The Great “Top Sales Techniques” Hunt: What tricks are used to sell to us?

melissa75_2

Womaniser wrote: »

As you ask.....

House in the country value £800K, paid for.
Flat in Regents Park, London value £550K, paid for.
Condo in Singapore value £450K, paid for.
Ferrari 360 value £70K, paid for.
Audi A4 value £23K, paid for.
Savings of £80K for a rainy day............

*Puts willy away*

Why on earth are you a member of a money saving website and reading the forum money saving tips???????

shakka

He's obviously a fantastic money-saver! Or a fantastic something....

lineman_2

A friend who was the sales manager of a main dealer in the local area recounted a tale about a sales team member who was paid on a commision only basis.
A customer came in over a period of 5 days and gradually haggled down the price of a new car.
When the sale finally took place the salesman made £10!!!!
Taught the salesman a lesson.:T

crossleydd42

sonofsmallface wrote: »

I myself do door to door sales for a very good utility company. There seems to be a lot of negativity towards sales people on here which I feel is sometimes a bit unfounded. We are not all sharks, we don't ALL have only our own interests at heart. I genuinely want the customers to save money. the average person I sign up saves between £100-£200 a year, okay, that's not going to buy them a new house but it's still a saving and I feel happy about the fact tat they are going to save (especially if it's a single parent or someone who is clearly on a low income) - and also, it pleases me to stick it to the fat cat monoploy holding companies that get away with ripping people off and making huge profits, by taking their customers away.
There are of course better deals than the one I've got online and such; what do I do if I meet someone with a better deal, I tell them 'Stick with that and don't listen to anyone who tells you at the door that they can beat it because they can't.
At the same time however, I am aware that there are a lot of sharks knocking doors, who would happily stitch you up and forget about you as they close your gate on the way out; which upsets me, but then again world hunger upsets me as well and I can't make that disappear either.
But bear in mind, we are not ALL evil.

The last point is obviously true but sadly, it is usually impossible to tell the virtuous from the charlaten.

ntownads

I worked for a well know (and very orange) flooring company before university, and was made aware of various techniques and the reasons for them. First off, virtually all 'salespeople' have the power of discount on their side. We knew we could go as far as 20 percent, which on an order of £2000 of flooring can become a quite significant amount, and on larger orders there was scope for further movement or offers, as is usually the case the final decision was with the store manager. Rude, belligerent or condescending customers rarely got any discount, although everyone should ask something like 'Whats the best price you can do me for that?,' as long as its polite, £500 for £600 worth of wood is always better than £0 for nothing, for the salesman.

I know we never ever lied to customers, however I have heard some dubious tales from other branches in the company, usually these were dealt with pretty strongly and quickly internally, so its not something in this particular company which I would say is of major concern for customers.

ADD-ONS: The majority of these were essential or very useful, such as felt pads for the bottom of chairs and tables to prevent the floors from being scratched (which was not covered by warranties), so although add-ons do tot up extra cash, they are often something which you need or will use HOWEVER, add-ons are dispensible and can be used as an aid to selling, ie 'Ok sir, the flooring comes to £456, and we'll throw in a cleaning kit (worth £20 and some floor protectors (£7) hows that?' IF YOU NEED EXtras always try for a discount or say 'If you can throw (X) in i'll take it!'


BEWARE! BEWARE!

Watch for special offers (often on bank holidays) or discount sales, offering up to 70% off floorig, or flooring from £2.99 sq/m. A month before the promotions we would receive new stock in store, sell it at ridiculously inflated prices (if we sold it at that price the gross profit was often above 80%, and we received massive commisions) for the stautory 28 days and then drop its price by 70% in time for promotions. Sneaky, but perfectly legal! The same applies for all heavily discounted products....ask yourself how can they afford such a large discount, and try to ignore the original price and look purely at the quality of the product, then compare ot to other non-discounted products and their quality.

