Outing a Plagiarizing Sales Expert

The sad case of Bob Beck: author of Mutual Respect, founder of the "Quid Pro Quo" sales training.

When my colleagues began posting last week about Bob Beck's plagiarism, I was stunned. I couldn't believe any professional would stoop that low.

But the proof was overwhelming. You can read about it here:

• Dave Stein: Hey! Stop Plagiarizing My Content!
• Charles Green: Plagiarism, Concealment or Coincidence
• Colleen Francis: Hey! That Sounds a Lot Like Me!!

So tonight I decided to investigate if Bob Beck had taken any of my content. Within moments, I discovered an article of Kelley Robertson's that had been co-opted and immediately notified him.

Then seconds later, I found the smoking gun!  His article called Low Hanging Fruit was a mirror image of my article on The Seduction of Low-Hanging Fruit.

Here are the first six paragraphs from my article:

I remember the first time it happened. It was on a Thursday, about 4 pm, and I was worn-out after a day of cold calling. I hadn't uncovered even one viable prospect. Enough was enough! Time to go back to the office and do some paperwork.

When the phone rang, I answered it tiredly. But by the time I hung up I was a new person. I had just talked to one hot prospect!

Her company was BUYING! Not just looking - BUYING! They needed several new systems to handle their growth. And they wanted to make a decision quickly.

"Can we come in for a demonstration," she asked.

How could I refuse! They came in the following Monday and we spent about two hours together. We discussed their needs and I showed them several possible options. Things seemed to go really well. In parting, they asked me to call back early the next week.

Tuesday morning I left a message. Wednesday and Friday too. My calls were never returned. It wasn't till a week later that I finally got my prospect on the phone. She thanked me for my hard work, fast service and excellent demonstration. Then, very apologetically, she told me they'd selected another vendor.

He writes (or should I say copies) this on his The CEO's Trusted Advisor (ha ha!) blog:
(Note: His blog is no longer on line, but is still viewable in Google's cache.) 

I remember the first time it happened. It was on a Thursday, about 5 pm, and I was worn-out after a day of cold calling. I hadn't uncovered even one viable prospect. Enough was enough!

When the phone rang, I answered it tiredly. But by the time I hung up I was a new person. I had just talked to a hot prospect!

Her company was BUYING! Not just looking - BUYING! They needed several new systems to handle their growth. And they wanted to make a decision quickly.

"Can we come in for a demonstration," she asked.

How could I refuse (not applying the Quid Pro Quo Sales approach)! They came in the following Monday and we spent about two hours together. We discussed their needs and I showed them several possible options. Things seemed to go really well. In parting, they asked me to call back early the next week.

Tuesday morning I left a message. Wednesday and Friday too. My calls were never returned. It wasn't till a week later that I finally got my prospect on the phone. She thanked me for my hard work, fast service and excellent demonstration. Then, very apologetically, she told me they'd selected another vendor.

The only difference? He inserted 6 words about his company. The rest of the article is virtually identical. He never identifies me as the author. In fact, he ends the article with:

You will find more stories and tips like this in the book Mutual Respect www.MutualRespect.net  To learn more about the Quid Pro Quo Sales Approach visit www.SalesBuilders.com

If it was a singular happening, I'd let it go with an admonition to add attribution. But it's not. It's a clear pattern of behavior. I suspect if I searched more, I'd find other articles that have been plagiarized. 

I'll be sending Bob Beck a note shortly. If necessary, I'll get my attorney involved. In the meantime, I don't want any of you to be fooled.

Here are all the links I could find for Bob Beck's sales training business:

• Sales Builders: http://www.salesbuilders.com
• Mutual Respect: http://www.mutualrespect.net
• Bob Beck International: http://www.bobbeckinternational.com
• Beck Products: http://www.beckproducts.com
• SalesBuilder at Squidoo: http://www.squidoo.com/bobbeck
• LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/salesbuilders

Also, besides billing himself as a "sales trainer" of Quid Pro Quo selling, Bob Beck also calls himself an international keynote speaker, sales guru, best selling author and trusted advisor.

What makes this so sad is that Bob Beck is probably good at what he does. He didn't have to do use other people's words as his own. But he did - and it totally destroys his credibility.

----

Key words: Bob Beck, sales training, sales trainer, customized sales training, solution selling, executive selling, strategic selling, lead generation, sales prospecting, sales force training, sales training program.

Comments

[John Caddell]

When I did a search for "bob beck selling" on Google this morning, the #2 entry states, "...Evidence that sales trainer Bob Beck has been copying others' writings and selling them..."

The #1 entry is Bob Beck's blog, which appears to have been taken down.

In other words, the "outing" has had some beneficial effect.

I hope his behavior won't make it too difficult to find a new job in some other profession. But McDonald's probably does background checks on its applicants, so I wouldn't be too sure.

Talk about a quid pro quo.

Good work Jill, Dave, et al!

regards, John

[Geoffrey James]

This story broke in BNET's Sales Machine blog, where there's been extensive discussion, as well as responses from Mr. Beck. Here are the posts:

NOTED SALES GURU CAUGHT PLAGIARIZING:
http://blogs.bnet.com/salesmachine/?p=559

SALES GURU BLAMES INTERNS FOR PLAGIARISM:
http://blogs.bnet.com/salesmachine/?p=572

PLAGIARIZING SALES INTERN REVEALED:
http://blogs.bnet.com/salesmachine/?p=573

ALLEGED PLAGIARIZING GURU PLEADS HIS CASE:
http://blogs.bnet.com/salesmachine/?p=576

[peter]

Jill,excuse the brevity,I came across this article while surfing on my blackberry so have not looked at all the sites.

While I do not know the gentleman in question, I find it hard to believe that he thought he could do this.

A possible explanation could be that he was paying a suncontracted writer from somewhere like Elance and did not check the authenticity.why else would someone do something so stupid?

With the ever increasing importance of blogs and content, the temptations are high. I hope this stands as shining example of the dangers in taking short cuts.

Perhaps someone could send him an ethical selling ebook?

[Jill Konrath]

I know it's really hard to believe, but it's true! Bob Beck is claiming that an intern did it. However, my article was a personal story that would impossible for an intern with minimal/no sales experience to concoct.

On reading it, any astute person would have to question where it came from. Either Bob Beck left an intern totally in charge of his online image as a thought leader (which is impossible to believe) - or else he's complicit.

P.S. My friend Colleen Francis (who also had her articles plagiarized) has a book coming out this spring called "Honest Selling." Now I know who should get the first copy!

[Jeff Ogden]

Just like writing in college, if you use something, give credit where credit is due. Why can't someone post something and give full credit and a link to the author?

I posted Jill famous customer letter on my blog and was very careful to point out that I was so fond of Jill's letter, I wanted to use it. There was no question who wrote it.