Splat
Lieutenant
- Joined
- Jul 20, 2008
- Messages
- 1,366
Re: cobalt sales staff and kids
I used to manage a power equipment dealership, and can tell you there is a huge range in behaviors of children. Some would hang on mom and dads legs, others would treat the equipment like a jungle gym. Most of the time people were decent enough to keep the kids in check, but others weren't.
You'd be surprised how much damage little johnny can do to a $10k lawnmowers finish with the grit on his shoes, or by using the spring loaded discharge chute as a trampoline, even forcing the controls of a zero turn while the pumps are idle.
That being said, there's ways to handle that sort of thing, "would you mind getting your kids to quit jumping on everything" isn't it. More often than not a simple, "I'm worried about them falling, there's nothing on there soft to hit" does the job just fine. Throw the ball in their court, using concern for their kids safety is a diplomatic way to kurtail a confrontation.
Another way that always worked was to talk to the kid, "hey what's your name?" "Which one in here do you think the coolest?..." " you can sit on one, if you promise to stay up there, that big red one in the corner is the coolest one we have, would you like to sit in it?" That kind of stuff. More often than not if you engaged them a little bit, kids would behave much better, and the parents would be at ease with the sale process. Your in sales for gods sake, use your skills..
My point is there's ways to deal with kids, and ways not to. In a showroom, banning them isn't the best way.
I used to manage a power equipment dealership, and can tell you there is a huge range in behaviors of children. Some would hang on mom and dads legs, others would treat the equipment like a jungle gym. Most of the time people were decent enough to keep the kids in check, but others weren't.
You'd be surprised how much damage little johnny can do to a $10k lawnmowers finish with the grit on his shoes, or by using the spring loaded discharge chute as a trampoline, even forcing the controls of a zero turn while the pumps are idle.
That being said, there's ways to handle that sort of thing, "would you mind getting your kids to quit jumping on everything" isn't it. More often than not a simple, "I'm worried about them falling, there's nothing on there soft to hit" does the job just fine. Throw the ball in their court, using concern for their kids safety is a diplomatic way to kurtail a confrontation.
Another way that always worked was to talk to the kid, "hey what's your name?" "Which one in here do you think the coolest?..." " you can sit on one, if you promise to stay up there, that big red one in the corner is the coolest one we have, would you like to sit in it?" That kind of stuff. More often than not if you engaged them a little bit, kids would behave much better, and the parents would be at ease with the sale process. Your in sales for gods sake, use your skills..
My point is there's ways to deal with kids, and ways not to. In a showroom, banning them isn't the best way.
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. A few minutes later we shook hands on the deal.
