Sales Guru Blames Interns for Plagiarism

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  liz.marx10/22/08 Reported as spam
  1

  RE: Sales Guru Blames Interns for Plagiarism

  I'm disappointed that Beck didn't accept responsibility for the actions of his staff. Whether or not it was actually him that copied the material, it still represents him.

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  cgreen2310/22/08 Report as spam
  2

  He's STILL at it

  Below is the receipt for a purchase one minute ago from PayPal of the article Bob Beck claims to have deleted from his site.
  
  He's still selling it, after he said he's not still selling it.
  
  Draw your own conclusions.
  
  And if a PayPal receipt from me isn't proof, go check the following three sites that he owns, where you can see for yourself whether he's "deleted" the article in question.
  
  http://www.bobbeckinternational.com/relationshipselling.htm
  http://www.bobbeckinternational.com/articles.htm
  http://salesbuilders.com/purchase-page.asp
  
  
  Ship To: Charles Green
  
  
  Seller Information: bbeck@salesbuilders.com
  
  Transaction ID: 2899439951143671N Placed on Oct. 22, 2008
  Item Options Quantity Amount
  Relationship Selling Redefined White Paper 1 $6.95
  Subtotal: $6.95 USD
  Total Amount: $6.95 USD

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  P Ross10/22/08 Report as spam
  3

  RE: Sales Guru Blames Interns for Plagiarism

  It seems the isuues was pointed out to Beck, he explain it very logically, took responibility, terminated the infected blog, got rid of the intern and took the whitepapers off the site. He even said he was sorry for the situation. It is understandbale how this happened since people do work together and research data before they write articles. Bad intern!

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  BrandonH10/22/08 Report as spam
  4

  RE: Sales Guru Blames Interns for Plagiarism

  Here's the problem. Sales trainers are in a friendly, but competitive, battle to maintain their status as thought leaders. If the ideas you promote aren't yours, that notoriety is a sham. Plagiarism would be the worst way to claim those ideas as your own; outsourcing them to an intern wouldn't be dishonest, but surely lacking any credibility whatsoever.
  
  Either way it's a jolt to his credibility, sadly.
  
  I can't fathom someone doing this and would love to give the benefit of the doubt, but this isn't one ebook or even one article simply uploaded to a blog by a mischievous intern. This is a series of plagiarized articles, some packaged into products and posted in an online store with prices established and so forth. How do you sweep that under the rug?

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  cgreen2310/22/08 Report as spam
  5

  RE: Sales Guru Blames Interns for Plagiarism

  Brandon, I am still somewhat in awe of Beck's continued apparent arrogance.
  
  In this post, dated 4:25AM October 22nd, he says "the white paper has been deleted from my site."
  
  As of 2:25 PM today--IT HAS NOT BEEN DELETED. The same three links from comment 2 above are still active and still ready to take your money via PayPal to send to Mr. Beck.
  
  What do you call that? That's not chutzpah, that's just a flat out lie.
  
  He says he shouldn't worry about "an obscure article posted on the internet in 2001." Obscure? To most people, sure.
  
  But if you sell a CD-ROM called "The Trusted Advisor," which he does--if you want to use a webpage (which is STILL up) titled Bob Beck--the CEO's Trusted Advisor http://bobbeck.typepad.com/bob_beck_the_ceos_trusted/sales/index.html
  then you'd think he'd at least google the term "trusted advisor." I mean, wouldn't you?
  
  And when you do Google "trusted advisor," the number one website you get is www.trustedadvisor.com. Which just happens to be the home of that "obscure article."
  
  Heck, his supposed intern was smart enough to figure that out! Are we supposed to believe Beck was unaware of a best-selling book by that name, with a #1 ranking in google search for that term? That his brilliant intern pulled a fast one on him about that? How stupid does he think we are?
  
  He wishes that the accusing party (one of whom would be me) had called him. Recidivists have already had the call, and have failed to respond. This was not his first offense. Even now, his continued lie above belies his protestations.
  
  Plagiarism is the least of it. Lying and refusal to take responsibility are much more to the point.
  
  But when lying and refusing to take responsibility come with someone who has the audacity to call himself a "trusted advisor," it really irks me.
  
  Lying is bad enough. Lying about one's virtue is the worst.
  
  This is about integrity. "Trust me" is bad enough, along with "I'm very humble," and "I am not a crook." When the one saying "trust me" clearly can't be trusted, isn't humble, and tell us that he "hates copiers" while only vaguely accepting responsibility for copying, well, we are in cuckoo-land people.
  
  The best remedy, IMHO, is not suing him; I doubt the damages are that big, and he wouldn't change. The best remedy is to "out" him, so people are aware of this behavior.

