I recently started a new role. Evidently, part of the initiation is receiving a flood of unsolicited emails from SaaS companies looking to sell me their latest-and-greatest. To my surprise, it's now the norm to offer to pay me personally "just to hop on the phone". I've received multiple emails from companies (the two that I was able to find quickly in my inbox were from Galactic Fed and Premier Soft) telling me why I should sign my employer up for their services. They then promise that if I get on the phone with them they'll send me a $50-100 Amazon gift card.

My response to them is also the point of this blog post:

"It's unethical to offer to pay me personally as a way to influence purchasing decisions on behalf of my employer. Do better."

There are three problems with this approach to sales:

1. It's unethical. This seems to be the low-stakes SaaS version of pharmaceutical reps paying for doctors to go on vacation. But ethics aren't dependent on how life saving something is. Regardless of the stakes, it's unethical to pay someone privately while they're representing their employer or are being trusted to be impartial. Even if it's as small as $50, it's a conflict of interest.
2. It will blow up on you. If you have someone accept it and then their employer finds out, good luck closing that deal!
3. It makes you look bad. If I've never heard of you before, my first impression is that you are desperate. It's a bad look.

I'll admit, there are some grey areas. For example, if you're sending this to someone that owns the company outright then there wouldn't be an inherent conflict of interest. But, by and large, this is ethically wrong and everyone should stop doing this.

While we're here, also feel free to stop cold pitching me. That's not ethics advice, that's just a plea to save my inbox.

Updated List (companies that sent these offers):

• Galactic Fed, 07/12/24
• Premier Soft, 07/17/24
• NetSpring, 09/10/24

Footnotes: Gift cards as an incentive aren't always bad — it's when they're confusing your personal vs. professional roles. For example, a gift card for a personal G2 review or research initiative has no conflict.