Salesman rant

kaiser715

kaiser715

Doing hard time
Joined
Jun 1, 2006
Location
7, Pocket, NC
I was under the impression that the economy sucked, and salesmen were hungry....been trying for a week to get a guy to call me back....nothing. I want to deal with him...just left another message (sec. says he is in today, and also was yesterday), one hour to call back or picking another guy (at same company) to deal with. He'll lose about 4k commission. This guy has a lot of time and effort invested in this...all he has to do is answer the phone and write it up.

(of course, if the salesman won't return calls, what does that say you can expect about tech support after the sale?)
 
As an outside sales rep myself, I always try to call someone back within an hour. The only time I don't answer is if I'm with a customer, that way THAT customer has my complete attention at that time.
With that said I would also be interested to see if I can help you lol.
I supply construction materials.
 
I sell steel.

I've been able to grab a fair bit of new business lately simply because incumbents have failed to call their customers back in a timely manner. I really think that a lot of people in the industry are so tired of how depressed the market is, that they just say fuck it and kick their feet up hoping for warmer weather.

I really don't understand how so many folk can afford to ignore their current customers. :confused:
 
Always depends on the customer.
Some customers are better to lose to the competition. I didnt understand that when I first got into sales, a decade later it is the most valuable lesson Ive learned.
 
First rule of business:

return ALL calls


you're right-- if he won't/can't even close the sale; what happens when you really need something?
4k comish? blows my mind...


going thru this right now myself w/ a vendor, and I m actually getting more pissed off writing this!
 
Found out this afternoon that salesman was released on Monday. Cell phone with my messsges and texts was on his desk. Dunno why nobody told the front desk girl, or why she thought he was in the office this a.m.
 
Here is my story. Wanted to buy a new RV at a cost close to 50k. So me and the wife go to Camping World formerly known as Tom Johnsons in Marion NC. It was poring rain and spent 5 hours looking at all options and made a decision on what we wanted. So we started negotiating and started to get aggravated with their pushy sales tactics. They promised that we would not find a better deal and they were making less than $500 on the deal. We agreed to put a $100 deposit and come back in a few days to complete the deal. Feeling uneasy about our decision my wife looked at their website and found the exact RV for 2k cheaper on the Internet. So I called the salesman to give him the opportunity to make the deal right. He had the balls to tell me "it sounds like you need to search the internet and find the best deal". The assholes would not refund our deposit because they said we changed our minds and never wanted to buy. So I called the credit card company and disputed the charges and they were refunded to the card. The next day I did what the salesman told me to do and found the exact RV for 6k cheaper at Sonny's in Duncan SC. Went down the next day and did the deal from start to finish in less than 2 hours. I made sure to call the sales manager to thank him for getting his salesman to inform me to check the internet.
 
I have a similar story as well. I wanted to buy a Tacoma back in '08. I visited the local dealer, sat down with a sales person, and started running some figures. At that time, I had never purchased a new vehicle. Now, I trust my parent's advice and knowledge, so after each time the paper was slid across the desk, I'd call my parents and give them the numbers. After the third or fourth adjustment, I went to make a call again. Before I could stand up, the sales person looked at me and asked, "Do your parents make all of your decisions?" I said, "No, I can make this one on my own!" I then balled up the paper and walked out, only to carry my business 60 miles away to another dealership. I was awarded the same truck almost 3K cheaper, and they treated me like I was their only customer in a long time.

I get it though. Some customers will rob you of valuable time, time that could be spent working with another customer that could provide bigger sales. I deal with this almost daily at John Deere, and I had enough the other day. A person wanted me to troubleshoot a problem with their equipment over the phone, which as most of you know is next to impossible when they no nothing about the machine. I worked in circles with this individual for 15-20 minutes before stating that I had to go, as they were keeping me from repairing other customer's equipment. Rude? Yes. Gratifying that I finally put the bullshit aside. Definitely! Did we likely lose a customer? Probably, but I'll make that back hand over fist with the next two or three that will actually bring their equipment to me instead of me trying to fix it over the phone.
 
maulcruiser said:
I get it though. Some customers will rob you of valuable time, time that could be spent working with another customer that could provide bigger sales. I deal with this almost daily at John Deere, and I had enough the other day. A person wanted me to troubleshoot a problem with their equipment over the phone, which as most of you know is next to impossible when they no nothing about the machine. I worked in circles with this individual for 15-20 minutes before stating that I had to go, as they were keeping me from repairing other customer's equipment. Rude? Yes. Gratifying that I finally put the bullshit aside. Definitely! Did we likely lose a customer? Probably, but I'll make that back hand over fist with the next two or three that will actually bring their equipment to me instead of me trying to fix it over the phone.
Click to expand...

You know Deere has an entire department devoted to troubleshooting people's problems over the phone.
 
Falko said:
You know Deere has an entire department devoted to troubleshooting people's problems over the phone.
Click to expand...

I work for a company that does as well. But I can tell you that a lot of customers are put off at the idea of calling a 1-800 number for help. They really just want to hash it out with their local friendly sales/service rep. I get around this by calling our own 1-800 number and requesting that the tech call my customers. It works really well when you turn the tables around and keep the customer from having to dial into a dreaded 1-800 queue only to explain your problem all over again. I have had to train the sales people in my office to use this tactic and the ones that have reported pretty good success with conversion.

Simply put, most people hate asking for help, but love it when people call asking to help them!
 
Back
Top