Time Management Discounts

We have to say this is one of the silliest names for a sales tactic we’ve ever heard.  About a month ago our company participated in a home and garden show in Richmond, VA.  After the shows we typically have around 100 appointments with potential customers looking for quotes to replace their windows or doors.

Interestingly, all of the folks who come to a show to get info on windows end up getting quotes from a few companies who were at the show so we end up competing with the same companies over and over again for about two weeks.

As is typical we found about 90% of the folks we met with ended up working with us, but with these customers we heard a new one.  we repeatedly had folks asking us if we had a time management discount.  We’d never heard that one before, but it turns out it’s another way to phrase the old “appointment saver” discount.

Remember that companies will always be looking for a reasonable sounding way to convince you to sign up on the spot without comparing their options.  Companies that operate this way know full well that they’re not offering a great deal relative to their competitors.  If they said, “please buy from me without exploring your options because I need to pay my bills and if you shop around you’ll figure out this is a bad deal and you won’t give me your money. If you do that I won’t make any money, so please just buy from me right now without thinking it over.”

Of course, that’s not a convincing sales pitch, so they justify in any way they can.  In this case they’re telling folks that if they need to meet with you to give you a quote, then meet with you again later to sign up the paperwork they’ll lose a lot of money by making two visits.  Of course this explains the very practical reason they need to offer a time management discount.  Ha!

The business person in me would quickly respond with all sorts of info about bottle necks and constraints, but the simplest answer is this is just a bunch of junk.  They have plenty of time in the day to meet with you.

If you hear about time management discounts, do your self a favor and cancel the appointment.  If you area  gluten for punishment go ahead with it and post your experiences here.

In the meantime you can find more info on tricky sales tactics here.

Have fun!

If you’re looking for a window company right now, the best advice we have is to check out our list of the best window companies all over the country.  You can find it right here.