No Sale! When a salesperson treats you wrong, don’t get mad — get even. by BILL STEINBERG ar dealerships don’t hold exclusive rights to outrageous sales practices. Our lives are peppered with the challenge of assessing the content and quality of even the most basic business transactions. Is it just my imagination, or have ethical business principles been thrown by the wayside? The Greedy Salesperson For a number of years, I had a pleasant relationship with a salesperson at a local men’s store. One day I was greeted by an older man who informed me that my regular salesperson had left the business. My first purchasing experience with the new salesman was pleasant enough. During subsequent visits, however, his true character showed itself. For starters, I noticed that he would typically show me only his most expensive clothes and consistently placed me in the uncomfortable position of asking for something more affordable. I knew his actions were a subtle form of intimidation. I merely adapted to browsing the racks by myself, calling him when I wanted to try something on. One day while I was shopping for three suits, he abruptly left my side in order to race for an incoming phone call. He returned to assist me, and as fate would have it, a few minutes later there was yet another page for a random salesperson. Like a trained jackrabbit he sprang for the nearest phone, but he was not so quick as to elude my gentle tug on the elbow of his sports coat. His subsequent apology did not strike me as sincere. I purchased the suits, but when I picked up the altered garments, I pulled him aside and told him why I wouldn’t be conducting future business with him. He didn’t take it well. The man was incapable of owning his behavior. Outright Deception Lured by an enticing newspaper ad, my wife and I checked out one of the newer suburban carpet “outlet” stores. When we spotted a roll of carpeting with just the right color and thickness, we began to talk turkey with the saleswoman. After estimating the installation costs, my attention turned to a roll of carpet that appeared to be devoid of identification. “The carpeting you selected is identical to this premium carpeting we feature over here at this high-end price,” she assured us. “The only difference is that your carpeting may have a slight defect in it.” I walked over to the high-quality sample and looked carefully at the impressive specs, particularly for stain resistance. Sure enough, the carpets did look and feel identical. I asked to see proof that the remnant’s specs were identical to the high-priced sample. That’s when things started to get a little weird. Only the store manager had access to that information, she said, and that person was busy. I politely re-emphasized that there would be no purchase without the disclosure. Finally, the store manager brought us the billing tear sheet from the remnant piece. Virtually nothing in the specs of the remnant was identical to the premium sample! There was no stain protection and no warranty. In fact, the carpeting was manufactured out of a completely different synthetic material. We walked out of the store. The Assumptive Close One evening, unannounced, a representative from our cable company showed up at our door. He said he had come to install our miraculous new fiber-optic converter box. This was a classic case of the “assumptive close.” I couldn’t resist having a little fun with this pushy fellow. First, I asked him why he didn’t call ahead and make an appointment. He replied that he was charged with converting all the neighbors on the street. I told him that because we had not been given time to evaluate our choices, we would maintain our status as a basic-service customer and wouldn’t need a new box. He looked down at his clipboard to see that we did have an old-style converter box for a non-cable-ready TV in our den. “Ah-hah! That box won’t work for you after next week,” he said. “You will need this new box at least for that TV, and you will have to return the old box to our service center, or they will continue to charge you for it.” I firmly suggested that we simply disconnect the old box and let him take it back to the service center on our behalf. Barring the complete cancellation of our cable service, this was the worst possible outcome for his misguided sales efforts. When I told him I would need him to sign a receipt for reluctantly picking up my old converter box, he refused, insisting that I, in fact, was the one who had to sign the receipt. With our game of chess concluded, I let him walk away as the winner he needed to be, with both converter boxes in tow. As I hope these examples illustrate, there is little to be gained by venting your anger at someone who has proven he doesn’t have your best interests at heart. Withholding your hard-earned dollars coupled with a detached, informative response can often be the best punishment. That gets them where they live. (William I. Steinberg, CFP, is an advisory associate at the Memphis financial planning firm of Kelman-Lazarov, Inc. His e-mail address is bill@kelman-lazarov.com)