Take Control With These 4 Questions

Everyday, hundreds of thousands of consumers just like you, sit down across from a timeshare salesperson and give away most of their power just because they don’t understand the psychology of sales. 

I spent 5 years in timeshare sales and sales management and the first thing we were taught is this:

The person asking the questions is in charge. 

Think about it. If you go to the doctor, they ask the questions and you usually quietly acquiesce. But if you go to a big box store looking for a television, you ask the questions and you’re in control of the purchasing decision. 

The timeshare sales paradigm has remained largely unchanged for 40+ years. It’s built upon greed, guilt and control. Greed because you took the bait in the form of theme park tickets, dinner shows or good old fashioned cash. Guilt because you mistakingly believe you owe them something for taking the bribe. Control because the salesperson asks the majority of the questions so they can tailor the pitch and the offer to your needs. 

It’s quite easy to reverse this paradigm. Ask the questions. Here are 4 questions you need to ask your salesperson before the pitch even begins:

1) Are you licensed? Ideally you want the answer to be YES. At the very least, your salesperson will be taken aback by this question. Want more control?  Ask to be paired with one who is licensed. Yes, you can do this. 

2) Can I record your entire sales presentation? Again, ideally you want the answer to be YES. If it’s NO, continue asking questions. Why can’t you record it?  Are you hiding something?  The idea here is to put the salesperson on notice that same old, same old will not work. 

3) How long will this take?Remember that you are only obligated to stay for the amount of time listed on the “invitation” or whatever you signed when you agreed to listen. If the salesperson tells you something different, or waffles on the answer, do not agree to even begin. Get this clarified and let them know you’re setting an alarm for that exact time. Again, yes you can do this. 

4) Are you going to send in another salesperson or a manager at any point?  When I was a salesperson I never used a manager or anyone else to finish my sales pitch. In the business it’s called “going front to back.”  Why would you want to spend 90 minutes at minimum with someone who isn’t qualified or authorized to finish things up?

None of this is meant to give you carte blanche to be rude to anyone, lest you misinterpret my point. The point is that you have the power to take control of the sales pitch with a few carefully thought out questions. 

So are you going to take control or cry foul after buying something you don’t understand after a 5 hour sales pitch?  It really is your choice.