Salesperson-One Who Sells

Merriam-Webster defines salesperson as follows:

A person whose job is to sell a product or service in a given territory, in a store, or by telephone : a salesman or saleswoman

Here’s what the definition does not include:

Expert

Friend

One with a fiduciary relationship

One with inside information 

Someone who knows more than you 

Reliable

Trustworthy

Let’s also include that the salesperson’s job is usually limited to selling one product; meaning you hopefully would not take anything that the solar panel salesperson said about cryptocurrency as knowledgeable or reliable. 

I mention all of this because the number one complaint I get from frustrated timeshare owners begins with “He/she said…” followed by:

>I could make money off of the timeshare 

>I could rent out my bonus weeks which would pay for my timeshare 

>The timeshare would appreciate in value 

>The new company was going to announce something soon, but I could take advantage of it today

>It hadn’t been announced yet, but…

>75% of owners had already converted to…

Now before my very vocal critics jump on the comments tab…who am I kidding, they’ll still jump on the comments tab…I’m not condoning any of this. I’m vociferously condemning such rotten sales practices. The fact of the matter is that many timeshare salespeople leave out information, deliberately mislead or out and out lie in order to get you to sign on the dotted line. 

Consumers need to remember that just because a timeshare salesperson says something doesn’t make it true. If they’ve been trained at all, they’ve been trained to sell you a timeshare. They’re not financial experts. They’re not investment experts. They have no inside information of any kind. They’re not your friends. They often times know less, not more, than you do. They certainly know less about your finances than you do. Everything they say and everything they don’t say is designed to get you to buy. 

More than that, everything that’s said during the sales pitch that’s true is verifiable. Everything. You just need to ask. A simple ‘show me’ will usually suffice. 

A great salesperson becomes great because they sell a quality product with integrity and welcome the opportunity to do just that…show, not tell. Your job is simple…ask them to show you.