Before I began the interview, I thought I had better bone up on exactly what a seller advocate is, and what sort of duties one would perform in a seller advocate capacity.
A quick search found that a seller's advocate is one who works on behalf of the seller to promote the interests of the seller with the utmost good faith, loyalty and fidelity. The advocate negotiates on behalf of and acts as an advocate for the seller.
I thought that being a seller advocate would be a great job. Better than what I was doing. Interviewing nobodies. Freelancing. Filling space, in an online tabloid with a readership equal to that of a Florida tourist town in the middle of July. The end result of my work is a little fluff, and killing time for the reader. Basically what we call in the trade, light journalism.
The man I am going to interview is a nobody. Faceless. Yet, I can envision tens thousands of small internet sellers being much better off with this man representing their best interests. Seller advocacy is an impact job. A seller advocate holds a position wherein he can enrich the quality of life of ordinary people, middle American entrepreneurs, reaching for the golden ring.
Interview with A Seller AdvocateSlim Griffeon is employed as a seller advocate by a popular internet venue that brings buyers and sellers together. Slim has labored for his current employer for twelve years, holding numerous different job titles. Slim's duties now include being a seller advocate, whose primary function is communicating between seller and venue. This venue realizes profits via a meager commission from their sellers, collecting revenue whether their seller's items sell, or not. The sellers are then obligated to use the venue's own financial clearinghouse, to finalize the transaction. The sole purpose being, to reduce fraud which heightens the buyer's safe shopping experience.
Photo of Slim, mimicking sellers dumbfounded facial expressions as they open their invoice
To more easily enable an open and honest story be told, the name of the seller advocate being interviewed is an alias, and the corporation will simply be called "IT"
Q: Hi Slim, how are you today?
A: I'm fine, Jim, and you?
Q: How did you get the nickname, "Slim?"
A: Because I'm fat, Jim. I had a very rough childhood.
Kids can be cruel.
Q: How do you like your new job as a seller advocate?
A: I'm blessed. I represent the concerns of tens of thousands of internet entrepreneurs. For some of them, I bring their concerns and ideas to IT, and if it's more profitable for IT, changes will occur.
Q: What do you mean by "some of them?"
A: Well, I represent about thirty percent of our sellers. The sellers that IT wants to retain. That's still a lot of sellers. The other seventy percent are a drain on IT's resources. Those sellers are very labor intensive, bring in minimal revenue, and not cost effective.
Q: What seller friendly changes have been made since you became a seller advocate?
A: None.
Q: I recently read a few statements of yours on one of IT's discussion boards. To quote you,
"I've reviewed thousands of disputes between buyers and sellers for the last 12 years and in every single case, the "rude" behavior on the part of a buyer was always precipitated by unprofessional conduct on the part of the seller who assumed intent on the basis of an initial buyer email and responded accordingly. And I am not exaggerating. I mean, every single case." What exactly is the message you're attempting to convey to the sellers that you are supposedly representing?
A: Let me clarify, Jim. By every single case, I meant from the seventy percent of sellers that IT is going to rid itself of by the time all of the site changes are in effect. Of course I've read emails from nasty buyers threatening feedback extortion on innocent sellers, unreasonable demands, and many buyers that initiated rude behavior. Those buyer emails have, in every single case, been sent to the thirty percent of the innocent sellers that I represent, whose business IT wants to retain. And I'm not exaggerating, I mean every single case.
Q: What about the rights of the other seventy percent of sellers that you're neglecting?
A: They're not in IT's future plans. They're not worthy of a second thought. Short term, the IT idea, the IT goal, is to achieve 50 million listings with only 3 out of every 10 sellers remaining on site. IT is being overly gracious allowing that many to remain profitable.
Ideally, IT can envision a future of only 200 mega retailers on site with a combined total of 100 million listings. Add to that, Yahoo sponsored ad revenue, IT is beyond caring about the breadth and wealth in the diversity of listings on IT's site. IT has also simplified 1500 positions company wide. With the above scenario in place, IT can simplify another 10,000 jobs and still maintain IT's high standards pertaining to IT's Customer Service and Trust and Safety.
Q: If IT's 200 seller / 100 million listings plan comes to fruition, you might be out of a job in a couple of years Slim.
A: Jim, don't worry about me. My job is secure, I know too much.
Fabricated, rings of truth.
BTW, another example of things that go POOF in the night.
