On 10/07/2014 11:29 PM, Walter Bright wrote:
On 10/7/2014 3:54 PM, Nick Sabalausky wrote:
It's a salesman's whole freaking *job* is be a professional liar!
Poor salesmen are liars. But the really, really good ones are ones who
are able to match up what a customer needs with the right product for
him. There, he is providing a valuable service to the customer.
Can't say I've personally come across any of the latter (it relies on
salesmen knowing what they're talking about and still working sales
anyway - which I'm sure does occur for various reasons, but doesn't seem
common from what I've seen). But maybe I've just spent far too much time
at MicroCenter ;) Great store, but dumb sales staff ;)
Serve the customer well like that, and you get a repeat customer. I know
many salesmen who get my repeat business because of that.
Certainly reasonable points, and I'm glad to hear there *are*
respectable ones out there.
The prof who taught me accounting used to sell cars. I asked him how to
tell a good dealership from a bad one. He told me the good ones have
been in business for more than 5 years, because by then one has run out
of new suckers and is relying on repeat business.
That sounds reasonable on the surface, but it relies on several
questionable assumptions:
1. Suckers routinely know they've been suckered.
2. Suckers avoid giving repeat business to those who suckered them (not
as reliable an assumption as one might expect)
3. The rate of loss on previous suckers overshadows the rate of new
suckers. (Ex: No matter how badly people hate working at McDonald's,
they're unlikely to run low on fresh applicants without a major
birthrate decline - and even then they'd have 16 years to prepare)
4. Good dealerships don't become bad.
5. There *exists* a good one within a reasonable distance.
6. People haven't become disillusioned and given up on trying to find a
good one (whether a good one exists or not, the effect here would be the
same).
7. The bad ones aren't able to compete/survive through other means.
(Cornering a market, mindshare, convincing ads, misc gimmicks,
merchandising or other side-revenue streams, anti-competitive practices,
etc.)
Also, the strategy has a potential self-destruct switch: Even if the
strategy works, if enough people follow it then even good dealerships
might not be able to survive the initial 5 year trial.
Plus, I know of a counter-example around here. From an insider, I've
heard horror stories about the shit the managers, finance people, etc
would pull. But they're a MAJOR dealer in the area and have been for as
long as I can remember.
But then again, slots and video poker aren't exactly my thing anyway.
I'm from
the 80's: If I plunk coins into a machine I expect to get food,
beverage, clean
laundry, or *actual gameplay*. Repeatedly purchasing the message "You
loose"
while the entire building itself is treating me like a complete
brain-dead idiot
isn't exactly my idea of "addictive".
I found gambling to be a painful experience, not entertaining at all.
I actually enjoyed that evening quite a bit: A road trip with friends is
always fun, as is seeing new places, and it was certainly a very pretty
place inside (for a very good reason, of course). But admittedly, the
psychological tricks were somewhat insulting, and by the time I got
through the $20 I'd budgeted I had already gotten very, very bored with
slot machines and video poker. And blackjack's something I'd gotten
plenty of all the way back on the Apple II.
If I want to gamble I'll just go buy more insurance ;) Better odds.
Or stock market. At least that doesn't have quite as much of a "house"
that "always wins", at least not to the same extent.
