cr0ak Loc: Texas

I think another thing that helped in Sears' demise was their return policy. Years ago, a neighbor worked in the catalog department. She said some woman came in with a slew of old, worn-out bras and demanded a refund, which the neighbor had to honor.

And a brother-in-law was boasting that he got a $149.99 tool for $14.99 because the thing was mis-priced and the clerk didn't catch the error.

Dishonest people, I'm sure, contributed to their demise.

rmorrison1116 Loc: Near Valley Forge, Pennsylvania

I agree with you, if you're not worth their time, they're not worthy of your money. There's a motorcycle dealership not far from me that employs some really stupid sales people. Funny thing is, they are one of the largest dealers in the area and two of the makes they sell are Honda and Kawasaki. I've purchased motorcycles from them in the past but the last 3 motorcycles I've purchased have been from other dealers. Why? Because, as I said, the sales staff there are stupid.
I was looking to get a new, bigger bike for my wife. She had a Honda Rebel 250 that I had purchased at the aforementioned dealership. We went there on a Saturday morning and we were looking at what they had in stock. My wife wanted a red Kawasaki Vulcan 500. They didn't have a red one in stock. Instead of the sales staff doing what they could to find a red one, they apparently decided we were waisting their time and just ignored us. We left and headed to another Kawasaki dealer I did business with back in my dirt bike days. Leisure Equipment near Spring City PA. Not only did they have a red Vulcan 500 in stock, they were more than happy to sell us one and throw in a few accessories to sweeten the deal. We loaded the bike on the trailer and headed home the long way. Had to stop at the other dealership to show them what a red Vulcan 500 looked like.
The next incident at the dumbass dealership was when I decided it was time for a new Goldwing. My 1999 Goldwing was getting old and I wanted a new one. The old girl as gold on white and was in excellent condition for her age and ran really well, she was just starting to cost more to maintain her. We went to the big dealership again on a Saturday, but it was in the afternoon. There were 3 salesman on the showroom floor and they were concentrating on a teen boy and his pretty young girlfriend who were looking at an $1800 dirt bike. Let's do the math. What has the potentially higher commission, an $1800 sale or a $25000 plus sale. Two problems, they didn't have any Goldwings in stock and they said my trade was too old. The one sales moron who did give us 5 minutes of his time just showed us a catalog and headed back to the kids. We walked out, got in the car and headed to the next Honda dealer about 15 miles up the road in the next county. They had a brand new silver GL1800 in the showroom but by the time we got there it was Saturday closing time. The salesman sensed we were serious and although he locked the front door, with my wife and myself inside, he continued to "sell" us the new bike. They made an excellent trade in offer on my current Goldwing, sight unseen and worked out a deal I couldn't turn down. The next Saturday we dropped off the old bike and I rode home on the new one, but first, I had to drive by the other dealership to show them my pretty new Goldwing.
To be honest, I use the service department at the bigger dealership because unlike their sales department, they have an excellent service department. They will do most routine services and state inspection while you wait, no appointment needed. The other dealership doesn't do that.
When the all new and improved 2018 Goldwing was introduced, I had to have one. I wanted a red touring model. Again, we went to the bigger dealership first, mainly because it's closer to home and they have a much, much larger showroom, potentially more to offer. They had the bike I wanted but they didn't want to give me squat for my 2013 Goldwing. They said because the 2018 is an all new design, it severally reduced the value of the older bikes. What a bunch of poppycock. I wasn't about to give them my 2013 bike that was in perfect condition and had about $3000 worth of accessories installed, for practically nothing, so they could resell it for $14,000 plus profit. So, you guessed it, we headed to the other Honda dealership. They to had the red GL1800 touring model I wanted and they were ready to work an equitable deal. We left that day, owners of a beautiful red 2018 Goldwing tour model.
It's truly amazing how dumb the showroom sales staff at the bigger dealership are and how much money they could have made off my wife and I had they simply treated us like regular customers.

Notorious T.O.D. Loc: Harrisburg, North Carolina

Some people just want to get money and not build a relationship. I have always believed that sales, especially large sales is relationship based. Maybe my thinking is old and outdated...

rmorrison1116 Loc: Near Valley Forge, Pennsylvania

Sears's demise was mainly due to the idiot CEO who ran the business into the dumper.
As for their return policy, there are lots of dishonest people out there who take advantage of any and every situation they can. But, as long as the honest people outnumber the dishonest people, civilized society will survive. I personally believe in karma and the bad people will get what they deserve eventually.

TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

Your thinking is not outdated at all, and I can tell you that selling based on relationship as well as technical merits is stil alive in the enterprise computer industry (despite the “politics”). I spent about 40 successful years as that type of salesperson - my customers almost invariably were also friends. Generally, as you move up to really large capital investments, relationship counts more and more. Sadly, the majority of salespeople I encounter are not professional or well trained, and I avoid them like the plague.

One last anecdote. I spent some time with an IBMer who was on the team that wrote the original PC specification (which was the first real open system and changed modern computing) and asked him why they chose an Intel CPU as opposed to the Motorola 6800, which was widely thought to be a superior device. “The Intel salesperson gave us his home phone number and told us to call anytime, day or night with any questions we had” was the answer. Arguably the largest total sale ever in the computer industry.