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July 16, 2013 at 01:00 AM
Recently my wife and I allowed a window salesman to visit our home with the hope of receiving an estimate. Our windows were aging, and we were interested in what it would cost to replace them. The company was reputable and promised a high-quality product backed by an industry-leading warranty. They were certainly a vendor I wanted to investigate. The only problem? Once I told the salesman that I had had enough for one day, he refused to leave!
And he had had ample warning. Upon his arrival, I had explained that I had guests coming over that afternoon and could spend 30 to 45 minutes with him. After 15 minutes of product demo and company information, I said, “You have sold me on the quality of your product and the reputation of your company, so let’s talk about pricing.” But 45 minutes later, I still had not seen the price. And now I was out of time.
As the meeting approached the 90-minute mark, both my temper (and window expertise) had reached new heights. I stood up and said, “Thank you very much for your time. Your presentation was excellent. I am interested and will review the costs with my wife within the next week and provide you with a decision. I know you hoped for a decision today, but this is a purchase we will need more time to review. I look forward to speaking with you next week.”
I thought this was polite, candid and reasonable. As a fellow salesperson, I understood that he wanted a quick result, but he should have accepted the promise of a prompt decision and stepped back. He declined my offer to help him pack up his demo materials, so I joined my wife who was upstairs preparing for our guests. Fifteen minutes later I returned to find him lingering on my porch. Fellow salesperson or not, I found this to be ridiculous.
