Men: do you get insulted when companies use female sales reps dressed up to the nines?

[shaayecanaan]

I make all the IT purchases at the firm at which I work. This is mainly because people more senior than me used to make those purchases and ended up buying a whole heap of crap.

I generally don't respond to cold calls and the like, but someone ended up making an appointment with me for someone from some company touting customised middleware solutions or somesuch.

A rep turns up. Young, blonde, lots of cleavage and skirt well, well north of the knee. She was very coquettish, smiles and hair flicks and leaning in and the like, despite the fact that I was curt and terse with her and grew increasingly more so. I got rid of her within 10 minutes. She was a bit perturbed.

My blood runs cold when people attempt this sort of thing. The implication is that I am going to be so dazzled by boobs and arse that I am going to sign up for their software, which I find frankly insulting.

On the other hand, it is quite true that male sales reps attempt to project their own image as well (BMW M3, tanned, cut suits and cufflinks, bluetooth headpiece on the ear). They always seem to carry around iPads as well, even if they only use them for emails.

Nevertheless, I was surprised at how annoyed I was. Almost felt like calling the company and complaining.

[Warren DeMontague]

1. It is important to be dressed appropriately for a given situation.

For instance, the only way I'm going into this thread is like this:

[JVS]

10. I can't believe the flame war hasn't started yet!

[steve2470]

27. same here nt

[zappaman]

51. DUZY! n/t

[OffWithTheirHeads]

2. I know i'm being played and yes, it annoys me.

[RKP5637]

3. I get annoyed with it all too, male or female! I come just short of outright laughing at them. n/t

[jollyreaper2112]

4. I hate sed abuse

Full on porn with all the jiggly bits is honest. Bare breasts are honest. Putting naked people on the DVD case is honest. Using tits to sell beer is immoral. Using sex appeal to get sales is immoral. Flirting to get favors when there's no real interest is immoral. It's using sex for perverse purposes. It's just as sick for a woman to offer a blowjob for a promotion as it is for a man to demand one.

Use of sex in marketing makes me sick.

[JVS]

5. As long as the sales rep takes me out for dinner and booze and pays for the escort, he/she can...

wear whatever they find most comfortable. I'm egalitarian like that.

[htuttle]

6. I always warn them ahead of time -- bring an engineer.

I've been in the business since most of the vendor reps were in grade school, and I look like a cross between the worst stereotype of an old Unix hack and Bret Spiner's character in Independence Day.

I'm usually able to raise a sweat on the sales engineer's forehead within half an hour.

[KittyWampus]

87. your self description has me lol'ing. It's quite funny and well written. Could easily turn it into

a short story.

[htuttle]

89. I didn't write these, but I wish I did...

Tales of the Bastard Operator from Hell

Operation Vendordrome
http://www.reddit.com/r/talesfromtechsupport/comments/1w0cte/tales_from_the_unhelpful_desk_16_the_bofh_way_to/

[1000words]

7. They wouldn't do it if it didn't work a majority of the time

I'm with you, though ... I find it insulting.

[shaayecanaan]

12. I know

I'm not sure who to be annoyed at, the woman who was frankly unprofessional, the company or the men who obviously fall for it.

[1000words]

20. The best products/services sell themselves

A good salesperson doesn't need to rely on gimmicks or sexuality to close the deal.

[DebJ]

83. ^This!!!!!^ If they need boobs, the product must stink. Like Miley Cyrus and other circus

performers who claim to be musicians.

[lunasun]

8. one came in -bank rep for medical acct

The front desk came to the back office and asked "who ordered a hooker? She's here"

Yeah they are always the same.....like they were formed on some pod farm
.....
annoying is a good word, although I find it freakish
(not in a sexual way)

[doc03]

9. This looks like troll bait so someone can say you are hurtful,

insensitive or sexist so they can have your comment removed. So I plead the 5th.

[JVS]

19. Yeah. I'm going with this.

This is a set up for a lose-lose situation in which the responder has the choice of being chastised for a) being so sexist and entitled that they see nothing wrong with professional women being forced by their employers to dress revealingly, or b) having the audacity to pass judgment on a woman's choice of clothing and applying sexist and possibly slut-shaming evaluations to their wardrobe choices.

