“Hurry, Hurry – Get It Now!”

 

I know this guy named Joe. (Yep! His real name.) Joe likes collecting limited edition prints, especially (of all things) steamships and New Orleans streetcars.

 

On his latest excursion down into the crescent city’s Vieux Carré (the Old Quarters or better known as the French Quarter) he espied a particularly striking print of a paddlewheel steamship loaded with cotton bails slowly leaving the old ports, pelicans watching in unspoken indifference as the sun was slowly rising. Like I said – a very nice piece of art.

 

The print was of course signed, and had a limited edition of 1850. (That being the assumed date this scene was taking place.)

 

Joe liked it and bought it, owning number 159 / 1850.

 

Now… what do suppose would happen if in a month or so Joe went back to that same shop, and saw the exact same print by the same artist – but numbered 1,854 / 5000.

 

He’d be rather chapped, I’ll tell you that for nothing.

 

He’d paid good coin for a “limited edition” print, assuming naturally the artist and the shop where he purchased it would stand by their word – and not print any more than 1,850 copies. Ever.

 

He’d probably have more than a few choice words for the dealer, rightfully calling him a cheat and a fraud – just for openers! Then he’d demand his money back.

 

So… what am I driving at?

 

It’s the damnable practice of online marketers making a “limited time” or “limited space” offer, then when the deadline approaches or passes, gleefully shouting to the world: ONLY KIDDING!

 

Because of (choose your favorite lie)…

 

-          The servers went down. (Sure – the dog ate my homework too!)

-          Our order processor fell sick. (And we didn’t bother to hire a temp.)

-          We had a software glitch. (Meaning we didn’t bother to test our system before we launched a major campaign. Right…)

-          We noticed many people weren’t getting our emails. (Must have a crystal ball hidden in the office.)

-          The response was so great, we didn’t want to leave anyone out. (Which is another way of saying: Sales weren’t as good we expected or wanted, so we added a couple of more days to push the product out the door.)

-          We had people begging us to extend the deadline. (That’s why there was a deadline, dummy - to reward those who jumped in first!)

-          Or any other load of manure the masters of prevarication conjure out of thin air. (Such as airing a flurry of back and forth emails all testilying to the latest emergency which caused the deadline to be extended.)

 

Hey… get this loud and clear:

 

This is nothing less than false, misleading and deceptive advertising.

 

You made a sales pitch. You put in a deadline for action. The deadline was there to induce your prospect to buy, giving him or her an advantage for doing so (usually a discounted price). An advantage that would expire by not acting in time.

 

Then those that did buy find out you were just giving them chin music. You had no intention of keeping to your word. You wanted to create scarcity and impetus to act now. Then you thumbed your nose at those who bought on time, extending the incentive to all latecomers.

 

It doesn’t matter how skillfully you couch the reasons. The bottom line is this:

 

You’re a liar and a fraud.

 

The moral of this missive, dear entrepreneur?

 

Keep to your word. Don’t extend deadlines. It cheapens your entire professional image. It says you’ll do anything to make a sale – even make false claims.

 

(I hope some people in South Florida are listening!)