Nega-Sell

Where I work we have a published "Code of Ethical Conduct." While not an especially large company, we have a few thousand employees and I'm sure many employers this size maintain similar guidelines about what is viewed as OK and what might get an employee in trouble. The usual stuff is covered, conflicts of interest, insider trading, etc, but we also have a strict policy against "negative selling." Pointing out facts about competitive products and services is OK, but shit-talking about them is not, and the matter is not taken lightly. The senior officers believe that our work is good enough to stand on its merits; therefore marketing and sales are to focus on what is good about us and not what is bad about somebody else. Hmmm.

I've read some blogs that made me think about this lately, but this post has been brewing for a long time. Then last week I was browsing one of the forums over on Velocipede Salon and there was some talk about yet another carbon fork recall from one of the large, mass produced bicycle companies. VS is frequented by numerous hand-built bike people who are justifiably proud of their own products and work. However, the follow up posts included some bashing of the larger companies, carbon in general, and products sourced from China in particular, one comment downright racist in nature. Negative selling.

There's another blogger whose name I need not mention who likes to refer to the food other people eat as "crap." He'll go on ad nauseum about how his daily meal preparations using only the finest ingredients and the greatest of care yield the best nutrition and taste possible. Fine. Don't talk shit about what other people eat. It's just plain rude. Maybe they enjoy that food. That's their right and choice. Why is it necessary to try to take away from that enjoyment?

Many nice, friendly bloggers provide us with prose extolling the virtues of their particular favorite fork of the cycling codebase. Maybe it's the "down to Earth comradery of the cx scene" or the "sweetness of singletrack" or what have you, if Mr Zen has to then turn to disparaging remarks about some other type of bike or bicyclist in order to make his point, well, to me he's not making his point. Negative selling.

This might appear to be at odds with the Nega-Coach philosophies, but that's just the name. Improvement through critical review differs significantly from negative differentiation. And like everything else I blog about, the presence of these words in no way implies that I'm immune to these diseases. That's kind of how improvement through critical review works: be honest with yourself about whatever it is, but don't just wallow in your imperfections, try to improve. Kaizen.

Go ahead and share your positive experiences about your bike or your riding or the muddy friends that you've made. Just spare me the BS about how everyone who is not just like you is not just like you. I'm glad you love your bike, your town, your friends, your riding and racing scene. I love mine too. If you have to trash it to make yourself feel better about yours, then maybe you should consider why. Thanks for reading.