Have you ever chosen to quit instead of selling a subpar product?

Many founders aim to hire salespeople based on their established relationships, hoping to leverage these connections for the company's benefit. While this approach has its merits, it raises important questions.

What happens when you, as the seller, lose confidence in the founder, the company, their products, and their ability to deliver? Do you continue to activate the relationships you have spent decades cultivating? Do you still rely on the trust that has taken years to build?

I took a consulting job with a small insights company that was vague about their capabilities. The founder claimed expertise in various services, but when I requested to speak with leaders who had specific expertise, he insisted that I could only talk to him. After a few weeks, I discovered that he relied on a network of external resources and had limited in-house capabilities. This network was clunky, slow, and inconsistent, leading to frequent overpromising and under-delivering.

I also realized that I was hired as a consultant primarily for the clients I could introduce, rather than for the projects I was contracted to build, which included:
- Salesforce implementation
- Sales playbook
- ICP definition & persona-based GTM strategy

The founder expressed frustration that I wouldn't "call up my friends" at several global companies to secure work for us. When I explained that we couldn't support those clients as needed, his frustration grew.

Ultimately, I terminated the consulting agreement after two months.

Have you ever faced a situation where you were unwilling to leverage your most trusted relationships for a job?