Thursday, September 17, 2009

SELLING OR.............

Just the other day we got a call from an agent of some insurance company to pay us a visit. Since my H knew her H, we said to her that she was most welcome but we cant assure her that we will do some investment. She found it OK and she came. With discussions we found she didnt have much knowledge about the returns and all that, so we asked her a few things to be chked up and told her we will do something in November. But she calls again to visit us..this is the way it goes..........
she: Sir, can I make a visit today?
My H: sorry mam, today I am very busy as our MD is coming and I will reach home very late.
She No problem sir, I can come at 8.30
Now my husband already gets very little time in the weekdays at home, so we didnt want to waste that talking to her, so my H comes home and calls her...
MY H: Mam, I am busy in the meeting and will reach home very late.
She: Sir, I can come around 9PM.
It was so difficult to get rid of her, she was not taking any hint and kept telling us her half baked advice ( MY H is a pro at financial knowledge and very few can come up to his standard).....I would say its not selling..its pestering a person and making him/her so irritated that he wouldnt ever like to do business with you. My purpose in writing this episode is to make it obvious is that I dont think a sales executive should behave in such a way..when they are given training, they must be taught the difference between pursuing and pestering, judging a client..whether he is a novice or with a few investment or he is someone who has been investing for 30 years, and advice accordingly. You are not selling a soap of 30 rupees, where sometimes one buys just get rid of them. Specially in the financial sector, it is contrary to make agents indiscriminately without giving them sufficient knowledge or their capabilities.I have come across very few representative who could REALLY advice us intelligently.
Recently i saw a few Episodes of Khatro ke Khiladi..amazing show and Akshay is just marvellous in his handling..his persona comes across clearly,,such a friendly and nice person.

28 comments:

Anonymous said...

Perseverance pays.
But who cares.

shilpa said...

sometimes its irritating when such things happens specially when somebody forces to take the insurance your blog is very insteresting keep up the good work

Renu said...

Hobo...: perseverance pays , not the pestering:)

Renu said...

Shilpa: yes it was very irritating to make excuses to her, actually they should understand thta a person of our age group is mature enough to decide things, we will nevr and we could nevr take anything just for the pestering.

and Thanks for the compliment !

Anonymous said...

Insurance agents, sales ppl, tele-marketing execs- all have a bad reputation in the society..

I myself get vy bugged and annoyed wen they keep pestering and make futile attempts 2 convince consumers..

All said and done, sometimes i wonder how it must b for them..they r just doing their job..they hv targets to meet..the pressure keeps mounting on them..V cant even begin to imagine what they go thru at work..how they deal with consumers like us who ignore them, insult them, slam the door on them, hang up on them..

Renu said...

SWATS: I dont slam the door and cant be rude, thats why it bugs me no end becuase I end up entertaining people for hours for nothing...., agree they have a job, but be ready to guess where you have a customer and where you are wasting time.
When my sis came to know that BPO workers are getting depression due to the rude responses of foreigners, she makes every attempt to be nice to sales calls or calls from BPO centre.
But demanding a visit unnecessarily is stretching the boundaries.

Neha said...

well Renu, I agree with you that they should be given training about how to speak with clients, but I will not blame them entirely here...I have worked in this industry, and when there is a target to be completed and you know failing of which you will be fired and that won't show good on ur CV, you have to literally pester the prospects...like it put u off completely, there are few who in fact invest the money just to avoid such pestering...

maybe she thought you were falling in the latter category..:)))

Piper .. said...

Ohh Renu, I know how tremendously irritating it can be! Really, one doesnt understand the line between perseverance and pestering!
And ohh about Karva Chauth, I asked because on the internet it is 8th oct, mom says 7th and someone else said 9th!!! I`m so confused!! Will try and post pictures this time :):)

Rush said...

yeah, it can get pretty pesky at times...agents of any kind, insurance, credit cards.
My!! i sometimes like the fact that they dont give up and i finally give up saying, okay..come on in!!
i bet they are trained to be that way...pester enug till u get the papers signed!!phew!!

Pixie said...

Oh yes!
Insurance people, mobile connections, credit cards - they all pester!! :D

and Akshay Kumar is so handsome!

Renu said...

Neha: yes I agree, its their job..but I also think that if they change their ways, they will get better bussiness, instead of pestering acquite as much knowledge as you can, nothing impresses a client more than knowledge.

