Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Trust your salesman, for once.

Collapse
This topic is closed.
X
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • Trust your salesman, for once.

    Been a while since I posted a few of my own SC stories as I really haven’t had the time. I’m working 50+ hours a week and going to card dealing school, so my time is very limited.

    Had a couple of SCs I must regale you all with from the last two weeks.

    Money does not make time speed up

    I had the biggest sale I’ve had in a while back in March. This customer ordered TWO leather sectionals for a total of about $3500. The customer came in late March, and we gave him a 14-16 week time quote. This is important.

    Three weeks go by. He comes in with his wife and talks with our other associate, as I have the day off. He’s demanding to know where his furniture is.

    3 weeks into a 16 week quote and he thinks it can be delivered. I don’t think I’ve ever had ANYONE have such an…optimistic…view of the passage of time. He also thinks we gave him a 10 week quote.

    Bottom line: He’s called me several times over the last few weeks wanting updates and has gone from requesting to insisting to demanding to outright threatening that his furniture WILL be in by the end of this month. Tough luck, it’s not even shipping from China until this week. We’ll get it to him right at week 14. Go figure.

    I put him in his place though. Maybe it’s the fact I’m leaving this company in a few months but I really don’t put up with anything from SCs now and have no problem pointing out that they ARE being SCs. He called me and demanded an update yesterday. Here’s how the conversation went:

    Me: THE ONE
    SC: Old fart with too much money and senility

    Me: Thank you for calling our store, how can I help you?
    SC: Is this Kusanagi?
    Me: Yes it is.
    SC: Where is my furniture? You people are taking forever and I thought I made it explicitly clear that it was going to be delivered by the end of this month.
    Me: Well sir, it was a 14 to 16 week time quote, the end of this month falls on week 12, so you’re looking at delivery mid July.
    SC: This is unacceptable. I’m a paying customer. I should just cancel my order now. I bet you wouldn’t like to lose the commission on it, wouldn’t you.
    Me: I get paid salary so I didn’t make a thing on those sectionals. But if you do cancel, we keep a third of the cost, which comes out to $1200.
    SC: (string of profanity) I just want you to know that I’m not used to not getting what I want. It would be a very bad idea to not give me what I want.
    Me: (Well, that’s obvious you aren’t used to hearing no.) Sir, the time quote when you placed the order was 14-16 weeks. You agreed to it. You’ve called me every week starting at week 3 on this, and the answer doesn’t change. It’s on the water right now in a container ship on it’s way to the dock and will be in our warehouse the second week of July. I don’t know what else I can do to update you.
    SC: I never agreed to a time quote of that long! You aren’t doing your job, boy.
    Me: (clenching teeth) Okay, sir, our recollection is different then. You came in on the 25th of March and we spent two hours trying to find furniture to fit your needs. I gave you the price quote of 3500, and then the only reason you didn’t get it right then was because you didn’t like the time quote of 14-16 weeks and wanted to shop around. You went next door to (competitor), talked with (salesperson over there I’m friends with), and they didn’t have anything to meet your needs. You came back in the next day on the 26th to place the order, where it states right on it, right above your signature, that it’s a 14-16 week time quote.
    SC: Well that’s just paperwork.
    Me: …regardless, you agreed to the policy. Not only did you agree to it, you took a day to think about it before you agreed to it. Now, sir, would you like to cancel and forfeit the third of the merchandise cost, or trust me to call you as soon as the furniture is in to set up a delivery date?

    He hung up on me. Thank god. I hope I got the point across. I don’t care how much money you have – it won’t speed up anything, there is no rush option. I hope for once that this wasn’t true – a man with as much money as you have would have died years ago if this was true and then I wouldn’t have to deal with your old crusty entitled ASS.

    It’s not a sales pitch, lady

    As any company that delivers will tell you, the delivery quote and the date of delivery can ONLY BE GOOD FOR THE EXACT MOMENT THEY QUOTE YOU. Example: A lady came in and saw a sofa that she liked and wanted to know when it could be delivered. I told her it could be done on the 15th (this was two weeks ago).

    I asked her if she wanted to place the order since the spots on the truck fill up fast, and I wouldn’t be able to hold the spot until she placed the order. She shrugged me off, and said, I quote: “Oh, that’s just a sales pitch to get me to buy it,” and walked out.

    That night, one of the other showrooms wrote up business and grabbed the last two spots on the truck. Fast forward to the next morning. I was writing up a customer when the SC came in. I asked her if she could hang on while I finished up, and she was okay with it. I turn to the first woman, and as we’re setting up her delivery date, I mention “Well, the 15th is full, but I have room available that next weekend on the 22nd or 24th, would either of those days work?”

    SC overhears this:

    SC: Excuse me, are you telling me that there’s no delivery available on the 15th?
    Me: Yes, unfortunately, the truck filled up.
    SC: Put me on it.
    Me: I can’t, the last two spots filled up last night around 6pm.
    SC: Call your manager. That’s not what I was told yesterday.
    Me: Ma’am, I am the manager, and you spoke with me yesterday. The spots fill up on a first come first serve basis.
    SC: Then call your manager. Add a new truck.
    Me: I can’t do that, it’s done by the warehouse and I have no control over it.
    SC: GET ON THE PHONE, NOW.
    Me: Ma’am, I cannot put your delivery on the truck today. When I told you yesterday that I couldn’t guarantee it if you didn’t purchase it that moment, you thought I wasn’t serious and walked out.
    SC: That’s really horrible customer service. You’re going to lose business because of this, I don’t see how you’re doing business.

