DON'T TRUST ANYONE!!!! (Double Glazing in General)

Member Name: kevmo

Product:	Double Glazing in General
Date:	15/09/05 (4398 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: I've done the windows sales training

Disadvantages: part of me died during the training

I recently found myself out of work and found an advert:

"Own your own car? Earn £600 a week!"

I rang the number, got interviewed by the recruiter and decided to go on the 5 day training course- hey it was free, if I didn't like it I'd not wasted any money myself at least.

Having done the training and lasted 2 days doing appointments in people's houses I can identify with all the negative comments on this board.

Rules of the game:
1.Absorb all objections.

"I'm sorry Mr Showhome consultant, I'm not buying today and am only really after a quote"
"That's fine" 3 hours later he's still developing his ass-groove on your couch with no signs of a price.

2.They ALL want a "decision" on the night.

Basically a yes or no. Their thinking is that a "I want to think about it" answer - usually means no - if you genuinely liked and were convinced by the company and product and the price was attractive - they feel you should say yes.
This is why they want all deciding parties present - husband and wife eg.

They also know if they keep dropping the price, your fear of loss (eg if they drop from £8000 to £2000 - a "potential" saving of £6000) will stop you from saying no in a large amount of cases.

3.Always Be Closing (The salesman's ABC)

They constantly ask robot style "closed questions" (ones which require a yes or no answer)
"Is that the type of company you feel you could trust?"
"Is that the level of service and security you would want on your home?"
This is done so that they leave no open doors when they get to the end like "can you explain more about the locking system" etc.
It also cons you into thinking your making decisions to yourself, rather than being forced into them

4.Their pitch will be no shorter than 2-2.5 hours.

These companies know exactly how the psychology of impulse buying works. They need to heighten your desire by piling up the features and their benifits while dismissing the competition and this doesn't happen in 30 minutes. Secondly no company will come in, measure your windows then open a brochure, ask you pick style, produce and open plan of prices and calculate - this alone will take about 45 minutes to an hour.

5.They all make the same claims.

To many to mention, but a few are:

"Our marketing department give us "subsidies" - they are not "discounts"".

"Your house will be a "showhome" and no other house will be offered these "subsidies" in this area" (which is why they ask you to sign a confidentiality agreement)

Ask them "Why should I trust you when you say this?"

"I don't get paid commission" - LIE LIE LIE LIE - this is always a lie.

The company I almost worked for, were offering about 20% commission. So if you buy windows for £5000, I would have got a £1000. Do you really think other companies are paying people a salary on top or instead of this?!?!

Secondly the branch manager got a commission on the sale - which was alot more than the salesperson's cut. The person canvassing on the phone or at your door also got a cut. After all these deductions the company needed to make a profit. It makes you wonder how much the windows are actually worth....


My advice:
Never decide on the night.
Claim that you know a double glazing sales person and he told you their techniques.
Insist that you know all about the product and have already seen the demonstration at someone elses house - this could save you a few hours of pushy sales pitch.

If you can get a quote and get the sales person out of your house within 1 - 1.5 hours I'll eat my hat and shoes and everything else in my wardrobe.

Be careful and good luck.

Summary: Double glazing's reputation is justified - they wouldn't survive if they weren't competitive...