General Asylum

• It's a tough situation. Just want to get an idea of how dealers who admit to screening out customers.... - Dalton 18:36:24 02/17/07 (3)
  In Reply to: Wow...I just read the "other post" that you made reference to... posted by gonefishin on February 17, 2007 at 17:07:26:

  .... who may or may not be out to screw them would handle a customer who stands to benefit them at the expense of someone else.
  
  I think option "c" is the most pragmatic answer. But it's the one internet sellers employ all the time. So any B&M dealer who answers "c" is being hypocritical if they complain about being "used" and losing sales to internet or Audiogon buyers. But are options "a" and "b" really viable alternatives for any dealer who wants to stay in business? Is it really incumbent on a seller to verify that a buyer is an "honorable" person, beyond relying on him to follow through on the terms of his sales transaction?

  Most savvy buyers explore numerous options before settling on one particular item or retailer. Holding a customer to a standard that requires he must buy from the dealer who invests the most time in cultivating the customer's desire is impractical. Almost no one suddenly decides to spend (for example) $20,000 for a pair of speakers on a whim. Someone who is interested in audio at this level likely came to this point after years of experience with (and purchases of) successively better or more expensive speakers from many different sources - both new and used. A dealer who thinks that his two hours of time convinced a buyer to spend $20,000 on a pair of speakers is being disingenuous. He is simply the one who was lucky enough to reap a profit potential that had been building for years.

  So what to do about inconsiderate customers? If you can't set up a business model that makes buying from you attractive enough to produce a high enough percentage of sales, allowing you to absorb the cost of wasted time and resources through losing some of your leads to other dealers, then you have two choices. Either you go out of business or you find a way to recoup those costs. Seems to me it would be only fair to charge a "demo fee" for allowing a customer to take an item home to audition in his own space. As an incentive to buy, the fee could be applied to offset the purchase price. That way you provide a disincentive to tire kickers. And if you do lose the sale because an unscrupulous customer decides to buy the same item elsewhere, you at least have some compensation for your time and the wear to the demo equipment.

  I used to work as a field engineer for a medical laser company (now defunct) that got into such a competitive situation with another laser company that they had to provide demo equipment for doctors to use free of any charge for months at a time to hopefully generate a sale. Of course, the other company followed suit. It was truly discouraging how, many times, I could tell the doctor was simply using one company against the other to get free use and maintenance while generating income off the equipment; delaying and delaying until ultimately deciding not to buy either or asking for a steep discount for accepting the "demo" unit that was provided to them brand new. It was frustrating that doctors, who you would expect to be more intelligent and ethical than the average person, would so blantantly take advantage of a company's honest efforts. But it happens all the time and at all levels. It's just a cost of doing business.

  
  
  

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  • \\\who you would expect to be more intelligent and ethical than the average person///............ - three_sox 22:27:52 02/17/07 (2)
    In Reply to: It's a tough situation. Just want to get an idea of how dealers who admit to screening out customers.... posted by Dalton on February 17, 2007 at 18:36:24:

    ......……… that is funny. You can’t be serous?

    Surely you are not suggesting the Drs were ‘unintelligent’ for taking advantage of a commercial offer? When salesmen ‘offer’ an 'obligation free trial’ of a product it means EXACTLY that. The problem is some sales people, and companies, fail to understand what obligation free means.

    As for the ethics, who made the offer? You are on extremely shaky ground claiming the customer is unethical for taking advantage of a “marketing spiel”

    Any person who successfully runs/owns a business, especially in retailing, well understands that ‘tire-kickers’ are a DAILY cost of being in business. It really isn’t a big deal.

    Smile

    Sox

    
    
    
    
    

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    • Re: \\\who you would expect to be more intelligent and ethical than the average person///............ - Dalton 23:52:23 02/17/07 (1)
      In Reply to: \\\who you would expect to be more intelligent and ethical than the average person///............ posted by three_sox on February 17, 2007 at 22:27:52:

      It wasn't necessarily the fact that these were taking advantage of a free trial period that I found unethical. It was the way that a small percentage used one company against the other for excessively long periods of time to take advantage of an option that was ostensibly provided for them to make a quick purchase decision in order to avoid having to pay either company anything . Many clearly had no intention of buying anything from the start; a few took the attitude that the company should be "honored" to have someone as important as they were to evaluate the laser. One doctor (a cosmetic surgeon) scheduled dozens of patients over the course of several months, acquired a laser on trial, performed all the procedures, then returned the laser. A few trumped up phony service complaints or asked for special modifications and then asked for extensions in order to "properly evaluate" the equipment. One doctor got free demos of four different models without buying anything before the company finally cut him off. Another, after using these delaying tactics for nearly a year, coughed up a payment only after the demo unit was repossessed while he was out of the office. Of course he demanded a new unit - and he wanted it there next day.

      If you find this type of behavior "ethical", remind me never to do any sort of business with you!
      
      

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      • \\\an option that was ostensibly provided for them to make a quick purchase decision///......... - three_sox 00:43:16 02/18/07 (0)
        In Reply to: Re: \\\who you would expect to be more intelligent and ethical than the average person///............ posted by Dalton on February 17, 2007 at 23:52:23:

        ........……..arrrrrrrrrr now we are getting to the crux of the matter. So the obligation free trial period was not really the intended purpose of the generosity?

        You say \\\Many clearly had no intention of buying anything from the start/// but you still provided the goods? ( is it any wonder the joint went bust)

        It is a very simple rule of buisness ( especially when it is your own money) if you want to be cute with slick marketing techniques ( like obligation free trials) DON’T whinge when clients take advantage of them. There is only ONE way a client can keep a product for “nearly a year” before paying and that is if the SELLER of said product allows that to happen, period!

        I will be happy to discuss ethics with you any time BUT don’t whinge about ethics when you offer a obligation FREE trial and someone takes the offer literally. How dare they!!!

        Smile

        Sox

        
        
        
        
        

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