I'm clearly not going to change your mind about sales people, but I'll make a couple of comments. I don't think you understand the selling process very well, and you've had some experiences with dishonest sales people, so your position makes sense to me. The only further comments I have are:

1. Your model above assumes that customers know what they want and just need to evaluate alternatives. In reality, most customers don't know what's possible, and have problems they aren't paying attention to because they either haven't considered them or they don't know that novel solutions exist for them. An important part of the selling process is to get people to realize they should be engaging in the education and buying process in the first place. That component has real value, and is not simply the neutralization of competitor sales people.

2. I believe you would (eventually) feel differently if you were in Dignan's position.

3. I'm sure you are overstating the case and there are vendors you have worked with that performed well. You almost certainly exclude those people from your globalized hatred of people engaged in the commerce side of technology, seeing them as exceptions that prove the rule.

4. Most importantly, your comments illustrate why it is so critically important that Dignan is very assertive in ASKING for referrals. Unfortunately, yours is the default view of most people towards any solicitation of any kind. Dignan should expect to run into a lot of hostility that should probably be directed toward others (prior vendors who screwed the guy) but ends up being directed toward somebody that is just trying to help them out and make an honest buck.

Sure, there are dishonest sales people -- probably most of them. Believe me when I tell you there are dishonest IT people -- probably most of them, too. People suck, and some of those people are in sales. There are good, honest people in that profession also. Again, I don't expect to change your mind on that point, but I do want to encourage Dignan to confidently solicit business which I'm sure (since he's a member here!) is of high quality and honestly represented.