I have seen people easily getting influenced by sales people and jump to conclusion that the person selling the product is actually helping us. In fact in most of the cases they are doing their job which is to make maximum benefit for the company they work for. Usually they may inspire us to buy products that give them high margins. So I think the best strategy should to listen to them but never trust them blindly. We have to make our own decision based on our budget and requirements. How often do you end up buying products based on the recommendation of a sales professional?
This is a good thread to remind shoppers that the sales person has a duty to sell and in order to sell, he has to persuade and later on convince the prospect to buy the product. I remember an old friend who came to our office for a demo of a product he was selling. It is one of those magic potions that you become strong when you take a drop (with a glass of water). And since I know that it has no approved therapeutic claim so I was already wary from the start. He let me stand on one foot and then he tapped me so I lost my balance. And then he let me hold the vial of that liquid and repeated the scene but this time I did not lose my balance. He said that it was proof that his product has an effect already even before taking it. Huh, really? And when he continued with his sales spiel that his product is very effective on him, I bluntly told him that it is really good for him because he was selling it. To that statement, my colleagues in the office gave me an applause. End of story.
I learned a bitter lesson about trusting a salesperson's advice on the brand of refrigerator I bought more than a year ago. At the time, my more than 12 year-old refrigerator was broken and it can cost a lot to have it repaired. I got my money's worth and more on that ref and I never had to have it repaired the whole time. I was supposed to replace it with another model of the same brand. However, the salesperson was vouching for the efficiency of another brand which can result to substantial savings in electricity consumption. I haven't tried the brand but I was interested in saving and this one has higher EER than other refrigerators of the same size and has longer warranty period - two years - so I've decided to buy it. After just two months of use, it was obvious that it was an inferior brand. I don't think it can last beyond three years with the way it's going.
That's so true. I encountered a sales lady that was urging me to buy a safe when I was only looking for a toolbox to store my items. She was quite persistent in urging me to buy a safe even if I told her it was currently out of my budget. She reiterated that the safe is "better" even if I told her I don't have the need for it. So that's a perfect example of their vested interest when they recommend you a product.
I have always assumed that they target who they think is the weakest, so of course I pretty much assume that they are not my friend. Especially when commission is involved, I make sure to stay away.
I worked in retail and that is their job. This is why staff should be paid a basic and not based on commission because they people will trust them more. It's more prevalent in the USA than in the UK. In the UK sales are recorded to monitor progress, but I did work on basic and commission and I hated it. You have to push for a sale as that is your wages.. Stores such as Best Buy don't operate on commission for this purpose so they will advise and sell you the best product suited to your needs. More companies should do this, but they prefer commission so they don't have to pay people if they don't sell. It's all about profits for them.
you are absolutely right. Those sales persons would be respected, would be given our due considerations for they are working for the company. They have been trained or undergone a series of seminar to do perfectly well for their job assigned to them. The best to make them feel better is to listen to their sales talk and evaluate it perfectly either to purchase the items which are being promoted or not. This is simply means all the decisions are dependent from us as the customer.
The sellers can try as much as they want (with the best possible arguments that they know), they'll never be able to convince me to buy what I don't want / need. When I realize that they intend to be more insistent than usual, I soon respond that I really don't need any help.
The best thing to do in the situation is to just here them out on it then if it doesn't interest you walk away. Salespeople will do anything to try and sale their product so it is best just to act like you are interested for a while then kindly decline if you are not interested and just walk away. Just have confidence and you'll save yourself the stress, time and possibly money.
My partner is always a victim of these salesperson. She always asked the salesperson if the item is good, comfortable and other things which I always argue with her. I always told her that asking the salesperson these question will just lead her to buying not so good items. They will always say good things to you and the words the you want to hear in order for you to buy the item. Personally I always check for reviews online and the experiences of other people who bought the product on using them.
It's their job to sell. And they are going to convince you about the product. They are not worried about your financial limits. And they don't care about how you are planning to get things done. So on that context you can see that sales people have their own way of dealing with the sales. And they don't know how to get the job done without affecting your finance. So it all comes down to your own actions in that context.
I mostly exchange greetings with sales people who walk door to door but I never give them time to convince me to purchase their items. This sales people are experts and they know how to convince you to purchase what they are advertising. For me, listening to them will also mean buying what they are promoting. It is only last month that I got to buy a book promoted by a sales person. I was in a bus and I never planned to buy anything. So the man was talking loudly about this book and I was patient enough to listen to him. I was convinced and more than half of the number of people in the bus got to buy the book.