    I’m pissed at her attitude towards me, and I kind of snap back. “I can’t put something on a nonexistent truck. We wrote up so much business that those spots filled up. I’m sorry, I don’t know what to tell you.”

    She understood the semi-veiled jab at her, and cursed at me, saying for whatever reason, I didn’t want her business.

    Me: Okay, please think about that statement for a second. No company turns away business. I don’t want to turn away your business, because I make more money if you buy the sofa. Why wouldn’t I if there was any way I could? But because you didn’t get it yesterday, you have to wait a week. Otherwise, you might be able to find something at (competition)
    SC: So not only will you not do what I want, but you’re actually sending me to your competitors. Wow, I have absolutely no idea why you work here, not to even mention that you’re a manager.
    Me: Not at all, I’m trying to be helpful and offer alternatives. (with a sick, sweet smile) If I don’t carry a product that meets your needs I just want to be able to point you in the direction of someone who might be able to, to save you some time should you choose to exercise your right as a consumer and shop elsewhere. Take a few minutes to think about it, I’ll be done with this order for this customer who was here first in about three minutes.

    The other customer was trying not to laugh, she was covering her mouth and her shoulders were shaking.

    It’s not a sales pitch, people. Trust me, we get paid when we make a sale! The salesperson is going to be the one trying the hardest to meet your needs to get the goddamned sale! If he tells you something can’t be done, then fucking listen to him.

    It’s not a sales pitch II

    We offer a cleaning program for our sofas. Pay a hundred bucks when you buy it, and we give you a contract that says if you stain it, we’ll clean it. For as long as you own it. Great deal.

    Basically, a woman called us up, she had ordered a sofa about six months ago and spilled juice on it, and wanted us to come out and clean it. She knew she didn’t have the protection plan, and actually called a few places in her area, all of them giving her a quote of about $170-200. So she called us, thinking it would be cheaper. Unfortunately, we don’t offer the service after the piece is delivered. Needless to say, she was pretty pissed and cussed us out. Only thing my associate could say was to try club soda.
    "Time shall help me face my painful memories with indifference, and with more of it, I won't feel the need to face them at all..."

  • #2
    BWAHAHAHAHAHAAA!!

    Thanks Kusa, I needed a good laugh ( not at your expense but theirs ). I had a day just...like...that...today. Which I will elaborate & wax poetically about pretty soon.
    "I reject your reality and substitute my own"....Adam Savage-Mythbuster

    Must remember to stop using "brain of death" on slower morons.... I meant customers.

    Comment


    • #3
      Quoth Kusanagi View Post
      Only thing my associate could say was to try club soda.
      Should've told her to use Oxy-Clean. In the most piercing screaming voice.

      Comment


      • #4
        I don't know why people seem to think that cursing will get them better or faster service. I think it makes things worse.
        For the most part, I don't care about what everyone else is doing, or what is popular.
        -Namie Amuro (Japanese singer)

        Comment


        • #5
          Glad to see you posting, Kus. Hope the dealing thing works out for you, too.

          Doesn't it feel good to be able to be blunt and forthright with idiots, though? You know nothing they can do will change the basic facts, but they still want to whine and wheedle the impossible out of you.

          ^-.-^
          Faith is about what you do. It's about aspiring to be better and nobler and kinder than you are. It's about making sacrifices for the good of others. - Dresden

          Comment


          • #6
            Quoth Kusanagi View Post

            SC: I just want you to know that I’m not used to not getting what I want.
            And Kusanagi (and the rest of us, for that matter) should give two shits about your plight because...?

            Wow. Talk about blunt honesty in admitting one is an SC. What a dickweed.


            SC: So not only will you not do what I want
            Damn right, beeyotch. Deal with it.
            ~~ Every politician that opens their mouth on birth control only proves that we need more of it. ~~

            Comment


            • #7
              Quoth Rolling Star View Post
              I don't know why people seem to think that cursing will get them better or faster service. I think it makes things worse.
              Oh, absolutely. Once it gets profane or personal, any POSSIBLE hope of me giving a customer a break completely disappears. I'm a flexible guy in most situations, but I always fall back on "It's policy, sorry" if someone starts cussing at me.

              Joe

              Comment


              • #8
                I like the line, "That's just paperwork."

                Yeah...so is your credit card agreement, and the deed to your house, and your car title, and a million other things that affect your life...

                And hey! It's summer woohoo! (well, unless you're in Australia, I guess...)
                I don't go in for ancient wisdom
                I don't believe just 'cause ideas are tenacious
                It means that they're worthy - Tim Minchin, "White Wine in the Sun"

                Comment


                • #9
                  I work for a furniture manufacturer. We deal with this ALL THE TIME. I have gotten to the point where I say "At this exact moment if you placed an order I could deliver it on XXX, All deliveries are scheduled first come first serve. If the delivery daye you want is full there is nothing you can do about it, and I have seen the schedule fill 2 weeks in a single day. " That tells most people that it is not just a closing pitch.

                  Comment

                  Working...
                  X