I know all their 'tricks' and I know the game well, but I gotta say when I walk out of a store, like I did a few days ago with a new guitar, they got me! I walked in not really expecting to walk out with a guitar, but rather repair my current guitar. I end up walking out with a new guitar simply because the salesman was so good. I mean, this guy had it down pat. I recognized the game right away, but what I really liked was his open-honesty and his non-pushy manner. He wasn't even trying to sell me the guitar, but just was relaxed and patient with me making some suggestions here or there or recommendations. In the end, it was a good relationship and most importantly I walked away happy. I think that any customer loves to leave happy, especially after making a huge investment type of purchase.

If any of you have ever seen the show KING OF CARS you can relate to the business that "Chop" runs and you can see why he is so successful at selling cars...I mean they sell like 40 cars per day sometimes...which is unreal! But, they have a great thing going for their dealership because they make investments into the customers and make them feel special. Sure, they want to make money, but people also need transportation in most cases and they can buy a car at millions of places, but when you are buying a car you want the experience to be a fulfilling one, it's a big deal for many people, and "Chop" recognizes that and capitalizes on it. The same goes for audio equipment as well.

Oh and for the record...I actually enjoyed being a saleman...I always enjoyed the interactions with customers and I had a huge huge huge list of regular customers who specicially came to my store just for my service, even though our prices were a bit higher than the competators. However, I quit the sales business after about 5 years due to the company starting to make us sell things that were a bit 'shady' in my opinion. We became a company that was no longer interested in keeping regular customers, but rather in making profits on things that people didn't really need and essentially 'lying' to them in order to get sales. I just couldn't go on with the charade. Actually they ended up 'firing' me because they said my quota was not being met, meanwhile no one else was making their quotas either and I had top performance reviews for several years straight, yet because I was making too much money, they had to find a reason to let me go and that was the only thing that they really had. Revenge though is sweet...I took the firing calm and collect and just walked out in a smooth manner. Then I called every regular customer on my list (over 100 of them) and explained why I was being 'let go' and how the company was going down hill, etc etc. 2 years later the company folded. Wooo hooo. I'd like to think I had something to do with that.