“My manager says that if you’ll tell others about our work but keep our discount confidential, he’ll move some of our ad budget into a $500 discount for you”
“You know that the Attorney General would get mad if we told you that this discount is good for today, but then extended it until Monday. You agree that we should be people who keep our word, right?”
I once watched a gutter repair salesman make do his pitch to my parents. While my parents were able to fend off his various gimmicks and techniques, I hate that they had to. Why can’t more business people focus on selling good products at appropriate prices via honest presentations?
Soon after, another company approached them with an offer on new insulation for ~$4,000. Mom and Dad negotiated the offer down to $3,200 (wow! what negotiators we are!) before talking with another vendor that they (my parents) sought out. The new vendor suggested that an $800 solution would suit them just fine, and that’s what my parents bought. Is it possible that the first vendor was, in fact, the better value? Possible. Yet doubtful. I continue to tell my parents, “Don’t buy from people who solicit your business. Buy from people you find, instead. You’ll miss the occasional good value but more likely you’ll skip the frequent ripoff.”
One thought on “Gutter Repair and Honest Sales”
I’ve used Angie’s List as a customer for a couple of years, in both Manhattan and Chapel Hill. It seems like a useful service. It is not going to give you an exhaustive list of the best people in the area, necessarily, but if you are looking for local service providers you can usually find good recommendations in every major category I’ve looked into.