Bad salesmen

[Hyena Dandy]

Okay, this is just a pet peeve of mine, sparked by blas's thread on selling stuff.

I really hate it when people try to sell me stuff and they're really, really bad at it.

This covers all sorts of bad at it. Obviously, I hate the really pushy people, but I hate it whenever people try to sell something to me and are terrible at it. Or make me sign a petition/donate/whatever they want. I'm thinking specifically of mall kiosks or activists.

A part of this comes from just frustration, but I guess possibly its also that I'm really GOOD at selling stuff. I had a friend who was making 200 dollars a month on art commissions. I gave him some advice, and now he's making 2000 a month. Which is, well, its something.

Point being.

These behaviors tick me off.

1) Pushing to hard - This one is easily the most frustrating of the bunch. When someone tell you "I don't want X," DON'T TELL THEM THEY DO. Had this happen at a mall kiosk selling those athletic wristband things for thirty dollars a band. If I say "I don't want it" then you don't say "But you do" or something like that.

2) Insulting - Again. Same kiosk people. When I said no, I really REALLY didn't want an athletic wristband, they got insulting about how I must not have a drive to succeed.

If anyone tells you that pushing too hard is the best way to lose a sale, they clearly haven't tried insulting the customer.

3) Coming On Too Strong - This is one that seems to bother me a lot more than most people. I hate it when people come up and say "Do you want to save the whales/buy this/whatever?" I hate it. I don't mind signing petitions/buying at mall kiosks. But I hate it when people are pushy like that about it. That just turns me off.

Those are the things I hate right now, but I'm sure there are others.

Anyway, those mall athletic reflector salesmen pissed me off.

On the way back, though, I stopped in at a men's wearhouse to get out of the rain and ended up buying a vest and a tie.

That's a good salesman. And that made me happy.

The vest is awesome, by the way.

[Andara Bledin]

Ugh. Can't stand pushy salesmen.

I used to field those calls when I was my company's receptionist. Now I only really get the collections type. The last guy to call was annoying as all hell, and if he'd actually sent in his info like he said he was going to, I would have noted that he was too pushy. The people we're using now had some guy who was so perfectly balanced in his pitch that I was willing to go with them.

The other thing I hate is fund raiser people who don't know jack all about what the hell they're raising funds for. I used to do the door to door thing as a kid who liked prizes and was in the school band. I sold jewelry, candy, chocolate, pizzas (that was an odd choice), and what not. I always outsold everybody because not only was I willing to hoof it around the neighborhood, I knew how to throw a pitch without being obnoxious and without giving too much info. I get these kids at the door these days, and they mumble, "Wanna buy some candy?" and that's it! *throws up hands in disgust* Even worse, though, are the kids whose parents camp out in front of the store and the kids are no where to be seen. >_<

^-.-^

[Hyena Dandy]

Its crazy!

I bet I could have taken in an hour what those guys took in a day.

[HYHYBT]

I've often wondered why stores don't keep a stash of umbrellas to sell when it rains... but then you wouldn't stay long enough to buy a vest and tie

[Hyena Dandy]

Its an AWESOME vest. Has a bow-tie that came with it. I look dashing in it.

[Rapscallion]

Pics!

I know enough about sales to know that I'm not good at it. I also know that sales is the sort of thing that is an art acquired over several years.

Rapscallion

[Andara Bledin]

Sales can be an acquired art, but it's mostly a personality thing. I'm a very friendly sort who will talk to anybody. That's a major help when trying to sell thing. I can be bright and cheerful at people without having to force it. Also works well for dunning calls. Wish I could teach the person actually doing them right now how not to alienate our slow-paying customers. >_<

^-.-^

[Evandril]

2) Insulting - Again. Same kiosk people. When I said no, I really REALLY didn't want an athletic wristband, they got insulting about how I must not have a drive to succeed.

If anyone tells you that pushing too hard is the best way to lose a sale, they clearly haven't tried insulting the customer.

I'm good at sales m'self...and I'd have been tempted to camp out next to the guy, and talk people OUT of sales if he was dumb enough to insult me Mainly by pointing out cheaper/better alternatives, and if they are selling from a kiosk, I'm 90% sure I can find some easily enough ...

[insertNameHere]

I liked the mens warehouse when I went, I said I have no style and don't intend on learning but don't want to be obvious. Ended up with 3 - pants,shirts 2-ties that all compliment each other and can be worn in any combination.

[smileyeagle1021]

2) Insulting - Again. Same kiosk people. When I said no, I really REALLY didn't want an athletic wristband, they got insulting about how I must not have a drive to succeed.

If anyone tells you that pushing too hard is the best way to lose a sale, they clearly haven't tried insulting the customer.

A subset of that is arrogance.
My mom once wanted a Palm 100, she had researched this, she new what she wanted. She walked into Circuit City, found a salesman and asked him where she could find a Palm 100. His response, "oh miss, I don't think you want the Palm 100. Surely if you had done your research you would know how much better the Palm 135 is."
Yeah, she walked out.