Piper>>all the Indian festivals have this confusion, becaause we celbrate according to the tithi and moon's position:)

RUSH: Yes with younger person it may happen, but to us not:( because at our age we invest money with a lot of thoyght over liquidation, no long term goals:)

Pixie: Akshay is handsome and is doing a good job of as an anchor.

Jayashree said...

That lady's half baked knowledge tells u something about corporates too....they seem to employ just about anybody....no training is given and then they expect us to part with a substantial amount of money based on their advice.

Destiny's child... said...

I am just out of college and guess what, even I get these calls. And though I've got a job I tell them that i am student so that thety would stop pestering. But then, they always have student loans and a host of other such things which I don't give a damn about.

Sometimes, when I see my father losing his patience over the phone, with some sales people who deliberately bring it upon themselves, I feel sorry for them. What pressure they must be going thru to plead and pester like that!

Nice post, btw.:)
My first time here. Thanks for your warm comment on my post. :)

deeps said...

i think it doesnt matter what that person was doing ...
he got to make his living anyway ...
but you got a very imaginative, creative approach to whats going on around ... wow

Renu said...

Jayshree: Yes thats what i wante dto say that arm them with sound knowledge, that will work better than pestering.

Destiny's child: welcome here !..yeah selling people have maximum pressure in their jobs, and I feel sorry for them , but then feel irritated also sometimes.

Deeps: You are right we cant blame them, they have a job, but then we also cant be very rude or blunt with them`,so what to do:)
So..You are enjoying your time withe family?...how is life?

SG said...

Nice post. I handle the pestering salesman in a unique way. I am not joking. I really do. When he/she calls, I will say: can you hold for just a second. They will say "yes". I then do not hang up. Just put the phone down on the table. Do whatever I was doing. Pick up the phone after 15 minutes to see if he/she is still waiting. He/she is gone. I do that every time.

Jiggy said...

Agree with Swats' comment. I can empathize with sales people. When you have targets to meet, and in a recessionary environment when sales anyway fall off the cliff, you are really in a desperate situation. But yes, it is extremely irritating to the end client.
I am in sales, I know what those poor sales people go through. :(

Solilo said...

Another irritating lot is tele marketers. They call at times you are most busy. We have put our number in no-call list and still some of them call, usually I ask them not to disturb but there are times when I just switched off my phone.

I mean it is sad if we think from their POV but our time is also precious.

Renu said...

SG: Lol:)......Many times I just try to be considerate to them, but then there are always limits..like someone asking to come at 9 Pm is.If we are free we wouldnt mind, but coming home after 12 hrs and then beexpected to entertain unwanted people is too much :)

Rebel: I know and as I said I earlier, I want to be and try to be considerate to them, but they must also be perceptive and intelligent..as I said I would have asked her to come If she could offer me something feasible..here comes the knowledge..woh kehte hain na ki jo log kulhari tej karne me jyada time lete hain woh jyada succesful hote ha un logo se jo blunt hathiyaar se kaam me jyada time lagaate hain:)

Solio;...sad from their point of view, but sometimes very irritating..but I have seen some very considerate sales people also:)

Sandhya said...

I too have come across people like the one you referred to, Renu. I have blocked spam calls so, don't get much telemarketing calls, but get them once in a way. My husband never entertains them at home. In the office, the receptionist blocks them! We always pretend to take down their number and tell them that we will call back if we needed them!

Renu said...

Sandhya: Seems to me that everyone faces this problem:)

deeps said...

you are the same Renu who used to mail me??
but.. you are from chennai .. oops .. me confused ....

Smitha said...

I can totally empathize with you. We used to get a lot of calls here too, and funnily enough, most of the persistent/pestering kind were always Indian :(

It is sad when they just don't take no for an answer.. You were very nice to her, she should have appreciated that and taken the hint.. Sad.

SG said...

Congratulations Renu. You have received the Beautiful Blogger award. Please check my new post.

Renu said...

Deeps: Sorry friend, I never mailed you:)...so what consider me also as a friend, I always need friends.

Smitha: Life is like that, but people like me, feel very guilty if they have been rude to someone sometime, whatever the reason may be..so I dont ever want to be rude to anybody:)

SG: Thank u ! Thank you ! coming there to take it:)

Varsha Shrote said...

Hi!Lovely blog! My first time here!

Rajlakshmi said...

Pestering salesperson!! Agree ön the training point.. I had made so many illogical excuses to get rid of them.. Nice post.

Renu said...

Varsha Shrote: Thank U Varsha and you are welcome here, please keep visiting.

Rajlakshmi: Thank you Rajlakshmi !

This is what I think that why should we lie for nothing:(

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