h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Great entry, especially that bit about getting the customer to say 'yes'. I remember being in a time share place in the Canaries, and the sales guy was not really very slick at all. He kept asking 'yes answer' questions like 'do you like to go on holidays?' which I thought was a bit blunt and obvious. Since I certainly didn't have the money and wasn't going to buy any time share, I was able to be a spectator of my own experience in a funny sort of a way. The second sales person was much slicker by far, and had me saying 'yes, yes yes...' right up until I told them I wasn't going to buy. For the last 20 minutes or so I had two sales persons sitting on either side of me like vultures while I tried to convince them that they were wasting their time. I was astonished that there seemed to be lots of people filling out complicated forms and actually going through with the purchase, since the high-pressure bit at the end had really put me off the whole idea for life. Especially since the time share turned out to be in Switzerland rather than in the apartments in the Canaries they had shown me around!

Cheers,

Maolmuire

I am glad you liked the entry.

I guess time-share sales people are the exception to the rule that one shouldn't play sales as a spectator sport if you have no intention to buy. I have never sat through a time-share sales pitch, but from everything I have heard about them, the gloves are off. What you have described is the exact opposite of professional sales, of course.

Thanks for taking time to post.

B