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| Delta VS. Dewalt Scrollsaw (sales people) |
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| message from Cooksre on 1997/07/13 |
Whoah Bill!!
I enjoy reading your posts and think that you are a strong contributor to
this ng but I gotta take issue with your attack on sales people.
Bill Grumbine said:
liars > who will say anything to get their product into your hands and
your money into
I am a sales person and a damned good one, actually I manage a small
retail store that sells canoes and kayaks. Call me old fashioned but I
have no problems selling product by using knowledge and honesty as my
primary tools. I would be extremely upset to find any of my staff lying
to a customer to make a sale. Is my goal to take money? Of course it is
but people come into the store because they want to spend money. I think
a lot of people on this ng probably enjoy buying new tools, people in our
store come to buy toys, and most of them come to us for our knowledge and
reputation for fairness.
Yes we have all met snake oil salesmen but I bet most of us did not buy
from them, and if we did, we never will again. I know that you didn't
make your comment to start a flame war, and that is not at all my
intention either. I am writing this simply to ask that you maybe be a
little more careful before you write all of us sales people of as crooks.
OK off my high horse.
Cheers,
Rob Cookson
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| Bill Grumbine replied to Cooksre on 1997/07/13 |
Rob
First, thanks for the compliments. Second, no offense taken. There are
lots of honest and knowledgeable salespeople out there. I was one (and
still am, for my own products now), and I know a few others, but as I
said in my post, most (not all) are not. I should have qualifed that a
little more, but my post was getting long and I was ready for the sack.
I encountered many dishonest sales people as a salesman, but my eyes
were REALLY opened when I went into operations management for a large
retail corporation where the sales force worked on commission. A
significant chunk of every day was occupied with making burned customers
happy again after they found out that what their sales person had told
them was somewhat less than accurate. Traditionally, in that store, the
sales people got off free. Things changed quickly when they found out
that I would call them in even from the middle of a sale to face the
last customer they had lied to and make things right.
There is absolutely nothing wrong with making money. I love it. It is
the honest sales person that gets the most sales, too. Even so, there
is no shortage of people who will tell me "sure it will do that" if they
think I'll buy it. This is my major complaint. It is a real joy to
deal with a sales person that knows their product and will match that
product to fit my needs rather than try to sell me the piece that offers
them the largest commission.
I should have said something more like "treat what you are told with a
healthy degree of skepticism until it is confirmed in the mouth of other
witnesses". This would have the same effect with less offense to the
honest ones out there. The dishonest ones can take their lumps.
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| Keith G. Bohn replied to Cooksre on 1997/07/13 |
If I may chime in at this point.
Rob Cookson states here that he sells canoes and kayaks. What a cool job selling
a cool product! Here in lies the rub. It is my opinion that there is a great
difference between selling a "cool" product and a "not-cool" product, i.e.,
selling kayak, woodworking tools and such would actually be fun and therefore easy
if you are working in a shop that caters to the enthusiest (sp?).
On the other hand selling the same items at Home Depot / Lowes / Builders Square
would be a drag and that drag leeches through to the customer level. Now throw in
the commision and these sales people now have a home address in hell.
If you are in sales (and we all are) and you get up in the morning not looking
forward to work it is time to seek another profession. I think Rob Cookson is a
fortunate person and I'll bet he is a pleasure to deal with.
Keith Bohn
Bohn & Bonn Design
Cooksre wrote:
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Archived thread: Delta VS. Dewalt Scrollsaw (sales people) from the group rec.woodworking.
