The world is full of awful sales presentations and tactics, this especially being true for tourism-based cities. For the past eight years, I’ve lived in Hershey, PA, which is by no means immune from overpriced tourist attractions, souvenirs, and pushy salespeople trying to get you to buy something you don’t need. Sales tactics like these are present wherever heavy tourist traffic is, and often leave people feeling patronized and ripped off when on vacation. However, the worst experience that my family and I have had with these types of sales tactics was with timeshare salespeople in Myrtle Beach, SC. Looking back on this awful experience, these salespeople basically taught me (at the age of 11) how not to sell to people.
For context, the operation that these types of salespeople run goes something like this. Tourists at Broadway at the Beach (which is a huge shopping center) will be looking for stuff to do while in town or will be going to pick up tickets for something they’re going to be doing later on. Often times they’ll end up at a kiosk which basically looks like an information center, but happens to be owned by timeshare providers. The salespeople inside will offer “deals” (which are often exaggerated and in reality aren’t that much of a discount) in exchange for listening to a presentation. However, what they say will be an hour-long presentation ends up being a big, long, marathon of a sales pitch that ends up taking way more time than they said. After being drug through this presentation, the prospect will meet with someone who basically tries to pressure them into signing up for a timeshare before they can leave. To put this all simply: its sleazy, dishonest, and outright patronizing (I should know, this is the exact experience that my family and I had).
Looking back on this painful experience, sales tactics like this rely solely on getting customers to “give up and buy” simply because they just want to continue on with their vacation. My family had no intention of buying a timeshare when we went into the pitch, nor did we have any when we left, but I can certainly imagine that some people would buy one just to get the salesperson to shut up. Sales tactics like this is are the exact opposite of what selling should be; experiences like this are manipulative, patronizing, unethical, and leave the customer dissatisfied (even if they do end up buying a timeshare). Essentially, it’s the textbook definition of sleazy sales! Salespeople should be helping the prospect to the point that they naturally want to give up alternative options because they believe that they’ve made a good purchasing decision. Sales is not deceptive or about tiring the prospect into submission, it’s about assisting them to make a good business decision that will benefit both parties in the long run.
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