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Pressure sales. Unfortunately they’re relatively common in the home security industry. In this
week’s podcast series, we’re going to pull back the covers on some of those pressure
sales tactics and find out how you can make a more informed decision.
Alright Peter I’m going to put you on the spot. The home security industry has a bad
reputation for pressure sales doesn’t it? As well it should Greg. I’m sorry to say
that but, there are a lot of companies out there, altogether too many who are applying
pressure in the sales process and they’re doing this with a variety of tactics. It’s
really unfortunate because ideally they should be listening to the subscriber to find out
how they’re going to use the system and really what they need in terms of products
and services to protect their home and family. And instead what do they do? Well there are
a couple of really classics. One of them is the kit where the company will provide a very
basic system. It just so happens that when you go to increase this basic kit to what
you really need for you home, it get extremely expensive.
Another is time pressure. For instance, you need to buy right now while we’re on the
phone or while I’m at your back door. This is a one-time only offer. It’s just for
me? Yes, it’s just for you otherwise sorry; I’m going to your neighbor.
How can consumers protect themselves when you get that call or that person is at your
door saying this is a one-time only offer just for you, what should you say? You should
say I need time to research this. I need to go online, and check out your company, possibly
read the contract and I want to make sure that what I’m getting is really what I need.
You’ve told me in the past too that they’ll go so far to alienate or insult the consumer
right? Yeah this is really remarkable. We’ve had some of our customers tell us that in
conversations with some of these other companies, when someone one says Gee I’d like some
more time perhaps read some reviews, talk to my wife, they’ve had someone say to them,
“Gee Do you have to talk to your wife about everything.” It’s hard to believe. It’s
unreal and I guess the real shame is that sometimes that works. Unfortunately it does.
What else, what are some of the other tactics they’ll throw at you? Well one of the classics
is the folks that will come to your back door and we call these folks the door knockers.
They’re all over the United States and believe it or not, in some jurisdictions they’re
so aggressive that the jurisdictions of past ordinances say that you can’t come in our
town. Let me tell you what they do. They’ll come to your door and say, “You know Greg
you have a beautiful house. It’s so beautiful that you could help us market our product.
We’d love to put one of our yard signs in your yard. We’ll give you a free alarm system.
All you have to do is sign this contract and that’s it. That’s the catch? That is the
catch because you are committed to paying usually over stated rates for services that
are less than you should be getting. How do they get away with this stuff? They’re
young and people want to help them out and they’re very aggressive. What can a consumer
do to protect themselves in that one if the door knocker comes to your door? I assume
you can ask for more time or something? Absolutely, always ask for more time. Now the Federal
Trade commission allows you 3 days, but we tell people that you should ask for at least
30 days to really evaluate a system and make sure that it’s going to work and you absolutely
need time to go online and look at the reviews because that can tell you quite a bit about
these companies. Right I‘m guessing the ones who pressure you don’t want you going
online and reading reviews. They don’t because there is usually a long list of things about
them. Right and for a good reason it sounds like. Yes. Alright this has been great information.
No one should feel pressured to buy a home security company quickly. Thanks Peter for
your time this week. Thank you. Thank you for watching the FrontPoint Podcast Series.
We’ll see you next time.