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This story happened to our Marketing Director, Mark. It happened a few years ago, but something just reminded me of it.
Mark was staffing our booth at a trade show and somehow was unable to say "no" when the organizers came around looking for raffle prizes. He ended up offering a free copy of our $600 software to the raffle pool.
Now a little background. The market for our product is tiny, but we happen to have a 90% share of that market. When this story happened our biggest competitor was trying to increase his market share by cultivating a cult following among his customers by painting us as the big, bad, indifferent corporate bullies of the industry (all twelve employees of us in our world headquarters located between a dentist and a real estate agency). Most of their customers were smart enough to see through it, but some bought the entire marketing campaign wholesale. Think Microsoft vs. Apple on a very VERY tiny scale.
As luck would have it, the person who won our software in the raffle was one of the competitor's customers. But she was one who could not differentiate her software preference from her religion. And she was a fanatic devotee. Our software was of Satan and she simply wasn't going to use it.
If she had decided to give it away or perhaps burn it to remove any possibility that somebody might become contaminated with its evil, we wouldn't have much of story.
But that isn't what she did. She stormed up to our booth, slammed the box down in front of Mark and spat out that she won it in the raffle.
Mark congratulated her and asked if there was a problem he could help with. He was getting that she was angry, but was genuinely baffled about the reason. Most folks like winning things, right?
Wrong question. She ranted on and on about how she used the competitor's product, how superior it was, how evil we were, how dare we expect her to USE our product. There was more, but that was the jist.
Mark was a bit taken aback, but told her was sorry she felt that way and reassured her that we had no intention of forcing her to use our product. If she didn't want the raffle prize, she was welcome to sell it or donate it to whoever she wished. Yes. You didn't misread. There was a nice subtle little jab built into that apology that was designed to go right over her head. Mark is very good at those. That's why he's in marketing.
But she wasn't interested in any of Mark's suggestions. She was on a righteous tirade, after all. She demanded that we substitute the latest version of the competition's product for her raffle prize so she could have a free update of the competitor's product. She actually expected him to buy it from them and give it to her.
Mark saw no reason to do that and quietly told her so, while trying not to laugh out loud at her. It was a crowded exhibit hall and people were staring at the entire spectacle. He didn't want to be seen laughing in customers' faces; it wouldn't look professional.
She didn't give up, though. She seriously thought she was ENTITLED to a substitute raffle prize of her own choosing and couldn't see why we wouldn't give it to her. Mark was bracing himself to have the box thrown at him, but luckily that didn't happen. He almost wished it would, though, because he would have an excuse to call security.
Finally, though, she had to give up. She realized that nothing she said or did was going to get her what she though she was entitled to and stormed off with a few parting shots, taking the offending software with her, of course.
Since then a few things have happened:
It looks like she decided to finally sell her raffle prize on eBay. At least, somebody else just registered that serial number and told us they bought it from eBay. That's what reminded me of this story. I have to wonder how she can justify making money by selling the tool of the devil?
Another thing which has happened is that Mark finds it much easier to say "no" when trade show organizers try to solicit raffle prizes from him. He will tell this this story when pressed and they will immediately back off.
One more thing which has happened since then is that we bought out the competitor to whom she swore an undying oath of loyalty and devotion. If she wants support for her software or to purchase an update, she has to come to us now.
BWAAAA HA HA HA! We will someday RULE THE WORLD and all will BOW to our EVIL!
Mark was staffing our booth at a trade show and somehow was unable to say "no" when the organizers came around looking for raffle prizes. He ended up offering a free copy of our $600 software to the raffle pool.
Now a little background. The market for our product is tiny, but we happen to have a 90% share of that market. When this story happened our biggest competitor was trying to increase his market share by cultivating a cult following among his customers by painting us as the big, bad, indifferent corporate bullies of the industry (all twelve employees of us in our world headquarters located between a dentist and a real estate agency). Most of their customers were smart enough to see through it, but some bought the entire marketing campaign wholesale. Think Microsoft vs. Apple on a very VERY tiny scale.
As luck would have it, the person who won our software in the raffle was one of the competitor's customers. But she was one who could not differentiate her software preference from her religion. And she was a fanatic devotee. Our software was of Satan and she simply wasn't going to use it.
If she had decided to give it away or perhaps burn it to remove any possibility that somebody might become contaminated with its evil, we wouldn't have much of story.
But that isn't what she did. She stormed up to our booth, slammed the box down in front of Mark and spat out that she won it in the raffle.
Mark congratulated her and asked if there was a problem he could help with. He was getting that she was angry, but was genuinely baffled about the reason. Most folks like winning things, right?
Wrong question. She ranted on and on about how she used the competitor's product, how superior it was, how evil we were, how dare we expect her to USE our product. There was more, but that was the jist.
Mark was a bit taken aback, but told her was sorry she felt that way and reassured her that we had no intention of forcing her to use our product. If she didn't want the raffle prize, she was welcome to sell it or donate it to whoever she wished. Yes. You didn't misread. There was a nice subtle little jab built into that apology that was designed to go right over her head. Mark is very good at those. That's why he's in marketing.
But she wasn't interested in any of Mark's suggestions. She was on a righteous tirade, after all. She demanded that we substitute the latest version of the competition's product for her raffle prize so she could have a free update of the competitor's product. She actually expected him to buy it from them and give it to her.
Mark saw no reason to do that and quietly told her so, while trying not to laugh out loud at her. It was a crowded exhibit hall and people were staring at the entire spectacle. He didn't want to be seen laughing in customers' faces; it wouldn't look professional.
She didn't give up, though. She seriously thought she was ENTITLED to a substitute raffle prize of her own choosing and couldn't see why we wouldn't give it to her. Mark was bracing himself to have the box thrown at him, but luckily that didn't happen. He almost wished it would, though, because he would have an excuse to call security.
Finally, though, she had to give up. She realized that nothing she said or did was going to get her what she though she was entitled to and stormed off with a few parting shots, taking the offending software with her, of course.
Since then a few things have happened:
It looks like she decided to finally sell her raffle prize on eBay. At least, somebody else just registered that serial number and told us they bought it from eBay. That's what reminded me of this story. I have to wonder how she can justify making money by selling the tool of the devil?
Another thing which has happened is that Mark finds it much easier to say "no" when trade show organizers try to solicit raffle prizes from him. He will tell this this story when pressed and they will immediately back off.
One more thing which has happened since then is that we bought out the competitor to whom she swore an undying oath of loyalty and devotion. If she wants support for her software or to purchase an update, she has to come to us now.
BWAAAA HA HA HA! We will someday RULE THE WORLD and all will BOW to our EVIL!
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