doesn’t need, let me give you five common phrases you can look out for that will let you know that super helpful, yet unsolicited email, has an ulterior motive…your money…

1. Free Consultation

This one’s been around for a long time but is somehow still pretty effective at getting people on the phone because they associate the word ‘free’ with meaning forever.  Believe you me, the only thing free about a free consultation is the phone call you’re making. 💯

Salespersons are counting on the ‘no obligation’ factor to get you to their door…so they can sell you and sell you hard.  But here’s the bottom line…if their ‘product’ or ‘solution’ was so good, you’d be soliciting them…not the other way around.  Free consultation equals sales pitch.  💸  

2. Discovery Call

This phrase has become incredibly popular amongst salespersons over the past couple of years because it sounds fresh and new…we’re going to discover the solution to your problem together.  Sounds great, right? 🤔

Well, that’s until you get on the phone and the only thing being discovered is how much recruitment budget you have and how much of it, you’re willing to spend.  Trust me, you’re not going to discover this unbelievable solution that their company, and only their company knows of.  Nope, you’re going to be on a one-way trip to high pressure sales land, and the return flight is gonna be delayed.  Discovery call equals sales pitch. 💺

3. Planning Call

Similarly, this phrase is really new to the sales world and is just a variation of our previous entrant, the discovery call.  The gist of the message is that you can go over your unique recruiting situation and then they’ll help you create a plan of attack. 🥊 

The problem is that your plan is the same plan that everyone else gets too.  And it’s all designed to keep you on the merry go round, thank you Wolf of Wall Street, and your money flowing into their pockets.  Planning call equals sales pitch. 🎡

4. Introductory Meeting

This is one of the sneakier sales pitches because it is delivered under the illusion that this person has now been assigned to your account and therefore, they want to get to know you a little better so they can help provide excellent customer service to you. 👍 

The problem with this is…you don’t have an account with this company.  This is just a psychological ploy to get you to meet with them.  They're banking on the fact that if you believe there is already some kind of relationship between the two of you, you’ll be more apt to agree to the meeting.  Where, undoubtedly, you’re gonna be sold to.  Introductory meeting equals sales pitch. 🧠   

5. I’d like to share a few ideas

This one is usually paired with a claim of partnering with law enforcement agencies in your area and how they, much like an introductory meeting, would like to get together to discuss and share some ideas that have worked well for others. 🤯

In reality, there is no partnership.  They’ve simply sold marketing products to other agencies and want to pitch you the same exact thing hoping that, because another agency bought it you’ll jump on board too. 👯‍♀️

The only thing that works well in these ideas they want to share with you is the idea of them taking your money.  Over and over again.  'Share a few ideas' equals sales pitch.  💡

Ready for better Police Marketing?

OK…now that you’re armed with some knowledge of how to spot a sales pitch right off the bat in an email, voicemail, comment or conversation, how bout you start learning what all of those marketing products they’re trying to sell you will really do for your agency and stop taking a salespersons word for it. 💪

My Road to Better Recruiting online training course is open right now and will teach you everything you need to evaluate all of those advertising packages that are being thrown at you every day so you can understand their true value, from an unbiased source, this guy right here, and what they will and more importantly won’t do for you. 🙌

Check it out now on my website by visiting www.forcopstraining.com/rtbr and stop pouring endless dollars down a bottomless recruiting solutions hole. 🕳️

Know someone in recruiting who you don’t want to see fall victim to a fancy wording bait and switch?  Share this newsletter with them so they can learn too.  Listen, we’re all in this together and it’s going to take every last one of us to change the future of police recruiting. 🤝

Have more questions about police recruiting, marketing, or anything else you're struggling with? Don't hesitate to reach out...I’m always here to help. 🙏

Until next week my Police Marketing Squad, happy recruiting! 😃

Tom

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👋 I’m Tom Sye, your Police Marketing FTO. I founded ‘For Cops’ Training to teach Police Departments how to attract more qualified candidates through the same tried and tested methods I’ve used for the past ten years at my own department to keep up with turnover and stay ahead of vacancies.

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