Gawd, I hate the Toner Scam People, thanks to my stint at on the reception desk at a busy real estate office. Here’s a hint: the legitimate toner supplier doesn’t get incredibly rude on the phone, and tell you to f*ck off when you question their legitimacy, and then hang up on you.
Also, those formally-phrased emails and faxes from people in foreign countries who have suffered a loss of a loved one who happened to have seventeen kijillion dollars that needs to be moved out of the country…
Hard to believe, I know, but people are still falling for the Nigerian Scam.
Business Secret:
Don’t be rude, snippy, haughty or anything other than polite and respectful to the receptionist or the secretary at a company. If you are, we, I mean they will make sure the boss never, ever gets your message, or that you ever get whatever you’re looking for.
A good salesman will ask you what your price range is, what you want the payments to be, and how much you want to put down. With that information he can then tell you if you’re wasting your time, i.e., if you want a $60K Escalade, want your payments to be $200/mo and want to put $0 down, you’ll never get there. The guy you talked to was an idiot.
I say no to buying virtually EVERYTHING when it is initially offered. It is a rule of mine. This applies to any kind of sales pitch down to a $1 dollar charity ticket at the grocery store. I go back and research things that might be of interest and come back to the seller if it works out.
I don’t know why more people to use this strategy. Just have your mind made up that you are going to say no at the end of whatever pitch or deal is offered. If it is legit and a good idea, it will be there tomorrow and check out fine.
I almost look forward to salespeople approaching me with any deal. The decision is set in stone and they can struggle with it at their peril.
The simple solution that I have adopted is to never, never buy anything that is offered via phone solicitation. If I accidently answer a sales call because I didn’t check the caller id first, then if I’m in a passingly good mood, I’ll say, “Please take this number off your call list” and then hang up.
If I’m not, I’ll screw around with them and waste as much of their time as I can.
Sometimes, some seedy looking guy might try and sell you speakers from the back of his van. The implication is that they were stolen, and you are (illegally) buying expensive speakers at a fraction of the price.
In fact, what you are actually doing is completely legal. You are buying homemade speakers the guy put together himself. Problem is, he makes real crappy speakers.
A good rule of thumb is that if you can see through it, it’s okay. So ask him to hold it up to the light. If you see light through it, have him put it back in. If one side is dirtier just have him rotate it 180 degrees before replacing.
I was at Best Buy one day looking for something and decided to evesdrop on a salesman selling a naive family a home theatre setup. He actually told them that unless they upgrade from composite video cables to s-video they WON’T be able to use surround sound.
Chefguy, can you elaborate on this? Specifically, are you referring to extended warranties on automobiles only? If so, then I agree that the car salesman is never the one who offers this; it is offered when you fill out the paperwork with … I don’t know … I call him “The Closer”.
But I know that extended warranties for household appliances at department stores are most definitely offered by the same salesperson who rings up the sale. And I overheard a salesperson gloating once over his success in selling warranties, dwelling particularly on a $25 dollar warranty for a $40 toaster. He was claiming that a large part of his income came from these warranties.
We used to get these calls all the time. The funny thing was, we had our copier on trade, including supplies, in exchange for commercial advertising time. So I got to play dumb with the toner pirates, “I’m sorry, we have a barter agreement with you. Why are you now charging us for the toner?”
It takes two seconds to change an air filter. I could do it. It’s nothing more than a wingnut you have to screw off. Buy the filters at AutoZone and have done with it.
Why would anyone buy food out of the back of a truck? I shudder every time I pass one of those “shrimp” stands on the road. How long have those shrimp been sitting out in the sun? If I get food poisoning, who do I sue?
Generally, if a salesman can get you emotionally invested in the interaction, you will be much more likely to buy something. And one you are invested in buying something, you are less likely to walk away once all the hidden charges are revealed.
One thing I encountered a lot when I was a recent college grad was these so-called sales jobs which were really more like a Ponzi scheme. You join this “company” and have this sponsor or mentor or whatever. You put down some money to buy some merchandise to sell - knives, tupperware, makeup, crap, whatever. You go door to door selling this crap but you also seek out new salespeople who you can mentor. You get a % of their sales and they buy merchandise from you, you buy from your mentor and so on. These people can be almost cultlike in their sales pitch too.
My cell phone company called me to let me know that my contract is up for renewal. Good thing because without that contract, they can’t guarantee my rates. So what? If my service changes, I’ll just go to another provider. Idiot.
I worked for an electronics store that sold televisions, stereos, VCR’s, etc.
I was taught to sell the item with the most bells and whistles, explaining it was the best damn thing on the market. After I sold them, I immediately had to turn around and tell them the problem with all electronics is that it would break down and cost a fortune to repair and we had 1, 5 and 10 year warranties that would cover everything.
The longer the warranty they bought, the larger commission I got - and it was close to 50% of the price of the warranty!
So I guess it depends on the product you are selling - but trust me, do NOT buy a 10 year warranty on a $100 television.
A co-worker has a cellphone number 1 digit off of a local radio station, so he’s gotten used to calls from strange numbers. While at work last week he got a call from a number that registered as “out of area”, and being in a short lull of productivity at the time, we decided to have some fun with the caller.
Turns out it wasn’t a 14 year old looking to request the new Eminem tune, it was a guy from L.A. with a buttload of money…
Guess that poor guy wasn’t finding takers through email and has taken to calling random phone numbers :rolleyes: