8 ms·

Another example of this (at least where I'm from) is kitchen salesmen. "I can only offer you this discount today." or "It so happens my district manager is in t

Another example of this (at least where I'm from) is kitchen salesmen. "I can only offer you this discount today." or "It so happens my district manager is in today, I can maybe arrange a discount if you are willing to sign now.". Stores that try to pull this trick are an instant no for me as I won't trust their aftersales if I can't even trust their sales tactics.

hazeii 5y ago
That's one trick I've often seen deployed against the older generation (were salesmen more moral in the past?). I vividly remember a salesman getting quite angry because he was trying to slam my mother in exactly this manner, and my "well, we'd like to think about it" really pi*ed him off.
- aequitas 5y ago
  The getting angry is just another sales tactic if the first one doesn't work. I've had one salesmen try that on me as well. I just set there kind of laughing at the show he was pulling of, but my girlfriend felt genuine threatened.
  - fouric 5y ago
    > getting angry is just another sales tactic That's legitimately horrifying. I've never had the misfortune of experiencing it, but now I know - if a salesman ever tries to pull that tactic on me, then instant threat to call the police.
    - perl4ever 5y ago
      I don't know if it's a tactic. I think it may be common for salespeople to be...weird, because it seems logical if the barrier for entry is low, if they're on commission. I was at a Honda dealer once, having owned Honda and Acura cars in the past, and thinking about a hybrid. I said something to the salesman about Honda hybrid drivetrains being second rate, engineering wise, compared to Toyota, even though I generally liked Honda vehicles in other respects. I was startled when he seemed to take it really personally. It didn't seem like he was just acting angry - I can't see what the use of that would be.
  - FalconSensei 5y ago
    > The getting angry is just another sales tactic if the first one doesn't work. WTF? I would never buy anything from someone who's getting angry at me. If the sales experience is that bad, what can I expect from customer support later? Threaten me not to open any support ticket?
    - aequitas 5y ago
      Well, if I didn't have the life experience I had by then I might have been pushed into the sale. He also tried to make me feel guilty about wasting his time (1,5 hours) talking through and drawing up a kitchen plan for us. Which is why I could laugh at the whole situation, because it's his risk for trying to get a sale. And if his kitchen drawing services where that good he should have made an agreement before spending his valuable time with us. But I doubt anyone would visit that place if he did.
manchego 5y ago
I had this experience with a language learning app recently. The premium content (which I was interested in) was $30. But for the first half hour after app install the price was $20. There was a banner with a countdown timer for that 30 minutes. And lo and behold, the same banner popped up again a few days later. I don't know whether or not the technique is effective, but it sure annoys me.
- MattGaiser 5y ago
  I fell for it on Udemy a couple times when I was new to the site. I bought courses just in case the discount was not available when I needed it. Worked on me.
  - monkeybutton 5y ago
    Worked, but will it again?
- rightbyte 5y ago
  My mother falls for it. She gets stressed by the "sale for just X minutes more" -- eventhough I said it is mostly a scam.
m463 5y ago
That follows. I remember a hard-sell gym years and years ago. I was going to join anyway so I sort of ignored the "this offer is only good today" thing. But quitting when I moved away involved a bunch of nonsense like writing a letter to their main office.
mywittyname 5y ago
I learned this lesson from the school of hard knocks; moved into an apartment I didn't really want because the price was only good for that day. Now I permanently associate exploding offers with long-term dissatisfaction of the product.
moshmosh 5y ago
These get an instant "no" from me. I don't care how good the offer is. If you try to keep me from thinking about my options, I'm not inclined to do business with you. Salespeople take me from "maybe today" to "absolutely not today" with this tactic, though I must be in the minority, since they keep doing it. Plus if I reflect and later decide I do want what you're offering, then I know your "full" price is bullshit and your "special" rate probably is too, so I'll come in negotiating hard, both because I've learned something about your prices and because now I kinda don't like you.
- crowf 5y ago
  well then you may be missing out on some great deals. when I was searching for an apartment to rent I found a great place, but I wanted some time to think about it. the landlord said that they won't hold it for me and that they were showing it to someone else the next day. I chose to take apartment and I am really glad that I chose it.
  - moshmosh 5y ago
    Real estate's different, obviously, especially in this market. It's not the same when time actually is a factor. Salespeople pull this crap with all kinds of things that don't really have any actual time-pressure on them, though. Home remodeling, various services, unremarkable (that is: not unique or highly in-demand) cars. In fact, "we're running a special that'll get you 10% off if you sign today" is usually a strong indicator that I can ask for 15-20% off tomorrow and get it. If that kind of salesperson offers you a "deal" unprompted, then that "deal" is actually their price for suckers. I hate that kind of thing, don't like being manipulated, and don't like it when scummy salespeople win. So I'll either look somewhere else or take that newfound knowledge and ask for something better than the "special", on my own timeline, not the salesperson's.
    - aequitas 5y ago
      I've actually had some good experience with a salesman where he told me there was a limited offer, but if I could wait they would have a different offer next month, just on a different brand of equipment. Still not fully transparent but at least a little more honest. We eventually settled on a IKEA kitchen, just because they are fully transparent and offered what we needed, with no pressure or tricks. And I got the chance to build my own kitchen, which was a nice experience. If it was not for their limited choice of options they would be the only contender for our next kitchen.
fatnoah 5y ago
100% agree on the "today only" being an instant "no" from me. Conversely, I've had a good experience with this. I was buying suits for the groomsmen in my wedding, and the salesman offered to hold everything until the following Thursday because there was a 15% off everything sale that day. He put them in a closet and I came in on that day so he could ring the sale and I'd get the discount.
cafard 5y ago
About 25 years ago, we were looking for a new car. We visited a couple of dealerships in the Washington, DC, area without buying. We then visited on in "West Shore" suburbs of Harrisburg. The saleswoman made the sale when we all sat down in her office, and she waited for us to speak first--it was almost unnerving to hear silence from auto sales staff.
- NullPrefix 5y ago
  >it was almost unnerving to hear silence from auto sales staff Use this as an opportunity to inform people about the dangers of proprietary software.

hazeii 5y ago

That's one trick I've often seen deployed against the older generation (were salesmen more moral in the past?). I vividly remember a salesman getting quite angry because he was trying to slam my mother in exactly this manner, and my "well, we'd like to think about it" really pi*ed him off.

aequitas 5y ago
The getting angry is just another sales tactic if the first one doesn't work. I've had one salesmen try that on me as well. I just set there kind of laughing at the show he was pulling of, but my girlfriend felt genuine threatened.
- fouric 5y ago
  > getting angry is just another sales tactic That's legitimately horrifying. I've never had the misfortune of experiencing it, but now I know - if a salesman ever tries to pull that tactic on me, then instant threat to call the police.
  - perl4ever 5y ago
    I don't know if it's a tactic. I think it may be common for salespeople to be...weird, because it seems logical if the barrier for entry is low, if they're on commission. I was at a Honda dealer once, having owned Honda and Acura cars in the past, and thinking about a hybrid. I said something to the salesman about Honda hybrid drivetrains being second rate, engineering wise, compared to Toyota, even though I generally liked Honda vehicles in other respects. I was startled when he seemed to take it really personally. It didn't seem like he was just acting angry - I can't see what the use of that would be.
- FalconSensei 5y ago
  > The getting angry is just another sales tactic if the first one doesn't work. WTF? I would never buy anything from someone who's getting angry at me. If the sales experience is that bad, what can I expect from customer support later? Threaten me not to open any support ticket?
  - aequitas 5y ago
    Well, if I didn't have the life experience I had by then I might have been pushed into the sale. He also tried to make me feel guilty about wasting his time (1,5 hours) talking through and drawing up a kitchen plan for us. Which is why I could laugh at the whole situation, because it's his risk for trying to get a sale. And if his kitchen drawing services where that good he should have made an agreement before spending his valuable time with us. But I doubt anyone would visit that place if he did.

manchego 5y ago

I had this experience with a language learning app recently. The premium content (which I was interested in) was $30. But for the first half hour after app install the price was $20. There was a banner with a countdown timer for that 30 minutes. And lo and behold, the same banner popped up again a few days later. I don't know whether or not the technique is effective, but it sure annoys me.

MattGaiser 5y ago
I fell for it on Udemy a couple times when I was new to the site. I bought courses just in case the discount was not available when I needed it. Worked on me.
- monkeybutton 5y ago
  Worked, but will it again?
rightbyte 5y ago
My mother falls for it. She gets stressed by the "sale for just X minutes more" -- eventhough I said it is mostly a scam.

m463 5y ago

That follows. I remember a hard-sell gym years and years ago. I was going to join anyway so I sort of ignored the "this offer is only good today" thing. But quitting when I moved away involved a bunch of nonsense like writing a letter to their main office.

mywittyname 5y ago

I learned this lesson from the school of hard knocks; moved into an apartment I didn't really want because the price was only good for that day. Now I permanently associate exploding offers with long-term dissatisfaction of the product.

moshmosh 5y ago

These get an instant "no" from me. I don't care how good the offer is. If you try to keep me from thinking about my options, I'm not inclined to do business with you. Salespeople take me from "maybe today" to "absolutely not today" with this tactic, though I must be in the minority, since they keep doing it. Plus if I reflect and later decide I do want what you're offering, then I know your "full" price is bullshit and your "special" rate probably is too, so I'll come in negotiating hard, both because I've learned something about your prices and because now I kinda don't like you.

crowf 5y ago
well then you may be missing out on some great deals. when I was searching for an apartment to rent I found a great place, but I wanted some time to think about it. the landlord said that they won't hold it for me and that they were showing it to someone else the next day. I chose to take apartment and I am really glad that I chose it.
- moshmosh 5y ago
  Real estate's different, obviously, especially in this market. It's not the same when time actually is a factor. Salespeople pull this crap with all kinds of things that don't really have any actual time-pressure on them, though. Home remodeling, various services, unremarkable (that is: not unique or highly in-demand) cars. In fact, "we're running a special that'll get you 10% off if you sign today" is usually a strong indicator that I can ask for 15-20% off tomorrow and get it. If that kind of salesperson offers you a "deal" unprompted, then that "deal" is actually their price for suckers. I hate that kind of thing, don't like being manipulated, and don't like it when scummy salespeople win. So I'll either look somewhere else or take that newfound knowledge and ask for something better than the "special", on my own timeline, not the salesperson's.
  - aequitas 5y ago
    I've actually had some good experience with a salesman where he told me there was a limited offer, but if I could wait they would have a different offer next month, just on a different brand of equipment. Still not fully transparent but at least a little more honest. We eventually settled on a IKEA kitchen, just because they are fully transparent and offered what we needed, with no pressure or tricks. And I got the chance to build my own kitchen, which was a nice experience. If it was not for their limited choice of options they would be the only contender for our next kitchen.

fatnoah 5y ago

100% agree on the "today only" being an instant "no" from me. Conversely, I've had a good experience with this. I was buying suits for the groomsmen in my wedding, and the salesman offered to hold everything until the following Thursday because there was a 15% off everything sale that day. He put them in a closet and I came in on that day so he could ring the sale and I'd get the discount.

cafard 5y ago

About 25 years ago, we were looking for a new car. We visited a couple of dealerships in the Washington, DC, area without buying. We then visited on in "West Shore" suburbs of Harrisburg. The saleswoman made the sale when we all sat down in her office, and she waited for us to speak first--it was almost unnerving to hear silence from auto sales staff.

NullPrefix 5y ago
>it was almost unnerving to hear silence from auto sales staff Use this as an opportunity to inform people about the dangers of proprietary software.