Just kinda curious...

[Merlin]

How many of you Dealers get bad mouthed a lot by your competition? I know we all do but is there just that one dealer that doesn't let up? Personally customers that come in from that shop just seem turned off by the fact that all the other store did was talk bad about us and our product.

It just makes us look better and we love hearing that they talk bad about us. I just wanted to know if any of you guys had one of those kind of guys in your area...or if you happen to be one of them??

Guess i just felt like talking about it since i heard it a lot today and it worked to my advantage.

BTW: For those of you who are looking at spas what are your impressions when you hear those kind of things from dealers?

Merlin

[East_TX_Spa]

Everyone is gonna come on here and tell you "Oh my, I never bad mouth the competitons!  We only talke about our product and it's benerifts.  It's the OTHER guys (i.e. HotSpring) who do all the bad mouthign."

And yet, I can pull up post after post ad nauseum where all of these paragons of virtue just LOVE to try and bring down HotSpring.  I've seen it year after year...the same tired ol' BS, but that comes with the territory of being the biggest kid on the block....everyone is gunning for you.

Do I badmouth the competition...NO, as a rule.  Have I slipped up and allowed myselft to be baited by a customer intor saying something negative from time to time...ABSOLUTELY!  And I've immediatley regretted doing so and apologized.  And I've lost sales because of it, I'm sure, and deservedly so.  But that is how you live and learn and try to improve as a salesperson.

I was paid the highest of compliments a couple of days ago when a gentleman and his 5 year s old son did a wet test.  The son (Avery) told me I was the #1 salesman in the world.  His dad said I was the only person he talked to that didn't act like a salesman and that means more to me than anything.  I do my best to not get caught up in the crap which spews so melifluously from participants on this and other industry forums.  And yet it still happens despite my best intentions.  Intentions are worthless, as is so much of the inane hypocrisy in which so many of us operate.

We all get caught up in our products and our pride and say things we regret.  Those that are successful police themselves and take the high road.  Those that continue to be petty, smarmy, and mealymouthed come and go....

Merlin, you're a good guy and a straight shooter and I know you and your company do business the right way.  We could all learn from your example and that is why you are successful.

Now if you'll excuse me, I've had a little too much to drink!  Don Corleone......Cicci, the door!

[Jacuzzi Jim]

 Hard as it may be to believe, from some of my comments here, I don't slam the other dealers, I talk about the differences, and benefits, this guy I mentioned must be new, as I pretty much know every sales guy any spa store has.  I do know if the owner finds out he wont be happy about it, hes a straight up guy and I would work for him if it ever came to that.

 At the state fair the sundance dealer brings in NDS guys, they can be pretty sleazy and the stuff that spews out of their mouths is unbelievable,most people see through it, some don't and buy only after a 2 hour+ high pressures sales pitch.   They know their stuff though thats for sure, only cause they sell every spa on the market for the most part.

[Merlin]

We get Sales crews that come through here just about every month and our biggest selling point about us over them is that we are a family owned business and have been for 24 years and that immediately sets us apart from them all in itself.

I'm not perfect either. there are those days that we all have where we just aren't "on it" as i like to call it. and things slip out.

It's funny because a few years ago we incorporated our company for legal reason etc blah blah.

at a home show one of our competitors tried to use that against us!! i actually was laughing while the customer told me this. He said that we were just some big corporation that sells spas and doesn't care about our customers.. i continued to laugh and said i was born and raised in this town and my uncle started this business before i was born and all i know is spas etc... now this next part is the truth i swear - the customer happend to be  a lady in her 60's and she marched over there and slapped the other sales man in the face and chewed him out i could not believe it.

goes to show you that what goes around comes around, twice as hard and twice as fast

[Summitman]

Being a Arctic dealer, we get "badmouthed" quite a bit.  It gets very frustrating at times and very hard to bite the tongue, but the best thing to do is just go on talking about your product.  I found the best way to fend it off is to learn what bad things they say and inform the customer upfront what they will hear from the competition and why its false.  We have a $%@dance dealer that is very bad.  The thing is, is that being a Arctic dealer their are several things that are different about these spas so we are a huge target from the competition.  I will say that the local Hot Springs dealer has always been professional and we have a very good relationship.  

[wewannahottub]

How many of you Dealers get bad mouthed a lot by your competition? I know we all do but is there just that one dealer that doesn't let up? Personally customers that come in from that shop just seem turned off by the fact that all the other store did was talk bad about us and our product.


BTW: For those of you who are looking at spas what are your impressions when you hear those kind of things from dealers?

Merlin

Merlin--On this forum I used to think "wow, these guys all hate each other" but really, I just think you all are passionate about what you sell.  I have not encountered one dealer yet when looking that has bashed any othe tub.  Heck, I don't think she even knew any other brand than what she owned and what she sold??!! :-/  "I think I heard of Bullfrog"...  

In reality, I am a humanitarian and prefer to see people get along but human nature is what it is.  If anything, with all the bantering, it has brought up some valid an interesting points that I have learned from.  But, I try to see the optimistic side of everything.

He**  You all crack me up!!

