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ChangingMinds Blog! > Blog Archive > 15-Feb-08

 


Friday 15-February-08

Buying beds

I went out recently with my wife to buy a new bed. It's something we every ten years or so. We buy mamy other things on the cheap, but never the conjugal bed. You spend a third of your life in bed and it's worth spending all you can on it.

Being interested in selling, I thought I'd be intrigued by the various sales methods and indeed it was interesting. In the first shop the salesperson was a woman with a very low-cut dress who offered me a deal which would 'run out at the end of the day'. I think it annoyed her when I smiled and said 'Yeah, sure'. 'No, really!' she said, but I kept smiling. Scarcity tactics don't work when there are a dozen competitors around the corner. At the next place we lay on a computerised diagnostic bed which whirred and clicked as the attached computer told us we needed a medium-firm bed and the very earnest salesman tried hard to blind us with science. He also did the classic of showing us a reasonable bed then steering us to a 'better quality' one with 'air conditioning' and 'foam used by BMW'. He even sat us down whilst he tapped importantly on a computer then on a calculator before offering us a great discount (of about 2%), saying this was his commission he was giving away. We even had a silence competition, but nobody cracked.

Then there was a bizarre shop where all the salespeople were dressed in striped pajamas, looking rather like prisoners, which made it difficult to take them seriously. It probably sounded like good fun back at headquarters but the sales people looked embarrassed and the customers rather confused.

In the last place the sales guy was very pleasant, and did a 'boy next door' act, chatting away whilst bouncing on a nearby bed. Oddly, he told us he had a poor memory and wouldn't remember us if we came back, which pretty much dissuaded us from doing so.

In the end we bought nothing, but had a shortlist based on comfort, not what the salesperson said. I find when buying anything it's a good idea to let any enthusiasm cool before taking further action..


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Site Menu

| Home | Top | Quick Links | Settings |

Main sections: | Disciplines | Techniques | Principles | Explanations | Theories |

Other sections: | Blog! | Quotes | Guest articles | Analysis | Books | Help |

More pages: | Contact | Caveat | About | Students | Webmasters | Awards | Guestbook | Feedback | Sitemap | Changes |

Settings: | Computer layout | Mobile layout | Small font | Medium font | Large font | Translate |

 

 

Please help and share:

 

Quick links

Disciplines

* Argument
* Brand management
* Change Management
* Coaching
* Communication
* Counseling
* Game Design
* Human Resources
* Job-finding
* Leadership
* Marketing
* Politics
* Propaganda
* Rhetoric
* Negotiation
* Psychoanalysis
* Sales
* Sociology
* Storytelling
* Teaching
* Warfare
* Workplace design

Techniques

* Assertiveness
* Body language
* Change techniques
* Closing techniques
* Conversation
* Confidence tricks
* Conversion
* Creative techniques
* General techniques
* Happiness
* Hypnotism
* Interrogation
* Language
* Listening
* Negotiation tactics
* Objection handling
* Propaganda
* Problem-solving
* Public speaking
* Questioning
* Using repetition
* Resisting persuasion
* Self-development
* Sequential requests
* Storytelling
* Stress Management
* Tipping
* Using humor
* Willpower

Principles

+ Principles

Explanations

* Behaviors
* Beliefs
* Brain stuff
* Conditioning
* Coping Mechanisms
* Critical Theory
* Culture
* Decisions
* Emotions
* Evolution
* Gender
* Games
* Groups
* Habit
* Identity
* Learning
* Meaning
* Memory
* Motivation
* Models
* Needs
* Personality
* Power
* Preferences
* Research
* Relationships
* SIFT Model
* Social Research
* Stress
* Trust
* Values

Theories

* Alphabetic list
* Theory types

And

About
Guest Articles
Blog!
Books
Changes
Contact
Guestbook
Quotes
Students
Webmasters

 

| Home | Top | Menu | Quick Links |

© Changing Works 2002-
Massive Content — Maximum Speed