Guest post by Hazel
I wasn’t sure whether to post this as it gives away many of our industry’s best secrets. But what the heck! Our industry has a bad reputation and only by companies and their employees gradually stamping out these practices will we have customers welcoming our sales staff into their homes without the current mistrust:
Don’t arrange for a quote until you have read this….
It could save you from being ripped off, regretting your decision, or wasting hours with a high pressure salesperson. Windows, doors, conservatories, etc, are all a major investment.
A few minutes studying this will give you the inside information you need to see through many double glazing tricks, old and new. You are unlikely to find all this information anywhere else, simply because the other window companies don’t want you to know!
By exposing these secrets, we are putting YOU, the customer, in control.
Please read this carefully as it will save you time and money.
Almost every window company you can think of pays their sales people no basic salary at all. They earn commission only if they sell to you. (The very few exceptions to this are mostly small, local companies).
However many of the smaller companies that appear to be caring, local firms now employ reps who have worked for the larger national ones & pay them in the same way. Once you have read the sales tactics below you will easily be able to spot these.)
What does this mean to you, the customer?
1. The more they can charge you for your windows, the more money they will earn, as they are on a percentage.
2. If you don’t buy from them they earn nothing; in fact it will have cost them petrol money to visit you.
3. They get more commission if you use their finance scheme.
Now you can see why so many sales reps start at a very high price & can then magically discount it, sometimes by thousands of pounds in a very short time.
They don’t really expect you to say yes to their first ridiculous price, but if you do they will happily take your money & pocket lots of extra commission.
If you don’t, they can then use their “discounts” to persuade you to “do it now”, thereby making sure you don’t shop around & they still get their sale. Most reps are under great pressure to get your business on their first visit. Sales Managers constantly tell them that EVERYONE will “buy on the night” if they have a good enough reason to.
Some of the common high-pressure sales tactics are as follows:
The Call to the Manager:
This is to convince you that they have gone to great trouble to get you a “special deal” if you sign up today.
It is just an act – the rep already knows exactly what price he can go down to. He will usually express great surprise that the manager can do it at such a good price for you!
The Show Home Promotion:
A huge discount for having a board outside your house, and in the case of some companies, the chance to feature in their magazine & get your windows for free if you win their draw.
Of course it is a very limited offer & you have to sign up immediately to get it. And your house is always in exactly the location they are looking for.
Just an inflated price, with a false discount. Have you ever met anyone who did get their windows for free? This has been running for years.
Most local companies do ask if they can place a board outside for a short time when they are installing. It shows they are proud of the job they have done & helps them get more business. But there is no way they can give you a huge discount for this, or replace your windows at a loss to themselves in return for the advertising.
“I’m not a sales rep, I’m the area manager (or from the trade department, or the owner’s son)”
Some companies train every sales rep to say this!
The rep who should have visited you is always off sick, been in an accident, his wife is having a baby etc. So they have come instead so they don’t let you down, even though it’s not their job.
If you buy off them tonight you will save money as you won’t be paying the rep’s commission. Now you think they must be such a nice person & you are getting a bargain.
Of course all they are doing is putting pressure on you to sign up, and it is almost certain that anyone who uses this line IS on commission & your windows are no cheaper.
Huge discounts, usually from 35% to 50% off
To qualify for these you usually have to sign up there & then. The price has been inflated & they pretend to give you this special offer.
As with the “call to the manager” they will want a commitment that you WILL buy tonight IF they can give you a special “discount”.
Again, you will have been pressurised & your windows may still cost more than they should have done.
But you believe you have got thousands of pounds off & you could never have afforded them otherwise.
You haven’t “beaten them down”, you have just played the game they have been trained to get you to play!
“Have the front done & get the back done free” or “Buy one, get one free”
All they do is charge you more for some windows & pretend others are free.
Try saying you’ve already had the back done & only want the front at their best price. Then change your mind & decide you do want the back after all – sure enough you will find the back is not “free” any more!