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  BrandonH10/22/08 Report as spam
  6

  RE: Sales Guru Blames Interns for Plagiarism

  Completely agree, Charles. (I think my first post might have been unclear.)
  
  I've got screenshots saved of the web pages you mention, showing those products still up for sale through all of this.
  
  Telling people they should have called him is ironic, given his reliance upon the term "mutual respect" and his (stolen) use of the term "trusted advisor". One does not show mutual respect by plagiarizing content.
  
  I also have an impossible time believing that this was an intern's fault. I can't fathom that Bob Beck's consultancy is so vast as to require interns whose work is never checked. It doesn't add up: you don't establish a sales consulting firm and then completely hand over the reins to your sales and marketing efforts to an intern.

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  may0810/23/08 Report as spam
  7

  Illogical Replies

  I agree with Brandon and Charles.
  
  He mentioned that he has to proport himself a "thought leader" and therefore put his works online. Yet, he states the site had not been updated in over a year.
  
  And the example I gave in the original post is still there - no change. Still plagiarizing at will. (You'd think he would take his site down to comb it for plagiarized content?? Oh yeah - can't make money that way!)
  
  At any rate - he got caught - he didn't know what to say. Took 48 hours to come up with something - lame at best - and did the token: "I take responsibility - but it wasn't me - it was an intern."
  
  I think the most disappointing aspect is that virtually none of the content on his website seems to have originated with him directly.
  
  Who allows that to happen as a "thought leader". The whole point of being the LEADER is to lead and take charge. Not hide behind your low paid interns.
  
  Smells and I'm glad Geoff outted him. Lord knows how long he would have made money off of other's hard work. You put yourself out on the internet as a public figure - you get outted just the same way.

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  lady410/23/08 Report as spam
  8

  RE: Sales Guru Blames Interns for Plagiarism

  There is probably more to this than any of us will ever know. Seems like a classic example of "desperate people doing desperate things".

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  scohil10/23/08 Report as spam
  9

  RE: Sales Guru Blames Interns for Plagiarism

  Simple verdict: the guy is lying. We do not have to wrangle with motive or suffer angst over how difficult it is to watch those lowly interns and such.
  
  He's been outed, albeit on this obscure website (pace Geoffrey!). Maybe someone will volunteer to stalk his personal appearances and heckle him?

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  Cfrancis10/24/08 Report as spam
  10

  RE: Sales Guru Blames Interns for Plagiarism

  GRRRRR This is the second time I have had my work stolen and while its nice to think its so good others want to claim it as their own....it's maddening that potential clients might be making decisions on who to hire based on work attributed to the wrong person!
  
  My work has been stolen word for word. Check out a sample comparison at:
  
  http://www.engageselling.com/blog/?p=561
  
  I have taken legal action and will keep you posted on how he responds to my lawyers!
  
  Cheers Colleen

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  kimdougherty@...10/24/08 Report as spam
  11

  RE: Sales Guru Blames Interns for Plagiarism

  While I cannot comment on the plagiarism any more effectively than has already been done, I do find it interesting that no one has commented on the issue of HOW the interns managed to "foul" him up while working for him.
  
  If he hired them, and then failed to lay out the expectations and rules for what work should be done and how, then he is at fault for mismanaging his employees (whether paid or not, they still work for him). This kind of mismanagement and, perhaps, poor hiring, would make me question his ability to advise others on how to manage employees. He can only say at this point that HE screwed up as the boss and then go from there to make amends all the way around.

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  Mcbsmith10/24/08 Report as spam
  12

  RE: Sales Guru Blames Interns for Plagiarism

  Sometimes people can get so caught up in their own success that they deviate away from what made them successful in the first place - and in desperation, they will do what it takes to keep it from slipping further.
  
  Bob Beck either caused or allowed what has occured. Everyone screws up - it isn't whether you have or create problems that is the issue, it is "how" you respond to them.
  
  Very often, recognizing a good idea is as powerful as creating one. It's really useful to give credit where it is due. It increases the credibiliity of the creator as well as the acknowldger.
  
  Bob Smith
  mysucess.com

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  DrBruin10/24/08 Report as spam
  13

  RE: Sales Guru Blames Interns for Plagiarism

  Reading Bob Beck's reply, I can see why he chose to plagiarize. He's inarticulate. He writes poorly. He struggles to construct coherent and grammatical sentences.

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  jkonrath10/28/08 Report as spam
  14

  He's Lying

  Bob Beck has also co-opted at least one of my articles
  as his own. See my blog post at: http://tinyurl.com/plagiarizedarticle
  
  It would be IMPOSSIBLE for an intern to write an article
  like this because they lack the personal sales
  experience. Here's what I wrote:
  ---
  
  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.
  ---
  
  Bob Beck would know this. An intern lacks the
  experience. Period. He's not telling the truth.