Finally, Salesmen will often tell you the cash figure of the discount offered, as 10% off £500 doesn't sound like a lot, but if you say 'WE'll knock £50 off for you,' people are usually more impressed, as everyone knows how much £50 is, whereas 10% is a little less exciting.....

Good luck, sales people have a job to do but they are no worse than sneaky supermarkets who sell to people without them knowing!

ntownads

Simply going to ask the boss if they are prepared to give you any discount or extras for free, if you have been trying to get some, the decision always lies with the manager, and even they often have to ring for authorization from their area/regional manager! Another possibility is if they have offered you a price, and are pretending to ask their boss if they can give you discount but actualy they dont bother, they go for a chat and come back and tell you the boss said they cant give any discount...then you dont think the salesman is being tight, so you get him on side as he can say 'sorry, its not up to me, ive tried...' that way the faceless boss is the 'bad guy,' and your salesmen is apparently trying to help you out, but unfortunately they 'just cant budge,' therefore you are more likely to simply pay the full price, as it seems to you that all channels of discount have been tried...or, quite rightly, just say ok never mind ill go somewhere else! As long as your not rude or condescending they wil usually try to keep you their....

HeaddyMX

There's one selling technique that gets me every time, and it gets on my thickwick.

• the person behind the counter turns to their colleague and asks "how much is it?" (as if they don't know)
• the colleague states some price
• the other person turns back and looks at you, hand outstretched.

This happened to me a few years ago, when I had my mobile repaired; it took them five days when they said two, but despite the inconvenience (and they knew) I was still charged full price with no apology.
I regret not kicking up a fuss, and putting something through the many glass cabinets. :mad:

harryhound

ntownads wrote: »

Simply going to ask the boss if they are prepared to give you any discount or extras for free, if you have been trying to get some, the decision always lies with the manager, and even they often have to ring for authorization from their area/regional manager! Another possibility is if they have offered you a price, and are pretending to ask their boss if they can give you discount but actualy they dont bother, they go for a chat and come back and tell you the boss said they cant give any discount...then you dont think the salesman is being tight, so you get him on side as he can say 'sorry, its not up to me, ive tried...' that way the faceless boss is the 'bad guy,' and your salesmen is apparently trying to help you out, but unfortunately they 'just cant budge,' therefore you are more likely to simply pay the full price, as it seems to you that all channels of discount have been tried...or, quite rightly, just say ok never mind ill go somewhere else! As long as your not rude or condescending they wil usually try to keep you their....

The "Which?" guide notes on car buying recommends grasping the initiative and saying something like ".....yes why not I'll come with you - it would be interesting to meet the sales manager....".

I have fond memories of a sales manager suggesting I use the ploy of offering an additional discount ONLY if the customer agreed to accept direct deliveries by the lorryload. The customer got so excited he caught the overnight sleeper train and turned up in "Reception" next morning to negotiate the precise figure. Only for our accountant to try to kybosh the deal because the customer's credit was not good enough. (I seem to remember I got round that one by delivering the lorry load on the last day of the month but invoicing half a lorry load on the 31st and the other half on the first of the next month.)
Definitely a case of "if you don't ask, you don't get" - that customer got a better price than several other customers ten or 100 times his size.

scotgirl2

i would like to say the companies being named an shamed here, i mean the ones who are really bad for the heavy sales techniques and the way they treat customers as if they are daft.

for example:: I for one know that DFS are always having sales? why???
we all know the adverts, so why the heavy amount of sales,nearly every week, there is a sale.....

remember the original sales price is the original hyped up over inflated price, then they employ the half price discount sales, so we the consumer think we getting a good deal. we really only getting what the real value of the sofa is in the first place!

so customers think discount sale, but really, the value of the product isn't what we are paying for...

i also been told by some employees in some shopsa etc, that they buy in flimsy stock that doesn't sell well , to sell on in the sales in 28 days time??

crossleydd42

One ploy I recall was what we used to call the 'Nodding Donkey Syndrome; whereby the customer was asked, "Wouldn't you agree, Sir, that.............? It makes it very difficult for the average customer to actually disagree!