Ask HN: Is it okay to lie to sell your product? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: Is it okay to lie to sell your product?

2 points_mc5 comments

What is your take on lying to sell a product? Does it mean to say that the product does not have real value to customer or Is it "okay" in any ways?

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I've been on both sides of this. I've been in meetings where people from a company I worked for oversold a product (promised features that didn't exist) and I've been in the receiving end as well. It never works out well. At best you'll end up making your team miserable to deliver on the lies you've told, probably delivering a subpar product in the process. In the worst case you'll be called out as a liar by your customer.

Sell your product by making something that delights your customers/users.

Fraud is a deception deliberately practiced in order to secure unfair or unlawful gain (adjectival form fraudulent; to defraud is the verb).[1] As a legal construct, fraud is both a civil wrong (i.e., a fraud victim may sue the fraud perpetrator to avoid the fraud and/or recover monetary compensation) and a criminal wrong (i.e., a fraud perpetrator may be prosecuted and imprisoned by governmental authorities). Defrauding people or organizations of money or valuables is the usual purpose of fraud, but it sometimes instead involves obtaining benefits without actually depriving anyone of money or valuables, such as obtaining a drivers license by way of false statements made in an application for the same.[2]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fraud

Is it okay to lie to sell your product?

No.

Even ignoring the issue of morality (which you shouldn't), what happens to your company when the lie is discovered?

be straight with your customers; never lie to a sales prospect.

sales is not just about getting a deal done: each customer represents potential upsell and references. you lose those possibilities when you lie because the lie will generally be uncovered.

this is why good sales orgs emphasize integrity in the hiring process. unethical salespeople damage customer relationships, the company reputation and the bottom line.

Define the word "lying". Now compare your definition with "marketing", "advertising" and stretching the truth.

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