“A large commercial contract has just cancelled”.
Also commonly used as a reason to pester you later if you didn’t sign up on the night. Some companies send a letter claiming this has happened to every customer who didn’t buy from them.
Again just a ploy to make you believe you are getting a great deal! Magically the gap in their order book is always exactly when you wanted your windows fitted!
A similar ploy is a call from the “trade department” offering you the windows cheaper.
I need a deposit to “hold the price”
Your windows will NOT cost any more tomorrow or even next week. They just want you to part with some money & give them a firm order so you don’t look elsewhere for a better deal.
Remember that by law you have seven days to cancel any contract you sign in your home.
Window Scrappage Schemes or “We pay you for your old windows”.
There is NO national government scrappage scheme for windows.
Cleverly invented by some large national companies to mimic the wording (scrappage) & amount (£2,000) of the genuine car scrappage scheme.
Some have been forced to amend their misleading advertising slightly due to the number of complaints, but it is currently still the most convincing double glazing scam ever.
Other companies admit the government isn’t yet doing this, but because they “care about the environment”, they will give you money back to scrap your old windows anyway.
Extensively advertised on TV & radio, and sounds believable.
Save money AND save the planet! We all want to do both of those!
Your windows will be NO cheaper if you use a company with a “scrappage scheme”.
All they do is pretend the windows cost more, then pretend to give you money off for your old ones!
It costs every company money to dispose of your old windows, they are NOT “paying you” for them. They really don’t want them!
A final quote that is so cheap you wonder how they can do it!
Often they probably can’t! If all else fails, the rep may offer you a price so cheap you can’t refuse it.
When your job is surveyed later you may get a call saying they can’t do it for that price, so you need to pay more or they will cancel it.
Many reps get their commission when you have paid a deposit, but cancellations are not deducted from them until the next month. So they can live on some borrowed money for a while, and they hope that you will be too embarassed to go back to any of the other companies who quoted & told you it couldn’t be done so cheaply.
Also they have made a “sale” & got their manager off their back for a while.
Sometimes if the job is heavily discounted, the company will fit your order, but you may get poorer quality windows or no reinforcing to get their costs down.
Staying for hours
We’ve all heard the horror stories of the sales rep who arrived at 9pm and didn’t leave until 1am!
Hopefully by this time you will be so tired or brainwashed that you will sign up just to get rid of them. You wouldn’t want to go through that experience again as you think all window companies will do the same.
Or maybe you will think that as the poor rep gave up so much of his time, you really should use him.
Remember many commission-only reps will only work one appointment per day. So even though he was at your house for 3 or 4 hours, that is all he worked that day!
Often appointments are purposely made for late evening so they can wear you down in this way.
Finance
Designed to make you think your windows are more affordable, by giving you a monthly payment. Look carefully at the total you will be paying.
If the rate seems cheap or is “interest free”, the finance company will be charging the window company interest, and this will have already been added to the cost of your windows.
Mostly the rate is very high, and that means the rep will be getting commission on the finance deal as well as the windows.
There are often high penalties for early repayment once you have realised, too late, just how much it will cost you.
A lot of sales training is given to make these finance deals sound much more attractive than they really are.
Try your bank first. Use these schemes as a last resort.
Now you are ready to start getting your quotes!
Hopefully, armed with this inside information, you will be able to avoid all these sales tricks, not waste hours with dodgy sales reps, and make a wise and informed decision in your own time.
And you KNOW to show the door to ANYONE who starts to use these tactics, or suddenly offers you thousands of pounds off for any reason!
There is no panic to “buy now”, they will still be selling the same windows at the same price tomorrow, whatever they say…
Use an honest company, that gives you a fair price straight away, doesn’t outstay their welcome or try to mislead you, and is happy to provide you with a written quotation to consider in your own time.
Help us say NO to dodgy double glazing sales tactics, and finally make buying windows a straightforward & enjoyable experience.
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