I never attended business school, but I assume that persistence is what they teach there.
Am I alone in particularly hating salespeople who keep pushing after I’ve already said no in a polite form ? (more like it sounds great but I’m not interested, I’ll come back to you later if I change my mind).
My second no is invariably less polite, and at that point the salesperson can consider the sale definitively lost.
Whereas if they’d simply let me think it over, there’s a guenine ~1% chance I’d come back and actually buy something.
My second no is invariably less polite, and at that point the salesperson can consider the sale definitively lost.
Whereas if they’d simply let me think it over, there’s a genuine ~1% chance I’d come back and actually buy something.
Salespeople who say: Sure thing! Just let me know, I’ll be here! at the first sign of resistance win far fewer customers than those who push.
A thing to keep in mind is that good pushing doesn’t feel like pushing, and often goes unnoticed. What most people are experiencing when they lament “pushy” salespeople is a poor pusher—someone who doesn’t know how to push tactfully, and pushes when he shouldn’t—who just pushes everyone always because that’s what they’re told works. Even poor pushers do better than doormats, funnily enough.
A conversation with a good pusher ends with a done deal, and thoughts like “man, that guy was different—he really took the time to listen to me instead of shoving it all down my throat.”.
You may be the rare exception for whom this doesn’t apply. However, the vast majority of people when asked will say this, and yet the pushers continue to win.
So, if we wish to live in a world where the salesman meekly shows you the door, we better start buying from them in greater numbers.
I’m with you here. When I was buying a car, I immediately selected out of sales with salespeople who were overly pushy and did not respect my boundaries/or were too salesy. But a lot of friends/family I talked to during the process thought I was being too picky, and would tell me “that’s just how salespeople are”. So, I don’t think you’re alone, but there’s clearly a learned helplessness about it that means people aren’t willing to do much about it.
I don’t think this has anything to do with business schools—business and marketing when I was in college years ago typically cast the sales and marketing more towards consumer intelligence gathering so the “persistent” sale staff would be doing much more asking about wants and needs, then pointing out how their product serves those wants and needs so well rather than the (perhaps not so stereotypical used car salesman) push to get you to sign the sales contract. But that’s a whole different topic I think.
I do get annoyed and sales people that are only about getting the sale and that don’t take “I am looking now, not buying” for an answer. And I think it’s a rather common response to be less polite when that first “No” seems to be completely ignored. But, I also try to remember I walked into the store on my own two feet with no gun at my head so should keep that in mind when reacting to someone just doing their job—even when I think they are doing a really poor job of it.
A bit of a tangent here, but why is everyone using the 1% chance of a future sale? If I’m going through all the effort to go somewhere to look firsthand at some product I’ve generally already made the decision that I will buy so 1% seems really low. Do many people just go “window shopping” for a lot of big ticket items (I’ve never got the hard sell when looking to by a cheap pen or sodas or notebook—or even a laptop or phone for that matter). That might explain the “don’t take No for an answer” dance any point to a fragility in a consumption driven socio-economic social model.
I agree. I would have much more respect and tolerance for a salesman or saleswoman in a shop than for a solicitation at home or by phone. ~1% in context is a poor way to say “a slim chance”, something far below 50%. And I was thinking in this case of an unplanned purchase.
I never attended business school, but I assume that persistence is what they teach there.
Am I alone in particularly hating salespeople who keep pushing after I’ve already said no in a polite form ? (more like it sounds great but I’m not interested, I’ll come back to you later if I change my mind).
My second no is invariably less polite, and at that point the salesperson can consider the sale definitively lost.
Whereas if they’d simply let me think it over, there’s a guenine ~1% chance I’d come back and actually buy something.
Salespeople who say: Sure thing! Just let me know, I’ll be here! at the first sign of resistance win far fewer customers than those who push.
A thing to keep in mind is that good pushing doesn’t feel like pushing, and often goes unnoticed. What most people are experiencing when they lament “pushy” salespeople is a poor pusher—someone who doesn’t know how to push tactfully, and pushes when he shouldn’t—who just pushes everyone always because that’s what they’re told works. Even poor pushers do better than doormats, funnily enough.
A conversation with a good pusher ends with a done deal, and thoughts like “man, that guy was different—he really took the time to listen to me instead of shoving it all down my throat.”.
You may be the rare exception for whom this doesn’t apply. However, the vast majority of people when asked will say this, and yet the pushers continue to win.
So, if we wish to live in a world where the salesman meekly shows you the door, we better start buying from them in greater numbers.
I’m with you here. When I was buying a car, I immediately selected out of sales with salespeople who were overly pushy and did not respect my boundaries/or were too salesy. But a lot of friends/family I talked to during the process thought I was being too picky, and would tell me “that’s just how salespeople are”. So, I don’t think you’re alone, but there’s clearly a learned helplessness about it that means people aren’t willing to do much about it.
I don’t think this has anything to do with business schools—business and marketing when I was in college years ago typically cast the sales and marketing more towards consumer intelligence gathering so the “persistent” sale staff would be doing much more asking about wants and needs, then pointing out how their product serves those wants and needs so well rather than the (perhaps not so stereotypical used car salesman) push to get you to sign the sales contract. But that’s a whole different topic I think.
I do get annoyed and sales people that are only about getting the sale and that don’t take “I am looking now, not buying” for an answer. And I think it’s a rather common response to be less polite when that first “No” seems to be completely ignored. But, I also try to remember I walked into the store on my own two feet with no gun at my head so should keep that in mind when reacting to someone just doing their job—even when I think they are doing a really poor job of it.
A bit of a tangent here, but why is everyone using the 1% chance of a future sale? If I’m going through all the effort to go somewhere to look firsthand at some product I’ve generally already made the decision that I will buy so 1% seems really low. Do many people just go “window shopping” for a lot of big ticket items (I’ve never got the hard sell when looking to by a cheap pen or sodas or notebook—or even a laptop or phone for that matter). That might explain the “don’t take No for an answer” dance any point to a fragility in a consumption driven socio-economic social model.
I agree. I would have much more respect and tolerance for a salesman or saleswoman in a shop than for a solicitation at home or by phone. ~1% in context is a poor way to say “a slim chance”, something far below 50%. And I was thinking in this case of an unplanned purchase.