What sales tactic raises concern for you?

[MamaBee]

@JPie and @Mamabean -

I remember trying to get a quote for a new driveway back when I lived in Australia. The gentleman I spoke to said my husband would need to be present. I'm sorry - what?? He assured me - his company would only do quotes if both parties were present (by which I'm sure he meant if the man was present, given that I can't imagine them telling a man he could't have a quote if his wife wasn't there!).

After arguing about this and telling him my husband would need to use a day's annual leave, but given he was the only concreter I could reach, I agreed.

Of course, we sat around all day and he never came. I swear, I would have punched him on the nose if I'd run into him at a later time. He took 5% of my husband's annual leave - stole it needlessly - and just threw it away.

Re the whole 'checking with my husband' thing - I used to do that, but then I realized it was that approach that made salesmen assume female shoppers had to have a man present to make a purchase, and that I was just perpetuating a problem that made it harder for all of us. Now, if I don't want something, I look the sales person in the eye, take my balls in my hand and say....

"No."

Problem solved.

Haha @mrs-b! My husband told my son when he got married, “Happy wife..happy life!”. It really is true..My husband learned I have stronger opinions and I pretty much make the decisions on most things because I care more. It’s not that I have more power..It’s just that I really do care more..and I will keep trying to win him over. In the end he gives up! I wear him out! I just tell them I make the decisions relating to the house..My car purchase was different..That irked me and it takes a lot to make me mad.

 

[JPie]

@JPie and @Mamabean -

I remember trying to get a quote for a new driveway back when I lived in Australia. The gentleman I spoke to said my husband would need to be present. I'm sorry - what?? He assured me - his company would only do quotes if both parties were present (by which I'm sure he meant if the man was present, given that I can't imagine them telling a man he could't have a quote if his wife wasn't there!).

After arguing about this and telling him my husband would need to use a day's annual leave, but given he was the only concreter I could reach, I agreed.

Of course, we sat around all day and he never came. I swear, I would have punched him on the nose if I'd run into him at a later time. He took 5% of my husband's annual leave - stole it needlessly - and just threw it away.

Re the whole 'checking with my husband' thing - I used to do that, but then I realized it was that approach that made salesmen assume female shoppers had to have a man present to make a purchase, and that I was just perpetuating a problem that made it harder for all of us. Now, if I don't want something, I look the sales person in the eye, take my balls in my hand and say....

"No."

Problem solved.

That is such an infuriating experience! I'm sure that company has lost a lot of business thanks to their attitude and poor work ethic.

I've totally been perpetuating this nonsense. I will make a better effort in the future to simply say no!

 

[WinkHPD]

Here’s another one I loathe: sales POP-UPS


‘TEXT US!!!‘! And if you do, it takes a few seconds to be connected via instant message to a ‘conversion specialist’ who knows nothing about the product and if you ask enough detailed questions, they either lie, or tell you they need your email so they can get back to you with information (so they harvest your email for marketing lists).

It is the quivalent of ‘professional answering service’ from the 1980’s where they answered the call with ‘thank you for calling (insert company name here) how can I help you? And when you ask to speak to someone or ask a question about a product, they admit the office or store is closed and they can only take a message. Argh.

As long as this is being mentioned, I wanted to agree. This is why we have
a text-popup that only, exclusively, solely, unfailingly reaches one of my
HPD salespeople, or possibly myself. Using an anonymous service for texts
was a non-starter for us, because people who use such a service want
efficient communications with relevant and accurate answers. And when they
call or email it’s nice if they can speak to the person they were texting
with.

There is non-coverage when my staff and I are all having lives. If we are
all asleep on holiday or all-away there is an auto-reply stating it’s after
hours but someone will be with you once we see the message.

Wink

 

[PreRaphaelite]

I truly appreciate this, Wink! Thank you.

 

[WinkHPD]

You are well and truly welcome!

Wink