Chrisi

Just my $.02 worth

[Hot Tub Guru]

Last Oct my store was empty, well we had one spa in the store.  That's cause we just couldn't keep spas in stock.  So a customer walks in and I went over our Arctic Spa's.  Told them sorry I can't show you more product.  They then went to another store.  The next day the customer told me while shopping they mentioned I only had one spa.  The other store said that's because there going out of business.  The customer was telling me this while I was writing up a contract for there new Arctic Spa.  Then in Feb of 2008 I called that customer (along with every customer who purchase an Arctic during 2007) to let them know they purchased from an Arctic Spas 2007 Dealer of the Year.  

[Summitman]

Last Oct my store was empty, well we had one spa in the store.  That's cause we just couldn't keep spas in stock.  So a customer walks in and I went over our Arctic Spa's.  Told them sorry I can't show you more product.  They then went to another store.  The next day the customer told me while shopping they mentioned I only had one spa.  The other store said that's because there going out of business.  The customer was telling me this while I was writing up a contract for there new Arctic Spa.  Then in Feb of 2008 I called that customer (along with every customer who purchase an Arctic during 2007) to let them know they purchased from an Arctic Spas 2007 Dealer of the Year.  

congrats on the award guru, btw was the plane ride as rough for you as it was for me on the way back from Quebec.  I should have went a little easier on the drinks after the awards ceremony!

[Hot Tub Guru]

Wait a minuite did you say go eaiser on the drinks?  Don't do that.  Not to toot my own horn. but having a plane ride the day after an awards dinner isen't the first time for me. In 2004 my store won a dealer of the year award.  Don't worry you will get used to it, trust me!  

Congrats yourself!  

[Zep]

LOL
?

[Spatech_tuo]

[glow]Being a Arctic dealer, we get "badmouthed" quite a bit.  [/glow]It gets very frustrating at times and very hard to bite the tongue, but the best thing to do is just go on talking about your product.  I found the best way to fend it off is to learn what bad things they say and inform the customer upfront what they will hear from the competition and why its false.  We have a $%@dance dealer that is very bad.  The thing is, is that being a Arctic dealer their are several things that are different about these spas so we are a huge target from the competition.  I will say that the local Hot Springs dealer has always been professional and we have a very good relationship.  

I think everyone gets badmouthed. It’s more of a reflection on the badmouther than the "badmouthee". Some sales people just don't know how to sell on the merits of their own product and resort to selling based on fear. If you're on the wrong end of one of these attacks you just explain how yours  works and cancel out the customer's fears, as you've stated.

I think most customers are sharp enough to smell a snow job pretty easily and often give the opportunity for rebuttal. I actually think it’s an advantage when a customer tells you they "other guy" told them such and such. They do so because they doubt what they were told, are open to your response and more than not I think you get a huge leg up in that case. Sometimes you do loose a customer to the other guy who told some story about your spa being made out of paper mache but for the most part the good ones smell the rats or at least have some doubt and wait for the truth to be told.

[loosenupspas]

As my sainted mother would say, "if you don't have anything good to say, say nothing."  If that axiom was applied by all hot tub sales people, many of them would have little to say.  I have never been in an industry that attacks its competitors like the hot tub business.  We attempt to make cogent points based on observable realities of the product.  In doing this I try to set my product's value apart from the competition.  We do this well.  Hot tubs aren't like autos, in a life you will own many cars but one or two hot tubs.  competition is intense because of that, this leads to bashing as a tactic.  I have often wondered  why someone believes the competitor and their opinion of my product more than what I have to say about mu own product.  

Then there is the out right lying about the other spas out there.  So it is no wonder the consumer is skeptical about hot tubs and their respective sales people.  

I try for transparency in all things.  Truth wins....much of the time.

[BauerN]

Good thread, I'd quote a lot of you, but that's a lot of space.  It is always best to use courtesy, respect, fair play, and honor.

At this store it's REALLY simple - we're under contract (each employee).

In said contract, it specifies that no negative comparisons will be made in the selling process.  

Should any salesperson in our organization bring up a competitor in a negative light (even if baited) - contract (which includes our limited bonuses and benefits) is in breach.
Not just fired without notice or benefit, liable for any potential damages.

IMO - if you're selling or promoting something where the only positive is the other guys' negative...what the HE11 are you thinking?

[Swell-Tub]

Well many of you know my story. My Hot Springs, Sundance, and Coast dealers were the worst bashers of the bunch. I find this interesting because Hot Springs and Sundance seem to be some of the big players in the game and don't need to use negative bashing to sell their product. It made them look like used car salesmen or something and cheaped their creidibility and hurt the reputation of the their store. One of the reasons I'm drawn towards the Jacuzzi, BullFrog, and Arctic is because they refuse to slam the competition and they seem more creditable. I like it when a dealer is so sure of his product that they can sell on the merits of what they have to offer and not on what the other product can't do for you. It is the same in politics when politicians spend so much time telling you what the opponent is not going to do instead of telling you what they are going to do.

Scott  :-?

[Chas]

I think it is ironic that your name is Scott. There is a man named Scott who does sales training for Watkins MFG Corp. Scott is a man of high morals, amazing ethics, outstanding talent and almost super-human energy.

He has taught most of the better Watkins dealers, and he would be saddened to hear that any HotSpring dealer anywhere on the planet took part in negative selling.

 8-)