We’ve all had incredible experiences of salespeople or businesses that seem to be trying NOT to sell you stuff… even when you really, really, really want it. Here are a few tales from the Sales Prevention Team.

Years ago, my parents took private latin dancing classes from Arthur Murray. Recently, they decided it would be fun to go back and start the classes up again, as a fun way to stay in shape. My parents are the kind of people who will pay premium prices for convenience and exclusivity. They are a businesses dream.

They took the free introductory class and at the very end, the instructor began to give them the sales pitch for the classes they offer. My parents asked about resuming individual classes, ready to buy a series of them. The instructor told them that unfortunately they no longer offered individual dance classes. Mom asked if they could speak with the manager of the place to try to come to an agreement. They even said they were willing to pay more for the individual attention! They were asking to pay more money than the private classes! 

The manager replied with “I’m sorry, we no longer give private classes and that’s the way we do business” So although the ballrooms were not full, the studio was obviously not at capacity, my parents walked out with all their money in their pockets! I think Arthur Murray would be rolling in his grave.

Another time, we were visiting a coastal town. We decided to get some great seafood at a small, local, family owned restaurant. We were a big group and decided we’d like to start with a couple of pounds of peel n eat shrimp. After taking our order, the waitress came back to let us know that she couldn’t give us the shrimps as an appetizer because then the restaurant wouldn’t have enough shrimp for the shrimp cocktail.

As there were fresh shrimp for sale on virtually every corner, we were surprised the restaurant owner wouldn’t just send someone out for more. We tried to get our waitress to reconsider and when we saw we weren’t getting the shrimp. We ordered 10 shrimp cocktails instead.

How about when paying in cash becomes a problem? At a local electronics store, I went to purchase some batteries. They asked for my name, address and phone number which I didn’t want to give. The poor clerk (and later manager) had no idea what to do, other than try to bully me into giving my details or I couldn’t purchase the batteries. I said “This is money. Please let me give it to you.” Finally, the clerk had a bright idea and put his own information down as mine and we were able to make the simple transaction happen.

Critical thinking seems to be in short supply sometimes. It’s great for businesses to have systems in place so they run more efficiently. Sometimes salespeople and businesses have systems and the “way things are done”, yet if you really want to provide products or services people want, sometimes flexibility is needed.