What Are You Doing Right Now
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Have you bought a house and dealt with real estate agents? Each side gets a rep. They are called a buyer's agent and a seller's agent. They play different roles, each one has to, by law, do what is best for their client. If they do not it is a breach of contract.
The IT Pro is the buyer's agent for the business. The salesman is the seller's rep for the vendor. They each have a job to do. If you try to get the seller's rep to act on your behalf you are pressuring them to do something unethical and if they do it, you can't trust them because they would be acting unethically.
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So there are no sales people you think are not trying to "take advantage of you"?
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@johnhooks said:
I'm the lone IT. When it comes to purchasing decision (servers, switches, access points) I just ask our vendor, and whatever he sends me, I learn to manipulate it and use it.
I don't consider it lazy, just utilizing the resources available.
Omg.........
I didn't see that one. Holy cow that is bad. I can't believe that anyone in that thread would be willing to post these opinions publicly. These are "asking to be fired" attitudes. If their businesses knew that they thought this way..... damn.
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My "don't believe the vendor hype" post on the above mentioned thread got no love... bunch of lazy sumbiches. Not to mention "easily led automatons"...
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Now an InFocus sales guy has popped in.
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@BRRABill In my experience, yes, every sales person (particularly ones that work on commission) is trying to take advantage of you.
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@brianlittlejohn said:
@BRRABill In my experience, yes, every sales person (particularly ones that work on commission) is trying to take advantage of you.
I've been lucky to know some nice ones, across all areas.
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@scottalanmiller said:
They play different roles, each one has to, by law, do what is best for their client. If they do not it is a breach of contract.
Fiduciary responsibilities are really serious. I don't think some people get how serious they are. Like, go to court and sue serious.
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@brianlittlejohn said:
@BRRABill In my experience, yes, every sales person (particularly ones that work on commission) is trying to take advantage of you.
Well that is all that they are paid to do so....
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@johnhooks said:
@scottalanmiller said:
They play different roles, each one has to, by law, do what is best for their client. If they do not it is a breach of contract.
Fiduciary responsibilities are really serious. I don't think some people get how serious they are. Like, go to court and sue serious.
Exactly. The expectations that people put on sales people are actually often quite unethical.
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@BRRABill said:
@brianlittlejohn said:
@BRRABill In my experience, yes, every sales person (particularly ones that work on commission) is trying to take advantage of you.
I've been lucky to know some nice ones, across all areas.
Has nothing to do with nice. Remember that the nicest, best, most trustworthy, most ethical sales person is the one that will oversell you the most. Because that is their job.
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@BRRABill having done sales, I can tell you that 1) SAM is correct in his assesment that sales' job is to screw you over as much as possible, and 2) your "good" experiences with sales dicks were the result of you enjoying whatever line they fed you. "Nice" and "honest" are 2 very different things. I no longer do sales because of the crushing toll it took on my morals, and the irreparable damage done to my karma. You may have left a sales interaction with me smiling, but I f*cked you on the sale without a doubt.
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I use vendor's all the time to do the footwork. In the end, if they get greedy with markup, I finish the project, but a lot of times if they can do the research and come in under popular sites like Amazon or Newegg, I buy from them. Your CEO doesn't understand anything but $$$.
That's what he's supposed to understand? The first 2 sentences are about saving money (getting it where it's cheaper) and then he bashes the CEO for being concerned about money?
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@RojoLoco That is exactly why I hate buying a car... It doesn't matter what I end up paying for it, I always feel screwed.
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@brianlittlejohn if I had been selling cars, I would have a much larger balance of evil on my soul. I just sold pro audio.
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@RojoLoco I used to install pro audio, I have first hand experience with AV sales people.
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@brianlittlejohn said:
@RojoLoco That is exactly why I hate buying a car... It doesn't matter what I end up paying for it, I always feel screwed.
http://www.edmunds.com/car-buying/confessions-of-an-auto-finance-manager.html
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CIn the case of the plumber, in this situation he is the IT person. He is paid by you to do the research based on your stated needs. You hope that you hire an honorable one, just like you hope you hire an honorable IT person.
The plumber is not a sales person in this case.
Think about it this way. You want to remodel a bathroom. Just like your office needs a new server (or maybe doesn't). The plumber / it person should do everything in their power to get you the best solution they can.
There are only two conversations you should have with a sales person - 1) please give me information about your product, 2) ok I want to buy something, give me your best price...haggle.
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@Dashrender said:
CIn the case of the plumber, in this situation he is the IT person. He is paid by you to do the research based on your stated needs. You hope that you hire an honorable one, just like you hope you hire an honorable IT person.
The plumber is not a sales person in this case.
Think about it this way. You want to remodel a bathroom. Just like your office needs a new server (or maybe doesn't). The plumber / it person should do everything in their power to get you the best solution they can.
There are only two conversations you should have with a sales person - 1) please give me information about your product, 2) ok I want to buy something, give me your best price...haggle.
Yes, I think my good experience are with consultants who are selling me stuff, not sales people.
Like the HVAC guy we recently used. He sold me this and that. But he seemed nice enough. When the bill came, I almost fell on the floor it was so low.
He charged less for 2 pounds of freon, 3 hours of work, and the 2 things he sold me (to stop the lights from dimming in the house when the AC kicks on) than the previous guy almost charged for the freon.
See, yes, I got screwed by the first guy, but pleasantly surprised by the second. So that's the guy I TRUST and will keep calling.
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@scottalanmiller said:
Now an InFocus sales guy has popped in.
Ha I just made it there. Maybe I should pop in and sell them one I find on Amazon.
