In my previous post I mentioned that my wife and I were in the process of soliciting quotes for replacement windows for our home. I also hinted that one vendor who visited never got back to us with a quote and that there was a story to tell. Well, here it is.
I will call him Fred since I don’t remember his name and I don’t want to remember it either. Fred was representing one of the two major big-box home improvement retailers as was evidenced by the orange apron that peaked out from under his windbreaker. Woops.
I should point out that we have done business with these folks several times in the past with the most recent interaction being a custom countertop for a bathroom less than 30 days ago. They are a quality company and Fred is certainly not representative of their staff. At least, I hope he isn’t! The call started out badly and went promptly downhill from there.[Tweet “There are times when even I can’t believe what I am hearing”]
Fred’s first words were … “We are going to be the most expensive and we don’t give discounts.” Nice opening. I’m already itching to sign! I mentioned that we had been looking at Brand X (a well recognized brand) and that we understood that they might represent Brand B? His response? “We would NEVER represent Brand X and there are a lot of reasons for that!” The look on his face as he said this was a combination of comical and disgust. Now, I am a huge believer in selling the benefits of your product but going negative on your competitor has never been the way to do that. It will ALWAYS bite you in the ass and I was about to take a chunk out of his.
I’m no window expert but, I had done some research. Both brands were highly recommended and for every person who preferred one brand, there was another person who preferred the other. In other words, they were comparable and I shared that with Fred who proceeded to move from being unprofessional to unprofessional and aggressive.
Should I have allowed him to sell me on the benefits of his product? Yes but, the way he started the conversation, and his attitude about the process, found me saying “No”. Certainly, if he had said … “You know what, Brand X is a great product but I would like to share with you some things you might appreciate about Brand B” … I would have been all ears. Since I found his approach to be offensive, I found myself in punishment mode.
Fred obviously knew that we were talking to other vendors. Without even knowing who they might be, he insinuated (or flat out stated as fact) that …
- Their installers would probably be drug addicts and thieves
- They would not be background or drug tested
- They would not warranty their work or the quality of their products
- If they were to provide warranties, they were lying about that and would not honor them
Watching his nose grow and feeling my blood pressure rising … I excused myself from the room and went upstairs to my office. Unfortunately for me, I could still catch pieces of the discussion that continued with my wife. Fred did not want to compete for our business as he was convinced that all we cared about was who was going to be low bid.
My wife pointed out to him that we rarely went low bid, had done business with his firm in the past when they were not low bid, but that we also expected them to be competitive. She later told me that he was still fuming about my comments regarding the comparability of his product to the next. Well this went on for quite some time with my wife practically begging him for a quote which he finally agreed to provide.
When she then offered to take him around the house to show him the windows, he refused her help and told her that he could find his way around on his own. I took comfort in his employee badge and apron that branded him as an obvious professional with an impeccable background. We’ll ignore the fact that I have one of those aprons of my own out in my garage.
Well, Fred never did get back with us and we can add that as another black mark to his resume. He was right about one thing though. We were not going to buy from him and this was regardless of his price. This would include any scenario where his price was the lowest. I’m not sure if I would have bought from him if he was giving the windows away for free. Did I mention that he sat in my chair, the king’s chair? This was probably the worst example of salesmanship that I have seen in close to 40 years of selling. Even worse is that he has now cast his reflection on the company that he works for and whether or not we will consider them in the future, is something that will only be determined in … The Twilight Zone (listen below).
Craig M. Jamieson
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