[shaayecanaan]

90. bit weird really

Some people complain about being bombarded with sexualized images of women in the media, but according to at least some people with that same viewpoint, brandishing your breasts during an ostensibly professional encounter is apparently okay.

[rug]

11. No.

I do, however, get insulted by NFL logos and flags over every other product.

[lpbk2713]

13. Both genders should go easy on the fragrance.

Going overboard on cologne or perfume can be a problem with asthmatics.

[1000words]

15. OMG ... yes!

I'm allergic to most.

[arcane1]

41. Agreed. Though I define "overboard" as "more than one molecule" n/t

[exboyfil]

78. Same here

It makes me physically sick. My wife and daughters keep it to a minimum (not for me since I have never said anything).

[Le Taz Hot]

84. Could I just rec this comment about a million times?

Lately I've been running into the perfume/cologne "sharers" at the grocery store. And the thing is, even when they're not there, their stank remains for several minutes. Last time I flew I was assigned a seat next to a perfume bather. I was wheezing within 3 minutes. The flight attendant was kind enough to move me once the seatbelt sign was off.

[Gman]

14. That shit pisses me off

And I get rid of em quickly like you did. You want to say, "Please, I don't think you're gonna fuck me if I buy something,".

[shaayecanaan]

17. I didnt shut the door to my office

frankly, I didnt feel comfortable doing so.

[11 Bravo]

16. Nah, but I have a slightly less sensitive outrage-o-meter than some.

[Codeine]

18. Attractive young ladies with glasses and full-sleeve tattoos are all the rage

as sales reps for small craft beer companies in Southern California right now. I don't find myself any more or less likely to buy beer from those ladies than I was from the hipster dudes with newsboy caps who used to be de riguer for the industry. Craft beer sells itself these days.

That said, they certainly are beautiful.

[JVS]

23. I met the MGD girls at a bar one night and they were cool.

They were printing up free customizable tshirts and were willing to run things through the profanity filter ahead of time so we could figure out the best ones.

[shaayecanaan]

35. "craft beer sells itself these days"

surely you jest.

[Codeine]

39. I bring in so many new beers each month it's crazy.

Stone Brewing (one of our largest and most-successful brewery suppliers) is rumored to be planning 160 individual beer releases this calendar year. I'll carry as many as I'm actually able to get from their limited production runs, and they'll all sell.

About five or six days back I picked up a whole new brewery line (a tiny little startup still doing single-barrel production) from a stereotypically-petite and tattooed alterna-hottie sales rep -- I'd have just as easily bought the beer from a 300lb sweatloaf. Her beauty, while undeniable, did not sell the beer.

[shaayecanaan]

45. you probably get rid of as many as well

people drink beer with sage and coltsfoot extracts for a month and then they move onto absinthe or yerba mate or some other hipster shit.

[zappaman]

52. What do you think about Russian River?

Great beers but I get a little tired of them playing hard to get.
Stone, on the other hand, just makes great beer. The Enjoy By is especially nice.
Oh, and Lagunitas is a big favorite in my fridge as well!

[Codeine]

70. I hate their artificial scarcity.

Getting a case of Pliny the Elder in is like finding a white lion in the wild. That said, boy does it sell when you do.

The last Enjoy By sold out the entire production run in a day and a half. Our allocation had the fastest shelf turnaround I've ever seen. They're coming out with an "Enjoy After" soon -- same gimmick, but now they recommend you cellar it for a year before drinking.

We sell the Lagunitas IPA quite well, but the rest of their line is iffy.

[OriginalGeek]

96. I've got a little Sumpin sumpin in the fridge

but if you ask me again in a few hours, I won't have.

[Cali_Democrat]

21. I work in IT for a large company, but I'm not involved in sales

We have a sales department for that.

Frankly, I didn't know this kind of thing goes on.

[madinmaryland]

22. We had some very attractive female reps who dressed very "nicely", but they knew

what they were talking about. We had lots of work and the reps knew that we didn't have time to waste. Amazing what a lunch and learn would accomplish.

As long as they know what they are talking about and know the product, it doesn't matter to me. Much better than the cigarette addled geezers who come in and don't give a shit about the product and just want to talk their boat and their golf game.

[Codeine]

25. I hate it when sales reps just reek, reek, reek of cigarettes.

So nasty. Hard for me to take a sales pitch seriously when you smell like you've been bathing in an ashtray.

