>Ed, you are making assumptions.
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Yes, I assume that making a sale is better than not making a sale.
>You are assuming that the salesperson actually gets a commission for selling the system without some sort or service contract. They might not. There may be no profit in the sale of the system if no service contract is sold.
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>You are also giving your sale too much wieght. Lets say the commission on the system is $10. With the service contract it is $100. If 2 out of 10 of the "I don't want no service contract!" customers can be swayed to buy the contract, that would be $200 commission as opposed to $100.
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As I explained to his manager, they lost a $2500 sale that day. BFD. They also lost another $50-70K in sales over the next year in business referrals; if I have a client that needs to get something at a retail outlet, it means they've not got time to order it overnight or two day from a web vendor. I'll send them to Circuit City rather than CompUSA. Or Staples. Or OfficeMax. They're buying a toaster.
>The bottom line is simple: You don't know why he did what he did. You are assuming you know everything, but you don't.
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I know as a customer, someone who is about to be separated from a stack of Sacs, the vendor should be aware and cognizant of my wishes. In a market where I can go down the street and deal with a competitor who is willing to do business on my terms (he delivers what I ask for with a minimum of fuss in exchange for money, and I provide the exact specs of what I want) the vendor is at best foolish to not respect my wishes. To put it bluntly, fuck'em, there's a dozen other guys who can sell me the stuff within two miles.
>When I go to a store to buy something, the salesman never bothers me. I ask the questions and direct the conversation. If something is proposed that I don't want (eg. a service contract), I will say "No thank you." That is that. I then re-direct the conversation to points that I want covered. When the conversation is over, I buy it or I don't. No hard feelings.
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My time is worth money. I'm up front about who I am and what I want. Is it unreasonable, given that they're aware I know I can buy what I need elsewhere off the shelf or mailorder without their wasting my time, for them to do business as I ask?
