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    What Are You Doing Right Now

    Water Closet
    time waster
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    • scottalanmillerS
      scottalanmiller @BRRABill
      last edited by

      @BRRABill said:

      @scottalanmiller said:

      I do NOT pay a plumber to tell me what to buy that he is selling. He tells me what to buy, I buy it elsewhere. I pay the plumber directly for advice. He's a consultant. The sales person is the person that tells me what aisle to find the product in. I trust them to tell me the aisle and if the item is in stock, not if I should buy it or not.

      I'm talking about the one who comes to your house. That most people hire to do plumbing work for them.

      Right. I pay him to do work and give advice. I don't buy products from him. He can try to sell me more of his own services, yes. But that is the extent of it. He's a consultant.

      BRRABillB 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
      • stacksofplatesS
        stacksofplates @travisdh1
        last edited by

        @travisdh1 said:

        @scottalanmiller Why, oh why, did I go look at that thread.

        I have to look at it now haha

        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
        • BRRABillB
          BRRABill @scottalanmiller
          last edited by

          @scottalanmiller said:

          Right. I pay him to do work and give advice. I don't buy products from him. He can try to sell me more of his own services, yes. But that is the extent of it. He's a consultant.

          I just let him install whatever part he needs.

          Most of the time he charges less than I'd get it for at Home Depot anyway.

          Maybe I am too trusting. But dangit when you need a toilet fixed...

          scottalanmillerS 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
          • scottalanmillerS
            scottalanmiller @BRRABill
            last edited by

            @BRRABill said:

            You yourself said CDW was trustworthy. So if I feel they give me good advice (I NEVER rely on them to do the research fully) and their price is similar to other places, why wouldn't I use them?

            Trustworthy to do what they are supposed to do - which is NOT something you want them to do to you. You can trust them to provide a reasonable option that is to their advantage to sell that they think you can be convinced to buy. That is their job and you can trust them to do it.

            The problem is that trusting them MEANS that you can't trust their advice. You'd have to NOT trust them to be able to trust their advice. Does that make sense? that they are trustworthy is exactly why you can't get advice from them.

            That their prices are similar doesn't matter. Did you need to buy the thing in the first place? that's the question.

            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
            • scottalanmillerS
              scottalanmiller @BRRABill
              last edited by

              @BRRABill said:

              @scottalanmiller said:

              Right. I pay him to do work and give advice. I don't buy products from him. He can try to sell me more of his own services, yes. But that is the extent of it. He's a consultant.

              I just let him install whatever part he needs.

              Most of the time he charges less than I'd get it for at Home Depot anyway.

              Maybe I am too trusting. But dangit when you need a toilet fixed...

              It it is a screw or caulk or something, whatever. But the critical thing there is that he is a consultant, his income comes from the agreement whereby you pay him to be your "representative", he acts on your behalf. If he does sell things, they are likely very small, very obviously needed and very, very trivial compared to his pay. He is in no meaningful way incentivized by their sale.

              A salesman is NOT paid by you but is paid purely through taking advantage of you. They are not your representatives but the vendor's representatives. if they do the right thing "for you" they cannot be trustworthy because they are misrepresenting the party to which they are responsible.

              BRRABillB 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
              • stacksofplatesS
                stacksofplates
                last edited by

                I'm the lone IT. When it comes to purchasing decision (servers, switches, access points) I just ask our vendor, and whatever he sends me, I learn to manipulate it and use it.

                I don't consider it lazy, just utilizing the resources available.

                Omg.........

                scottalanmillerS 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                • scottalanmillerS
                  scottalanmiller
                  last edited by

                  Have you bought a house and dealt with real estate agents? Each side gets a rep. They are called a buyer's agent and a seller's agent. They play different roles, each one has to, by law, do what is best for their client. If they do not it is a breach of contract.

                  The IT Pro is the buyer's agent for the business. The salesman is the seller's rep for the vendor. They each have a job to do. If you try to get the seller's rep to act on your behalf you are pressuring them to do something unethical and if they do it, you can't trust them because they would be acting unethically.

                  stacksofplatesS 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                  • BRRABillB
                    BRRABill @scottalanmiller
                    last edited by

                    @scottalanmiller

                    So there are no sales people you think are not trying to "take advantage of you"?

                    brianlittlejohnB 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                    • scottalanmillerS
                      scottalanmiller @stacksofplates
                      last edited by

                      @johnhooks said:

                      I'm the lone IT. When it comes to purchasing decision (servers, switches, access points) I just ask our vendor, and whatever he sends me, I learn to manipulate it and use it.

