Like many of you, I get numerous sales calls daily from people looking to sell leads, websites, and other forms of advertising. I'm typically polite and at least listen to their initial pitch. You never know when somebody might actually be selling something I want or need.
Today I received one of those calls. They were selling print advertising in a niche magazine. I do almost no print these days so I told him that I was not interested.
Being in sales, I gave him credit when he asked, "Why?"
So I proceeded to tell him about our experience with print advertising over the years and how it never had a positive ROI.
There was silence on the other end of the line for a few seconds and then out it came, "The good news is that it's a tax write-off!"
Now I was hot! His pitch boiled down to giving him money so I could have a tax write-off! If I want a tax write-off I'll donate money to some charity I care about. He clearly didn't care about my need to generate revenue or that a good business person looks for a positive ROI on expenditures.
Can you imagine me telling one of my clients not to worry about what it costs or if I can actually deliver because it's a tax write-off?
Sigh...I feel better now.
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