Sales Takeaways From a Timeshare Pitch

After nearly 3 hours in a room full of salesmen sitting around small tables pleading their case for why they thought families should spend $10k+ on a “vacation club” membership (I think the term timeshare has finally been retired) I finally escaped.?

I did not buy a timeshare, but I did learn a few things during this excruciating process.?

Offer Something of Value for Time

For sitting through the three hour sales pitch we received a “free” stay in Pigeon Forge, TN for four nights, but after paying taxes and their resort fees we still ended up paying over $60 per night. Not a bad deal if you want to go to Pigeon Forge, but after doing the math we felt like the “free” stay started to add up quickly.?

If you are going to give something away as a "thank you" for a customer's time, make it be a legitimate gift, without strings attached.

The “Yes” Ladder Technique?

Having worked in sales nearly my entire adult life I began to appreciate the way the sales manager engaged the people. All 50 or so of us sat in a conference room as this manager just started asking questions we could not say “no” to. For example, “Wouldn’t you love taking a vacation more than once each year?” or “If you could stay in Hawaii for under $100/night wouldn’t you want to go?”?

I counted on a notepad and he asked 21 questions that received head nods and “yes’s” from the group.?

He was warming everyone up to be agreeable for once they got back out to their sales tables with their individual salesperson. This was called the “Yes Ladder” strategy.?

Know Your Numbers!

This was the most painful part of the experience for me since I am a numbers guy through and through. Our salesperson was fairly new to the role and this was a later in life job for him as he was in his early 60s. He started showing examples of places we could travel to if we bought a membership, but he quickly realized I was not going to be too easy on him.?

I immediately started asking him to break down the stays per night, and then include the price of the membership and flights, etc. He had no idea how to figure the average nightly cost out, and when he did write down a number it was wrong.?

My wife kept looking at me in disgust as I was actually helping this guy with his sales pitch because it was so awful. I just couldn’t help it! ??

Importance of Respect

I went into this meeting with a very positive attitude, because I have done these before and I knew they could be brutal. I sat down with our salesperson and said,

“Out of respect for both of us, I am setting a timer for 120 minutes. This is the time I agreed to, and we will not buy anything from you today, so when our time is up I would appreciate you allowing us to leave with our vouchers.”?

I thought this was extremely fair, and so did he (at least I thought).?

2 hours go by and my timer goes off. He says, “Oh, I never took you for a tour of the room. Can we swing by real quick as my manager will be super upset if I let you leave without doing the tour.”?

I agreed to 10 more minutes to do the room tour and then I told him we were leaving. Welp, I was wrong in thinking that would happen.?

We go back to our little table and he says he has to get his manager to come by to sign our paperwork for our voucher. Fair enough I thought.?

Well, we waited 20 minutes for the manager to come by, and she was not ready with paperwork. Instead, she brings her laptop over and tries to re-pitch us.?

Now, the respect on my end was gone, and I began getting more aggressive and impatient.?

She was also not having any of my rebuttals, as she just kept saying she didn’t understand how we could walk away from a deal this good.?

All in all, we were there for 2 hours and 57 minutes. We kept the timer running.?

We were the first people to leave, and many others I would assume would be there for hours longer.?

If you have zero respect for your customers then they will likely have the same feeling towards you, if not worse.?

It Shouldn’t Take 3+ Hours to Sell Something Worth Buying

I thought about this hostage situation a lot afterwards, and came to the realization that there is not any product or service in the world that should take 3+ hours to get buy-in for if it’s actually an ethical product.?

Yes, I understand overall sales processes can take longer, but the initial pitch should never be more than an hour.?

More About The Buyer, Less About the Salesperson

Our salesman asked us little questions in the beginning, and pretty soon regretted that as he didn’t realize how well-traveled we were or that I had a career in sales and marketing.?

He spent more time talking about how much HE loved his job, and the benefits the vacation club offered him and his family.?

Towards the end of his pitch he was concerned about how HE would get in trouble for not pitching us a certain way, but didn’t care about our thoughts or time.?

I am a big believer in the discovery process, and understanding your prospect or client in great detail. If you don’t understand their pain points or needs, then it will be very tough to sell them anything, especially something that is useful to them.?

The Salesperson

I actually left this experience feeling sorry for the sales people more than anything. They have to work in this toxic environment everyday, and some days get nothing out of it.?

Their managers are aggressive and belittling, their pay is poor for the work they have to do, and they have to try to sell a product that is so unethical that selling it can’t feel good.?

If you are a former or current timeshare sales person I would love to hear more about the experience and how it impacted your career after the fact?