[bluestate10]

50. That type is almost extinct these days. nt

[shaayecanaan]

32. My gut reaction is

if you have faith in your ability to talk sense, then you don't need your breasts to make the sale for you.

I used to work with a lawyer who was a very attractive lady, but dressed quite demurely. Business suit, slacks, flat fully enclosed shoes. I respected her enormously. You could still tell that she was attractive, but she chose not to flaunt it. Bloody good practitioner too.

A bit like a client I have, who made his fortune in the ag chemicals business. Guy had some serious money, but drove a modest car, wore suits off the rack, had a Casio watch. He barely spoke above a whisper, but when he did people listened.

I tend to respect those who talk quietly and carry a big stick.

[Boom Sound 416]

24. ...

[Auggie]

26. Never bothered me

I saw all kinds of salespeople … men and women, some dressed over-the-top and many not. I chalked it up to individual style (advertising is all about style anyhow). But I was looking at portfolios, not boobs.

[Aerows]

28. It probably wouldn't bother me

because they would be meeting with an equally well-dressed woman. But hey, I like the curves (except that time that I got Sharon Stoned by a woman from Deloitte Touche - that kind of bothered me).

[steve2470]

29. really ??? wow.... nt

[Aerows]

30. I kid you not

You'd be surprised what people will do to sell consulting services to IT departments.

[steve2470]

31. that blew my mind

Learned something new today, thanks for that Aerows ! Hope you're feeling better and staying warm !

[Aerows]

34. She was flirting her ass off

and I was asking about logistical concerns. I guess she thought logistics meant ... there, not the servers!

[shaayecanaan]

44. "well-dressed"

thats one way of putting it I suppose.

[Aerows]

46. Well, I'm usually well-dressed and conservatively dressed

Meaning no cleavage or excessive leg showing. Others that have arrived for meetings? Clingy pretty much does not describe it. Where are you, though? Are you in the Middle East? There is a very different standard for women here in the West than there is in the Middle East.

[bluestate10]

55. Sharon Stone situations happen, so does flexing muscles and prominent crotches.

That happens.

[Aerows]

57. It does

It's kind of hilarious.

[AngryAmish]

33. one of my "account reps" is on the Blackhawks Ice Crew

Google blackhawks ice crew.

She is an account rep for a loan shark/lawsuit loan outfit that too many of my clients have to resort to because they are crippled and getting evicted.

Anyway, they are all the same to me (or any lawyer). So they compete on sex appeal and golf outing. This particular companies golf outing is lacking (seven bridges? Really? Get me on ShoreAcres.)

Anyway, it is always nice to see beautiful women.

[lumberjack_jeff]

36. Yes.

I hate "being sold" under the best of circumstances.

[Whisp]

37. but do the male execs stick their ass cleavage in your face?

yah, I don't understand that sex sells thing. It's embarrassing for everyone.

[Aerows]

40. It's embarrassing for everyone

I didn't realize when I was early in my coming out phase that everyone knew I was gay. I guess my girlfriend sending me a dozen roses on Valentine's Day clued them all in. Then this woman trying to sell consulting services to my company's IT department... Good lord.

[Vashta Nerada]

38. Yes. I can think with more than my penis.

[TheMathieu]

42. I'd never buy anything impulsively.

But I'd sure appreciate the show.

[MannyGoldstein]

43. You kidding? I love it!

Of course I'll never buy anything from companies that do that - how good can their products be if they can't sell on the merits?

[Aerows]

47. I think this person is from the Middle East

He freaked out when I described myself as well-dressed. I think that pretty much means, OMG you aren't at home, and why should a man have to meet with the likes of you?

[shaayecanaan]

49. I hardly ever ride my camel to work though...

Usually I don't get time because my fourth wife hasn't ironed out the creases on my spotlessly white dishdasha. I tried to sell her to the Taliban but the guy from FedEx wasn't having a bar of it.

[BainsBane]

53. . . .

[Aerows]

56. Could you then explain what is "Well-dressed" for a woman?

I already explained that I recognize that some women dress provocatively in sales. I'm just confused that you couldn't seem to differentiate between my description and a woman "dressed to throw herself" at you.

