Amongst all the standard spam I get, every so often I get people contacting me because they think I may pitch their product to my clients for them.

Whoa, Nelly!

Do I have ‘salesman’ in my LinkedIn bio?

I’m a consultant, a trusted advisor, do they really  think I might risk all that trust to sell their product, for (one would hope) a commission? Do they know how long it would take me to reassure myself that that product or service was any good before I could do that?

Actually, they never mention a commission. Maybe they think their product is so great I should feel privileged to pitch it for them gratis. If this sounds crazy, I recently had a reasonably big online brand ask me to put a link to them on my Sustainability Resources page for free.

Can we have some free advertising please?

Get outta here!

Except I now have something to pivot to – if anyone wants to sponsor the Net Zero Business Podcast, they are welcome to do so (provided they align with our values). So “would your clients be interested in our energy management software” gets “well, sponsor the pod and you’ll soon find out.” Maybe one day someone will actually put their money where their mouth is.