                      I don't consider it lazy, just utilizing the resources available.

                      Omg.........

                      I didn't see that one. Holy cow that is bad. I can't believe that anyone in that thread would be willing to post these opinions publicly. These are "asking to be fired" attitudes. If their businesses knew that they thought this way..... damn.

                      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                      • RojoLocoR
                        RojoLoco
                        last edited by

                        My "don't believe the vendor hype" post on the above mentioned thread got no love... bunch of lazy sumbiches. Not to mention "easily led automatons"...

                        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 2
                        • scottalanmillerS
                          scottalanmiller
                          last edited by

                          Now an InFocus sales guy has popped in.

                          stacksofplatesS 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                          • brianlittlejohnB
                            brianlittlejohn @BRRABill
                            last edited by

                            @BRRABill In my experience, yes, every sales person (particularly ones that work on commission) is trying to take advantage of you.

                            BRRABillB scottalanmillerS 2 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 2
                            • BRRABillB
                              BRRABill @brianlittlejohn
                              last edited by

                              @brianlittlejohn said:

                              @BRRABill In my experience, yes, every sales person (particularly ones that work on commission) is trying to take advantage of you.

                              I've been lucky to know some nice ones, across all areas.

                              scottalanmillerS RojoLocoR 2 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 0
                              • stacksofplatesS
                                stacksofplates @scottalanmiller
                                last edited by

                                @scottalanmiller said:

                                They play different roles, each one has to, by law, do what is best for their client. If they do not it is a breach of contract.

                                Fiduciary responsibilities are really serious. I don't think some people get how serious they are. Like, go to court and sue serious.

                                scottalanmillerS 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                                • scottalanmillerS
                                  scottalanmiller @brianlittlejohn
                                  last edited by

                                  @brianlittlejohn said:

                                  @BRRABill In my experience, yes, every sales person (particularly ones that work on commission) is trying to take advantage of you.

                                  Well that is all that they are paid to do so....

                                  1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 2
                                  • scottalanmillerS
                                    scottalanmiller @stacksofplates
                                    last edited by

                                    @johnhooks said:

                                    @scottalanmiller said:

                                    They play different roles, each one has to, by law, do what is best for their client. If they do not it is a breach of contract.

                                    Fiduciary responsibilities are really serious. I don't think some people get how serious they are. Like, go to court and sue serious.

                                    Exactly. The expectations that people put on sales people are actually often quite unethical.

                                    1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 2
                                    • scottalanmillerS
                                      scottalanmiller @BRRABill
                                      last edited by

                                      @BRRABill said:

                                      @brianlittlejohn said:

                                      @BRRABill In my experience, yes, every sales person (particularly ones that work on commission) is trying to take advantage of you.

                                      I've been lucky to know some nice ones, across all areas.

                                      Has nothing to do with nice. Remember that the nicest, best, most trustworthy, most ethical sales person is the one that will oversell you the most. Because that is their job.

                                      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                      • RojoLocoR
                                        RojoLoco @BRRABill
                                        last edited by

                                        @BRRABill having done sales, I can tell you that 1) SAM is correct in his assesment that sales' job is to screw you over as much as possible, and 2) your "good" experiences with sales dicks were the result of you enjoying whatever line they fed you. "Nice" and "honest" are 2 very different things. I no longer do sales because of the crushing toll it took on my morals, and the irreparable damage done to my karma. You may have left a sales interaction with me smiling, but I f*cked you on the sale without a doubt.

                                        brianlittlejohnB 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 2
                                        • stacksofplatesS
                                          stacksofplates
                                          last edited by

                                          I use vendor's all the time to do the footwork. In the end, if they get greedy with markup, I finish the project, but a lot of times if they can do the research and come in under popular sites like Amazon or Newegg, I buy from them. Your CEO doesn't understand anything but $$$.

                                          That's what he's supposed to understand? The first 2 sentences are about saving money (getting it where it's cheaper) and then he bashes the CEO for being concerned about money?

                                          scottalanmillerS 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                          • brianlittlejohnB
                                            brianlittlejohn @RojoLoco
                                            last edited by

                                            @RojoLoco That is exactly why I hate buying a car... It doesn't matter what I end up paying for it, I always feel screwed.

                                            RojoLocoR stacksofplatesS 2 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 3
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