[shaayecanaan]

60. To quote...

You said:

It probably wouldn't bother me because they would be meeting with an equally well-dressed woman.

You therefore seemed to be saying that the sort of dress I described amounted to being "well-dressed". Frankly I would describe it as unprofessional.

You only described your mode of dress after I had made my comment.

[Iggo]

48. Nope.

If she can do the job, what do I care?

[Egalitarian Thug]

54. All sales weasels annoy me, but the T&A tactic is the second worst, to me.

The worst is the subtle intimidation/fear monger approach, that one would get you escorted from the building.

Or maybe the assume-the-mark-is-a-moron approach, that one really pisses me off, too.

So, I guess the answer to your question is, yes, I find it offensive, but less offensive than some other "sales techniques".

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

58. If they're actually capable it doesn't really bother me or affect me.

Image is part of sales and I get that. As my girlfriend has taken a more public role in her company she has begun to look the part. Her role is in R&D, but in large deals that involve customizations she inevitably ends up at the table and not in a t-shirt and flip-flops.

If they're just a roaming "booth babe" who really has nothing to say, that does get on my nerves since at best they're a bungling intermediary or at worst something a little more tawdry.

[TeeYiYi]

59. Your reaction...

...says more about you than the salesperson.

Your only concern should have been about the product being pitched.

So what, in the final analysis, was your problem with this woman?... Was she too attractive? Too refined? Too sharp? Too well dressed? Too knowledgeable about the product?...

Too female?

TYY

[shaayecanaan]

61. If a male sales rep

turned up in crotch-grabbing vinyl pants and a shirt that barely sufficed to cover his nipples, then I dare say I would have formed the same impression.

How you dress and how you conduct yourself in a professional environment has consequences.

[TeeYiYi]

65. How did she get a sit down with you?...

If you had already determined who she was and what she represented; the value of her product based on her looks,... how did she make it past the front desk?

TYY

[shaayecanaan]

67. She was able to badger my PA

into making an appointment with me. That won't happen again.

[badtoworse]

62. Wouldn't bother me

[Peregrine]

63. No

Back in the 90's, I had the 1st runner-up from the 1980 Miss Maryland working for me as my business manager for the state. She is now a very sr. manager for the MicroSoft state business division.

[JI7]

64. i have seen both, male and female and unless they know what they are selling

and people actually want it they go out of business.

i have seen people dress in everyday wear like shirts and hoodies and do well because they know what they are selling .

i don't think it matters much in the end .

i actually think where looks matter the most is when it comes to how women are dressed for women's clothing stores. and men for men's clothing. because people are going for a certain look and they see the person whose style they are going for so they will trust them to help them out.

[cherokeeprogressive]

66. Nnnnnnnope.

[Lost_Count]

68. Benefit of being in the military...

[NuclearDem]

73. Well, that's not usually an issue with military.

I can't think of a single uniform that does any servicemember of either gender any favors.

Except the blues. They made my ass look good.

[Lost_Count]

85. Putting mine together right now...

Big bucks for something thats just going to end up on the back of a chair while everyone drinks themselves to oblivion...

Gotta love ball season...

[NuclearDem]

86. That's why I never bothered with the mess kit.

Too much money, no real reason to wear it outside of the Air Force Prom.

[Notafraidtoo]

69. I am not a fan of marketing

I just want to know if things work and the price is fair, if someone attempts to prime me i am well aware and find it insulting. If a sales rep flirts with me I find it disrespectful.

[treestar]

71. Good on you for seeing through that

Like most of these attempts, they are just insulting, no matter who they are aimed at.

[Nye Bevan]

72. Sounds like she had quite an effect on you.

Instead of checking out her skirt length etc., try to focus on the product or service being sold. Not all men are reduced to drooling imbeciles every time they encounter a young attractive woman during the course of the working day.

[B Calm]

74. Sounds more interesting than having annoying unwanted telephone calls!

[targeted1]

75. Ok

Nice1

[gopiscrap]

100. welcome to DU

[WinkyDink]

76. "lots of cleavage and skirt well, well north of the knee" is the exact opposite of "dressed up to

the nines."

Just sayin'.

[mainer]

77. Ditto for pharmaceutical reps

Drug companies hired beautiful young women to talk doctors into trying their products. But with so many women now going into medicine, the gorgeous young gal rep isn't going to be as effective when the doctor is female. I wonder if they'll change course and hire gorgeous young men.

