Selling 101

While in search of good customer service, in the last year, I have come across three basic types: the ones that don't care, the ones that involve you in their drama and the ones that talk down to you. The third kind is by far the worst. I shudder as I think what would happen to my clientele if I started telling them that the house they were in love with is just too horrid to be inside.

See, I'm not even good at making this up.

But it seems to be the lead selling companies out there that do this most often. In my early days of Sacramento Real Estate Gal, someone from one of these House-or-Home-Something-Value-Something-dot-com called and asked me how I was generating internet leads. His big argument was that's the new frontier. I told him I wasn't interested in internet leads, which was true at the time.

"Not interested in internet leads?" he repeated and laughed.

Maybe it was the same guy that called today. Because this time he wanted to sell me an exclusive zip code and bragged that someone before me from Big Brokerage had bought some zips. I told him politely I wasn't interested right now.

"So you'd rather have _____ (insert name of Big Producer/other Realtor) get them all, huh?" He laughed.

I'm sorry. I don't get the joke.

You would think the the Salespeople of the Third Kind would have learned that as selling 101 - don't talk down to the prospect. Or is the idea to make the prospect who answers the phone feel so crappy about herself that she buys your product just to feel better?

Come on. I have better use for my phone minutes.

And I will never buy anything from any salesperson that devalues the profession. That would be terrible business.