Doubting your customer is another one.
I was looking for a new smart phone. I specifically wanted a phone with a full qwerty keyboard.
I walked into the first phone store and said I wanted a phone with Droid that had a full keyboard
Salesperson's response "oh, you don't really need a full keyboard anymore, touchscreen keyboards are just as good now."
Umm, no, fuck you. I prefer a full keyboard, so show me your phones with god damned full keyboards.
Now, what the second place did I can appreciate. I said I was interested in having the full keyboard and I wanted a slide out, and they asked if I would consider one with the keyboard on the front. Yeah, it wasn't what I immediately asked for, but there is a world of difference between would you be willing to try something slightly different and "no, you don't want that".

[Rageaholic]

The pushy ones are the worst. Ironically, I've rarely encountered persistant salespeople. I have however encountered persistance when turning down an offer to try something (usually some food that I don't want). Instead of just accepting my first "no thanks" and leaving me alone, they insist on arguing why I would like it. "Oh it tastes like candy" NO "Just try one you'll like it" NO "But why not?" BECAUSE I DON'T WANT IT!!!! Not good enough for you? Than fuck you because I already said no MORE TIMES THAN I CAN COUNT!!

Why do people get so involved in whether or not you try something?

[insertNameHere]

A subset of that is arrogance.
.....

Doubting your customer is another one.
I was looking for a new smart phone. I specifically wanted a phone with a full qwerty keyboard.
I walked into the first phone store and said I wanted a phone with Droid that had a full keyboard
Salesperson's response "oh, you don't really need a full keyboard anymore, touchscreen keyboards are just as good now."
Umm, no, fuck you. I prefer a full keyboard, so show me your phones with god damned full keyboards.
Now, what the second place did I can appreciate. I said I was interested in having the full keyboard and I wanted a slide out, and they asked if I would consider one with the keyboard on the front. Yeah, it wasn't what I immediately asked for, but there is a world of difference between would you be willing to try something slightly different and "no, you don't want that".

I agree with the full keyboard thing, I like being able to feel my keyboard and know plenty of people who broke the touch screen and were screwed if they didn't have a keyboard to fall back on. It is why I'm putting off upgrading my phone. I stopped by to check out phones and got similar treat ment

You also made me reason how often I walk out of bestbuy if one of their ASSociates comes over to see if I need any help, because I'm usually an asshole that mentions my degree and I have no use for geek Squad, and the only assistance I require is the location of X.
I went in for an IDE harddrive, and I was told, "OH you don't really want that, you want network attached storage it has 1TB across TWO 500 GB drives!!!!", He didn't like my reply about well if it is Raid 0 and one drive goes down I lose everything. Not to mention it costs 4X more than I want to spend on a comparable hard drive that is going into a spare computer that is my makeshift server that wait for it...... Does webhosting, filesharing, torrents AND media streaming to game systems, all features NOT in what he was trying to sell me.

[Mytical]

I am horrible at sales, will be the first to admit it. One, because I won't say anything about an item unless I know it to be true. 2) If I am not sure if it is true or not and do mention something it is in the "This is said about this item, don't know how true it is to be honest." 3) I am way way too shy.

One of my brother could sale sand at a beach...or as I put it... He could sale you your own shirt, and make you think you have just gotten an amazing deal. He passed away, but I can just picture him up in heaven selling angels a pair of wings (or clouds).

Some salesmen do try to use the guilt trip thing, however. The "Aww heck I am not good at this salesman gig..sorry to have wasted your time" so you will feel bad .. and buy something..just a heads up

[Crazedclerkthe2nd]

I think a major part of the problem is that a lot of people aren't well trained for sales at all. My very FIRST day at "gamestore" I read the procedure and policy manual, which contained details on WHAT we sold (preorders, used games, extended warranties, loyalty cards) and the benefits of such, but practically nothing on actual selling techniques.

Then I did several roleplays with my manager that were as cookie cutter as it gets. After that I was tossed on the floor to fend for myself.

The same thing happened when I started selling mobile phones. Just basically "here are the phones, here are the customers, go to it."

A lot of companies require almost all of their service personnel to sell at one time or another. It can be as simple as a "do you want fries with that?" or as complex as all the things Best Buy will try to tack on when you buy a computer (sidenote: I hate Best Buy with a passion, ESPECIALLY when it comes to computers).

One of the things that bothers me most is that "Gamestore" seems to think that you can sell anything to anyone with the right approach. I disagree.

They expect us to try and sell a loyalty card to every customer regardless of what they are buying. If a customer comes in and buys an old PS2 game for $6 or a DS charger for $10 or some other small purchase, I may well not pitch the card because it more than likely won't benefit these people much. They just want to spend their few dollars on whatever and leave.

People who buy several games or a new game or a new console, yeah I will definitely push harder on them.

And the stupid thing is "Gamestore" doesn't do commissions, so my paycheck stays the same regardless of how many loyalty cards I sell. Now of course I can lose my job if I don't sell enough, but there's ZERO incentive for me to go beyond whatever the minimum goal is.

I also don't like some of what I'm asked to do there. For example, I am always expected to recommend used items over new items. Sometimes it is a better deal, but when it comes to consoles I always think new is a better way to go. Unfortunately I am required to tell my customers the opposite.

I have respect for people who know what they want and generally don't fight them. If someone is sure of themselves than so be it. I can tell easily enough when someone knows what they are talking about.