Elaine and I have owned a time share unit at the Village of Loon Mountain for 20-ish years. We’ve stayed there several times, but as we’ve grown older, we’ve grown to prefer a tropical beach to a ski slope. Elaine’s done very well. We’ve been to Disney several times. We’ve used our RCI membership to hunt for colleges in Pennsylvania, visit Williamsburg, San Diego. We’ve also been to the Bahamas, Dominican Republic, and the Mayan Riviera in Mexico, twice.

For those of you who have never been, every time we visit one of these places, we’re always asked if we’d like to attend a 90 minute presentation to learn about this resort’s vacation ownership program. WE ALWAYS SAY, “YES”. Elaine says, “Yes.” because she wants the free stuff that they give you to listen. Passes to Disney, Excaret, dinner, etc. etc.

Last week we were at Aventura Spa Palace in Mexico. If you follow the link, you’ll see that this was a great place. Accommodations were cool. Ocean view. Sunrise from our bed. Double jacuzzi in the room. 24 hour room service included. Restaurants were great. Staff in the restaurant, on the grounds, and in housekeeping were excellent. Service oriented. Genuinely happy. Fun to be with, around and served by.

Surprisingly, guest services, public relations and the sales department s-t-u-n-k. Crappy attitude. It’s as if they were taught to disagree and deny first. When tested, stand firm. If the customer persists, stop understanding English. Before I go on, I want to point out one exception. Michelle in guest services was always smiling, always helpful, and if everyone at the resort was modeled after her, not only would they all be beautiful, but I wouldn’t have any complaints. I won’t get into specific complaints, but generally, we didn’t get everything that we expected.

Here’s the point of the post. As always, we said, “Yes.” to being pitched. Salesperson #1 (SP1/no names) spent an hour with us. Bond, develop rapport, qualify, show us the program, yada, yada, yada. She dropped the price three times. Didn’t she get it? We didn’t want it. She said that she could see that we didn’t see a package that we liked, so she called her manager over to see if she could find a package that we liked. Huh? We gave no buying signals. We said that we didn’t see ourselves owning any part of the resort. Regardless, here comes the manager. She asked a couple of questions, but didn’t listen to the answers. Didn’t maintain eye contact. Was constantly scanning the room as if she were looking for her next prey. She presented her solution and when I said, “No.”, she asked, “Why?” I replied that I have no intention of buying anything and won’t change my mind and am ready to leave. She asked why, again. I replied that I was done with her and was ready to leave. Did I have to stand up for her to get the message? She started talking again. I stood up and crossed my arms. She asked if I would please sit down and she would get me out of here. I did.

Interestingly, there were about fifteen closing tables, all occupied in the room and three times, a sales rep stood up, started clapping and said something like, “I want to introduce _____ and _____. They’ve just become owner #83. The reason that they’ve decided to invest is (and they gave a very personal, legitimate, compelling reason that the new owner was buying.) Elaine and I never gave any reason, let alone a compelling reason, so why were we being pressured? Why did they even bother closing? Find a compelling reason, earn the right to close, or don’t waste your time.

The rest of the story. The manager turned us over to Mr. Good-Looking Super Manager. He sat down. Asked us how we liked the resort. How we were being treated. I replied liked the place, but now we weren’t being allowed to get back to our vacation. He said that he understood that I had a problem with one of his people, was it ____? I replied with, “Right now I have a problem with you. All I want is my free stuff and to get back to having fun.”

He arranged it.

Whoever is training these people………I believe that everybody should buy, at least once, but if you can’t uncover the prospect’s compelling reason to buy and recognize the one opportunity to close, YOU DON’T DESERVE THE SALE!

And if you want to talk to me about fixing the problem and you speak English, use the link at the top of the page to send me an email.

I received the following email the day after the Corridor Nine Business Expo.

Hi Rick,

Blog idea for you.

We were at the C9 expo yesterday. It was a fantastic expo. It reminded me of all the people who just walk the show carrying on and on about their stuff they’re trying to sell. Can you please help them? For their sake, and mine as well?

Thanks,

The short answer is, “Probably not.” Not because I don’t want to, but because they don’t want it.

If you’d like a longer answer, read on.

You may remember this post on how I choose whom to refer, but I realize that your question comes from a different point of view. I think that you’re talking about the person who doesn’t care that you are a real business, that’s spent hundreds or thousands of dollars to have the space that you have, so that your prospects can meet you. He comes because it’s free. Because there are a thousand people in the room and he believes that every one of them should know how great he is at what he does. So, he stands at your booth stealing time that you’ve paid for trying to convince you that he can help you when in fact, he doesn’t stand a chance in hell because he’s a crappy salesperson.

Can I help him? Maybe. Does he want my help? Not until all of you start telling him to get away from you.

Do you like that answer better?

How about this one?

They need their head fixed regarding referrals and networking. Remember this post about selfishness? Almost everybody knows that referrals make for better selling. However, probe a little and you’ll find that most people go to a trade show looking to be a solution, not to find a solution.

Wrong…..Wrong…..Wrong. But, that’s only my opinion.

Bottom line is that I’m always willing to work with people that have the desire and are committed to change. Problem is that although many show walkers say they want better results, it’s easier to stay the way they are.