A few weeks ago, I met an old timeshare associate of mine for coffee. Not that he was old...but old in the sense of a long time :-) I met this man back in 2000 when I began selling timeshare full time and began on this long, strange trek of mine in earnest.
We talked about how very little had changed from 2000 to 2013. You can walk into any timeshare resort anywhere in the world and it's almost verbatim. The same hackneyed "10 Step Sales Procedure" is still being used. (Details of this 10 Step Procedure can be found in any of my three books; "Surviving A Timeshare Presentation...Confessions From The Sales Table", "Timeshare Vacations For Dummies" and "Timeshare Management-The Key Issues For Hospitality Managers"-all of which are available on my site http://www.timeshareinsights.com)
In particular we talked about what a waste of time the "property tour" was. If you've been on a sales presentation you know what I mean. The salesperson drags you out of the sales center and shows you every single detail and amenity of the property...usually saying something inane such as "here is our pool" as you pass by many sunbathers looking annoyed. As if you've never seen a pool before and have to be told what it is.
Back when I was a sales manager, I took a group of new salespeople to the model and asked them what they would say to the clients when they were inside the model. Sadly, some salespeople pointed out the toaster and refrigerator as if these were miraculous inventions only available at the resort! And this continues to this day as I'm certain you,my readers can attest to.
What's even sadder than this is when clients who are staying on property are subjected to the full blown property tour! Back in the days when I objected to dragging my clients out in the 92 degree heat to see a room that was identical to the one they were staying in, I was told that is was necessary for the client to "experience the room in a clean condition without any suitcases around." What's even sadder is when my clients or I pressed the issue we were told that "Florida law requires you to see the property before we can ask you to purchase." But that's a topic for another day...
No one buys timeshare because the model is nice or the model has a hot tub. People buy timeshare for what it can do for them and the value proposition. If someone wants to see the entire property...I'm all for that. I'm even cool with taking the new owners around for a tour and a meal after they purchase.
But dragging clients around and pointing out features that they may not ever use, since most people buy timeshare with the intent on trading it, is something that needs to be retired.
What do you think?
1 comment:
This is cool!
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