Odd sales rep comes into my store...

[CrazedClerkthe2nd]

I had this guy come into my store yesterday not long after I opened trying to sell me some sort of cleaning product. He gave a few demos, which seemed to be impressive but part of me thinks they might have been gimmicked somehow.

Anyway following the demos he talks about the deals he's offering today and hands me a price card, the cheapest price on the card was like three cases of product for around $400.

He then asked me "how much can I put you down for today?".

Ah yes, that old "Avoid the yes/no question" sales tactic, how thrilling.

I proceeded to tell them I am not the store manager and all of our store supply decisions go through corporate. I asked if he had a card, he said he's the "only card there is."

Ok....

So I ask if he has a website. He refuses to give it to me because if we bought it online he would lose his commission (although I'm certain I could just Google the product name and find it easily enough).

I ask if he'll be back in the area any time soon as he could speak to store manager K. He said this is the only time he'll be in the area for around 7 months and if our company wants to buy it he needs a decision now.

So I tell him that means no sale, since decisions go through corporate and I don't have access to any expense account or anything like that and I sure as HELL am not paying for the stuff out of pocket.

He thanks me for my time and leaves.

He was nice enough, but let's review here:

1) He obviously didn't do his homework on our company, if he had, he'd have known that store supply decisions aren't made at store level.

2) He has no business card. What kind of sales rep doesn't carry business cards?

3) He apparently won't be in the area again for quite awhile. Either this was a BS tactic to try and get me to buy now or his operation isn't well thought out. Again what kind of sales rep doesn't make an effort to follow up on their calls?

4) He refused to give me his company website or a phone number or any other official piece of contact information I could pass along to corporate.

Yeah I'd say this guy needs to tweak his approach a bit.

[slavetotheman]

Did he demonstrate its restorative power by running a power sander over your floors, yelling at you all the while? Orange Glo FTW!

[Spork4pedro]

I had a similar saleslady do that same thing about a year ago (It wasn't called sunglo or something similar was it?) She cleaned one tiny spot on one of our largers machines. I told her the same corp. spiel and who to call. She then turned really pushy and then demanded some free drinks! I just showed her the door. Stoopid spot is still there!! If she really wanted a sale she should have cleaned the whole machine! I might have bought some for that!

[edible_hat]

We had a guy trying to sell some "sign boards" (pieces of perspex you can write on with whiteboard markers). Obviously dodgy. My boss had some free time so he strung him along, saying he's very interested, etc. and then "But I'll have to get your card and get back to you, we're considering a whole lot of changes". Surprise surprise, the guy didn't have a card and wasn't going to be back in the area "for a while". So my boss asked for a discount to buy now, the response was "I can't do that, this is a great price as it is".

The next day my boss went to a wholesale warehouse and saw the exact same boards for half what that guy was asking.

[csquared]

His sales pitch was perfect...

He is not going to give you a chance to shop
He is not going to give a chance to compare quality
He is not going to give you any chance of tracing him

Make the sale and run.

He is a rip-off artist.

[tropicsgoddess]

Was he selling Amway? This sales rep sounds fishy to me.

[CrazedClerkthe2nd]

I had a similar saleslady do that same thing about a year ago (It wasn't called sunglo or something similar was it?)

Yes I think that was the product!

Freaky.

[Mr Hero]

This does't have to do with cleaning products, but it's still relevant to the discussion. About every other weekend when I'm working nights, a salesperson would come in at 11 or 12. They sell collogne. They all start their pitch the same way.
Them: I have a random question for you.
Me: (Random my ass)
Them: What kind of collogne do you wear?

At that point I firmly (but not suckily) tell them I'm not interested. One of these days I'm just going to tell them I'm not interested after the "random question" line.

They used to come in and say that last week their boss stayed with us and since we treated them well, they would like to return the favor by selling fragrances at 75% off. One time my supervisor acted interested and asked who their boss was. Surprise surprise we had no one by that name staying last week.

[edible_hat]

Them: I have a random question for you.
Me: (Random my ass)
Them: What kind of collogne do you wear?

I wear ones I get for free from my grandmother-in-law.

The only way they can beat that price is to pay me.

[HorrorFrogPrincess]

I was leaving Target once (company run for candy) and some guys pulled up next to me as I was loading the back of my car with chocolate and asked me about the perfume I wear. Totally ignored them. They got a little snarky before driving off.

But seriously, who's going to even SPEAK to some strange dude in a car? Let alone one who's selling anything that would require getting within arm's reach, I don't care how Middle-Of-The-Day it is.

[Antisocial_Worker]

From time to time at the hotel where I used to work, we'd get the cologne people stopping by. I don't wear cologne, never have, don't plan to. They were unfazed -- once they found out, they'd just ask if my girlfriend liked perfume because they had that too. When they found out I'm gay, they never even blinked, only asked what sort of cologne my boyfriend might like.

A for effort, but it never got them anywhere.

Later on, they changed their tactic and then we'd occasionally have people coming by trying to sell jewelry. I actually did buy an amethyst necklace for my mother once. The random salesman just came up to the counter, popped open their little suitcase and there it was -- perfect.

[Imogene]

Them: I have a random question for you.
Me: (Random my ass)
Them: What kind of collogne do you wear?

None, scents make me sick. As in, pea-soup forceful vomiting (No, it's usually a headache at worst, but they don't need to know)

[Metody]

Them: I have a random question for you.
Me: (Random my ass)
Them: What kind of collogne do you wear?

"Perfumes are a refutation of God's very power and mercy, for God gave us our flesh, and God scented it sweetly with the smell of humanity. To cover your smell is to deny your humanity, and to deny your humanity is to refute the God that made you."

Now pause for a second for them to mentally flail, and if they don't go away, this'll do it:

"I've got some pamphlets if you want to learn more about the sins of the modern world."

[GiftShopGirl]

"Perfumes are a refutation of God's very power and mercy, for God gave us our flesh, and God scented it sweetly with the smell of humanity. To cover your smell is to deny your humanity, and to deny your humanity is to refute the God that made you."

Now pause for a second for them to mentally flail, and if they don't go away, this'll do it:

"I've got some pamphlets if you want to learn more about the sins of the modern world."

Hahahaha omg I need to memorize that right now!!

[wagegoth]

Awesome, Metody!

Juwl, I'm allergic to fragrances. Most of the allergy seems to be related to the preservatives, but some is to the actual fragrance source.