Deal Or No Deal

On more than a few occasions I have mentioned that the reason I would make a terrible salesman is that I just don't have the killer instinct you need to make a living based off a commission. I am far too passive when the time to try and change someone's mind comes and would rather just sit back, present all the relevant facts and let them make a conclusion about whether or not to buy something on their own. I feel like pressure makes diamonds, not informed decisions and I think a satisfied customer is a lot more inclined to come back a second and third time than someone who walks away feeling slightly uneasy about the purchase they just made, leading to more business in the long run. But my attitude about this subject makes perfect sense because there is an old saying about how the things which annoy you the most are the things you should never do to another person and I really don't like to be sold on things. I tend to do a lot of research before I even get to the purchasing phase, so the last thing I want is someone in my face filling my head with all sorts of useless facts and to try to get my mind off the subject at hand. The only one who will close this deal is me so if I want your help or opinion, trust me, I will ask you. It is because of my feelings on the subject that I get a perverse sense of satisfaction when I see aggressive sales tactics fail.

My uncle gave me gift card to a local golf store for my birthday. At the time I mentally designated that money for a new pair of golf shoes and while I didn't have a specific brand in mind I did have a certain style I wanted. Since that time I have gone to the store a few times fully intending to buy some shoes, but every time I went I would run into a couple of problems. The first is that, unlike sneakers which are pretty close from brand to brand, it seems like golf shoe sizes vary wildly from one maker to another, so I wanted to make sure I tried on the shoes before I bought them because at this point I just won't trust something I buy blindly off the internet. The second is issue is quite common to all kinds of shoes and that is once you get into the teens, the selection that the store has dwindles dramatically. Needing a size 14 I pretty much only have one or two options to try on and so far my limited selection has not included the style I would see myself wearing on the golf course (and when you play as poorly as I do you better make sure you at least look good). The problem is that the gift card was starting to burn a hole in my pocket and after not really finding any shoes I was over the moon about I found myself wandering over to the used club section, where there is always a deal to be had, even if you aren't looking for one.

Almost immediately my eyes locked onto a very nice looking Ping driver. It was the best driver on the market a few years ago which means it's good enough for me today. As an added bonus I already have a club from this style, so it would coordinate nicely with the rest of my bag and actually make it look like I knew what I was doing (until I went to the first tee and started swinging). But, the best part was that it was super-cheap - cheaper than any of the shoes I had looked at. I don't really need a new driver, but this is one of those deals that you really don't want away from because the chances of this club being there when you have buyer's remorse and go back to get it are slim. I was already started to talk myself into why I needed this driver more than a pair of golf shoes when a salesman approached and offered to take me to the hitting bays for a few practice swings. Normally I don't golfing in front of a total stranger but I certainly couldn't buy the club without trying it first, so I agree. I took about ten swings when the guy started looking at my swing speed and declared this was the wrong club for me. I needed a totally different kind of driver and, as luck would have it, they had one in the used club section (for $80 more than the club I was trying). The guy came back with a second driver, promising this would be the one which would improve my swing speed and give me more distance. It didn't.

Amazingly, nearly all my numbers (swing speed, height, distance) were identical. In some ways it is impressive because I'm honestly not sure if a computer would be able to replicate results this well. Golfers are always debating if it is the archer or the bow, but in my mind this certainly blew a pretty big hole in the myth that you need to upgrade golf technology every few months because if you weren't playing something customized to your game you would be selling yourself short. Now, I don't want you to think I thought this guy was a jerk because he was very nice as well as knowledgeable (perhaps a little pushy, but what salesman isn't?) and to his credit as soon as he saw that there was no difference between the two he backed off and told me that if I wanted to buy one just based on the look or the price it was up to me. Ultimately that is what I did and I'm very pleased with my decision. But, I was just as pleased to see one instance of a salesman nearly talking himself out a sale because if I was the kind of guy who felt like he had to be wowed into buying a new club the fact that he tried to talk me out of the cheap club I liked and the club he recommended wasn't going to be superior anywhere but on the price tag I may have walked out without buying anything. Sometimes I just think the people who sell things for a living need to be reminded that a small sale is better than no sale at all.