So, in timeshare they call the "ups" "tours" and generally you would have 2-3 tours a day... 3-4 tours and you can bet your gunna be absolutely exhausted.... Let me tell you about my last tour in this business....
So I get called to get my next tour, go to the registration desk and get my tour sheet....I call the name off the sheet into the crowd of people in the waiting room and i see a hand raise up. As i make my way towards the hand, I see a young, mid 20's couple who i am moving towards. The girl is tanner than any Caribbean native i have ever seen and her hair bleached blonde... She has a huge purse covered in sparkles and crosses, she has huge bracelets on, a ton of makeup and some gaudy rings on her hand.
The guy is tall, slim, wearing a ball cap and a short sleeved t-shirt....He has two very large tattoos on the inside of his forearms and he has a very serious look on his face, chiseled chin, chest out....THIS is the one who didn't want to come to this!!
The girl walked up, smiled, introduced herself and gave me her name....She turned to the guy and introduced him as her husband and I reached out to shake his hand. He put on a fake smile, gripped my hand with a death grip (I hate that....firm is OK, but seriously, is that necessary?) and we got "cordial."
I went through my spiel and started to warm up with them.... I got them into the pit and spent some time asking questions and getting to know them. As the guy sat down, he had his arms crossed and was actually turned sideways in the chair...He was on the defense and I had to break through if this was going to work!
I asked a bunch of questions and he responded, she responded, but it was still kind of cold.... I asked him what he did and he told me he was in the Army.... I thanked him for his service and asked him what he did in the army.... His response....
"I hunt people..."
And I didn't dig much further into that area, but i did want to know other things....How long he had been in...... "8 years"...... how many times he had been deployed........ "3 times to Iraq" and then started in about their family.
It took a while but i finally found some common interests and gave him enough kuddos that he came around....he had turned to face me, arms uncrossed and he even giggled at some of my lame jokes....I was making some headway!
Her, she was easy....Talk about shopping, tanning or any kind of bling and she was just a chatterbox.... again, NOT who i was going to have to sell on this tour!
So we got through the process and we left for the tour of the resort.... As we drove, their teenage daughter started to call them with a variety of issues.... As they both explained to me (and I am fully aware of having been around teenage girls) was that their daughter would get very dramatic if she didn't get her way or if they went and did things without her and now she was calling with that drama.... I even tried to joke with them and said, "turn off the phone man, I promise you, the drama will be there in an hour!" but they wouldn't listen...
So, while on tour, we would get interrupted about every 20 minutes from this teenage girl...EVERY TIME I would have to re-sell them, re-warm up, get them back on task...etc....
We get to the first condo and I show them around....They LOVE it, ooooohhhs, aaaahhhhhhs and the like everywhere....used some "tie downs" and could tell they wee getting themselves "into the picture".... Perfect!!!
Then........RIIIIING, there goes the cell phone and I can actually hear the girls screaming on the phone... the girl stepped off to the side to deal with the drama and I decided to at least keep the husband interested....
"So, very cool tattoos, what do they represent?"
The tattoos were of matching crosses on both forearms with words scrolled down from just below his bend for his elbow to his wrists...
"They just mean that fear is futile and it can cause you to make serious mistakes....How you can control fear and not let it control you....Along those lines...."
"Very cool!! What inspired you to get those?
"Watching my best friend die in my arms....."
OOOOOPS!!! SHIFT!!! CHANGE THE SUBJECT!!!!
"Oh, I am sorry to hear that...... have you seen this view?"
The girl got off the phone and we continued around to the amenities of the resort.... he explained that he was probably going to be deployed again soon and briefly hit on him going back to Iraq.... Man, I sure wanted his mind to be here at the resort!!
So we walked out to the pool area, the gameroom, the theater, the grill, etc.... as i was showing them around the guy said...
"I feel a little pigment challenged"
and as I looked around I noticed that the crowd was huge (it was a Sunday) and there were a ton of people in and around the pool and other amenities....However, I did NOT notice that me, this guy and his wife were the ONLY white people anywhere to be seen... There were a variety of people of color but not one white person in the large group....to add to it, there were about 6-8 people walking around with tattoos on their necks, stomachs, backs....etc....
As I hurried them from that area, he said...
"Man, are we the only white people here?"
and his wife made a huff at the statement as well....
OK, this is NOT going well!! This sell is falling apart and I still have about an hour of "pitch" left before this is over....OH MY GOD, WHAT AM I GOING TO DO!!??
So as we walked back to the car, I had an idea.....
Let me just get them away from the resort, away from the crowd, away from the hustle and bustle of all the folks....Let me take them down to the lake, drive a little in the hills, go check out the marina.... YEAH, THAT'S IT!!
So, I take them down to the lake, let them know how convenient it is that they get more weekdays than weekends off and how desolate the place is on the weekdays, etc..... We drive down by the lake and I can feel them getting more at ease....Shoot, I might actually be able to save this sell!
We get down to the marina and there is a small driveway to drive around and drop people off at the marina....It goes by a real nice restaurant, the boats are beautiful, the lake is beautiful....People in the water, on the boats, at the boatramp....kids fishing and playing.....Just a GREAT place!!
As I am telling them about the marina and pointing to the place to rent jet skis, I catch movement out of the corner of my eye and notice there are people in the crosswalk to go to the marina.... I turned my head quickly, hit the brakes quickly and even said... "OH SHIT!" as I almost rolled into them in the crosswalk.
The truck came to a stop and about one foot in front of the hood of my truck and about four feet from this soldier that "hunts people" is a family of Mid-Eastern heritage walking in front of my truck, staring at me stupidly because I almost ran them over and the woman is fully dressed with a "Basra" (sp? definition?).... It is light blue, wrapped up on her head, fully covering her body and face and the only think you can see is her eyes and her sandals.... At that very moment, the guy says...
"Jeezus man, I cant get away from these people!"
Right then, I knew that anything else I had to say was going to be absolutely useless... Man, no accidents huh!!??
So we go on the rest of the tour, I try to bring it back around but the spite, the anger, the racism that this guy had inside of him was just too much for him to overlook.... The deal was a "no-go" and in all actuality, they got up and left before the presentation was even completed as the calls from the daughter became more frequent and "urgent."
So the people didn't buy but the story is one for the books for sure.... Just figured I would share....
No comments:
Post a Comment