[aikoaiko]

79. No.

Are you sure you're anger is not overcompensation for looking at her cleavage, unskirted legs, and tempting by her hair flicks and leaning into you?

[shaayecanaan]

88. you assume a lot

How do you know I'm not gay? Or just hyposexual? A bit like that person above who made assumptions based on my middle eastern heritage. I thought that was stupid.

[HockeyMom]

80. Where do you live?

Don't blast me, people, but that mode of dress is very common in South Florida. Men? If you see a man in a business suit, it means he is either an attorney or a banker.

My husband works for a small software company. The men always wear shorts to work. Business casual was eliminated years ago. You described perfectly how the (younger) women dress, except one item. Flip Flops. lol Plus, why do so many women have blonde hair here?

[Blue_Tires]

81. +1

My uncle worked in insurance in Miami for about 15 years, and had a lot of stories about the conflict over the attire (or lack thereof) of female execs...He said part of it was the heat, part of it was the general laid-back nature of the city, and part of it was due to the Latino influence on the local culture...

[dawg]

82. Yes, I find it offensive.

It's an attempt to manipulate.

[jmowreader]

91. I get offended when companies use reps who don't know the product

You folks who work in offices are lucky to not get a never-ending stream of old paunchy guys in ugly ties, like 90 percent of print products salesmen are.

[AgingAmerican]

92. No

nt

[mythology]

93. I don't exactly get offended

but I try to generally not support businesses that do that because generally they are trying to sell me on the salesperson and not the product.

But on the flip side, berating the representative isn't a good idea either. I'm not saying you did that, but I went to a linux conference last year and Google sent a rep, who was female and while I don't remember exactly what she was wearing, she was dressed in something business casual I believe. And yet she got attacked by people who disagreed with Google's business practices. I'm not sure that would have happened if she had been a man.

[FarCenter]

94. What was she willing to do to close the deal?

[ksoze]

95. Your generalization of people borders on crazy

Try and judge people by what they say and do - not on how they dress or the car they drive. You'll lower your BP and your firm will get the service from you they asked for instead of a Joan Rivers wannabe. A frumpy female or poorly trimmed male does not equate to a better rep.

[alp227]

97. YES! If they have to resort to that, chances are their product is pure shit. nt

[TheFrenchRazor]

98. not male, but over-dressing makes me wonder what people are hiding. if they are focussing that much

that much on their appearance, i get the feeling that whatever it is they're selling may not be so great.

[grahamhgreen]

99. Hell no!

[frwrfpos]

101. you live in a different world than i do

I make 9.50 an hour and the reps I run into look tired and worn out as I do.

[flvegan]

102. Not at all. Never. I welcome it.

If your product is crap, I'm going to know it after beta testing it (which I won't pay for) just as easily as I'll know it's great. It's a luxury of my industry and my position in my industry. How that product gets to my attention matters so little. However, if I get a little eye candy, then so be it. I call it "a perk" I guess.

The DU feminists will soon be calling for my head. Meh.

[Sheldon Cooper]

106. Sorry to break it to you, but the DU feminists don't really

care about your head.

[unblock]

103. i appreciate it, as it alerts me that the product is significantly lacking in some way.

usually massively overpriced, if nothing else.

[name not needed]

104. Better that than sales reps in sweatpants.

[CFLDem]

105. Lol

That's one way to look at it.

[KatyaR]

107. Drug companies do this all the time.

They actively recruit from college sororities for good-looking women that they can train to sell drugs to doctors. Doesn't even matter if they have a science or chemistry background, they just need to look good and have a pretty smile.

[shaayecanaan]

109. By the same token, over 90% of male Fortune 500 CEOs

are at least 6'2" tall, apparently. I'm not blind to the fact that men as well as women are often employed for their looks. I used to work for an ag chemicals company that had a male rep that was orange-tanned, broad, muscular and 6'4" tall. He made a hell of a lot of sales but I thought that he was a wanker anyway.

Even the contractors that work for charities trying to sign up people in the street seem to employ disproportionately good-looking women to flag people down.

[Exultant Democracy]

108. Every time I walk into the capitol it is easy to point out the most effective lobbyists.

They tend to be people your eyes refuse to leave.