Honesty Is The Best Policy? Is It Really?
Honesty is the best policy. That's what the proverb says. But how does this proverb stand in the face of business competition? Is honesty really the best policy then if you know your product isn't as good as it should be? Is sugarcoating your words really necessary to lure the unsuspecting helpless sheeps into the lion's den?
Whether we like it or not, this is what the world has become today! There is hardly any honesty left; customers cannot trust business owners, parents' breaching their children's trust, students not being able to rely on teachers and the list continues on and on. It is a cruel world indeed. We are now breathing air in a realm that has paranoia vibrating throughout it every single day. The one who tells the lie lives in fear that the truth will be revealed one day while the one being told the lie is paranoid if s/he should believe the other. Peace is lost.
If sales marketing is all about sugarcoating one's words to 'sell' a product, then I must have met the worst salesman in the universe two days ago! Needing to furnish my new home, I walked into a furniture store nearby my residence with the intention of getting a beautiful desk for my bedroom. Although the place looked like a huge shack, it was a large furniture warehouse with plenty of options to choose from. We were greeted by a jovial salesman at the door who tailed us around, whom we expected to say things that would compel us to buy his goods.
I was eyeing on a particular study desk that was placed way back in the warehouse. A friend who accompanied me to the warehouse asked what material it was made of and instead of relaying to us how good the material was, the man simply said in his very China-English-like accent "It's made of cheap board! Once 'kena' (it touches) water, the whole thing can throw already!"
O----------Kay.
We looked at each other and moved onto the bed section. I have always loved space-saving furniture. When I saw a double-decker bed, which bed is placed on the top and the workspace is positioned below the bed, my eyes lit up just like two lightbulbs going bonkers. I swear you could amost hear the 'ding-ding-ding' sound coming from a pinball machine. I was complimenting to my friends how beautiful the design was until our star-salesman interrupted and said, "This bed can only support people less than 60 kilos. The wire frame will bend if anyone more than 60 kilos sleeps on it."
By now, my friends and I were already having a silent eye-to-eye conversation. If anyone had a developed telepathic ability, they would have heard us saying: "Is he for real?!"
Cindy broke the silence and asked if the bed was meant for kids or adults. According to him, it is a bed for an adult. We began to chuckle because it simply did not make any sense. How often do you find an adult weighing less than 60 kilos?!?!
My next favourite piece of space-saving-furniture is the sofa-cum-bed, which I intend to buy for the living room. There were two types available - the one with a cloth fabric, or PVC cover. He advised that if we were to take the one with the cloth fabric, we should not wash it as the the cover would shrink.
Again, O----------KAY! Why would we choose something that we cannot wash or clean, right?
What he had to say about the other was classic. It would have definitely won him a prize, if there was any at all!
"If you buy this type of chair, I advise you to lean it against the wall so that it has some support when you use it as a sofa. Otherwise, you will get a FOREVER BED!"
I could not hold back my laughter anymore and neither could my friends. Either he was just a professional sales comedian, there to entertain all of us to compel us to buy his furniture in his joking manner, or he simply was the most honest salesman we have ever came across in this lifetime!
Every single furniture that we enquired had its flaws and this man was not afraid to share that information with us. If only every salesman was that honest, there would be no cheating cases in our world today. This business obviously belonged to him. While money is important, he somehow felt an important need to be honest to the customers. For such a run-down shop to have survived this long (many, many years) with such seemingly bad marketing skills, I would say that his customers would have probably been moved by his honesty to have bought from him (even though some of the exact furniture items could be bought at Tesco's or Giant at a cheaper price).
While I do value his honesty and his courage for being so bold in highlighting all the "WHY WE SHOULD NOT BUY YOUR FURNITURE" factors, I did not find what I was actually looking for except the confirmation that there are still honest people on this face of the earth. He is one of the very few rare gems that has its way to shine through this dark age of malice, ego, selfishness and lies. Whatever it is, he definitely brought a smile on our faces as we exited the premise that day.
Anyhow, I have now completed Chapter 3 and am moving onto Chapter 4 for the first book. My eyes are beginning to blur as I edit, re-edit and re-re-edit everything that I have written thus far. I am currently organising my priceless temporary possessions in the new house - my books. Looking at their spine lining upright on the newly-built cabinets is simply so divine! They appear like soldiers of different sizes in different uniforms, ready to march to the battlefield; in this case, the battlefield of knowledge.
Let's hope I finish clearing the mess before my visitor from India drops by for a short Yoga visit on Friday.
Love and light,
Genevieve
If sales marketing is all about sugarcoating one's words to 'sell' a product, then I must have met the worst salesman in the universe two days ago! Needing to furnish my new home, I walked into a furniture store nearby my residence with the intention of getting a beautiful desk for my bedroom. Although the place looked like a huge shack, it was a large furniture warehouse with plenty of options to choose from. We were greeted by a jovial salesman at the door who tailed us around, whom we expected to say things that would compel us to buy his goods.
I was eyeing on a particular study desk that was placed way back in the warehouse. A friend who accompanied me to the warehouse asked what material it was made of and instead of relaying to us how good the material was, the man simply said in his very China-English-like accent "It's made of cheap board! Once 'kena' (it touches) water, the whole thing can throw already!"
O----------Kay.
We looked at each other and moved onto the bed section. I have always loved space-saving furniture. When I saw a double-decker bed, which bed is placed on the top and the workspace is positioned below the bed, my eyes lit up just like two lightbulbs going bonkers. I swear you could amost hear the 'ding-ding-ding' sound coming from a pinball machine. I was complimenting to my friends how beautiful the design was until our star-salesman interrupted and said, "This bed can only support people less than 60 kilos. The wire frame will bend if anyone more than 60 kilos sleeps on it."
By now, my friends and I were already having a silent eye-to-eye conversation. If anyone had a developed telepathic ability, they would have heard us saying: "Is he for real?!"
Cindy broke the silence and asked if the bed was meant for kids or adults. According to him, it is a bed for an adult. We began to chuckle because it simply did not make any sense. How often do you find an adult weighing less than 60 kilos?!?!
My next favourite piece of space-saving-furniture is the sofa-cum-bed, which I intend to buy for the living room. There were two types available - the one with a cloth fabric, or PVC cover. He advised that if we were to take the one with the cloth fabric, we should not wash it as the the cover would shrink.
Again, O----------KAY! Why would we choose something that we cannot wash or clean, right?
What he had to say about the other was classic. It would have definitely won him a prize, if there was any at all!
"If you buy this type of chair, I advise you to lean it against the wall so that it has some support when you use it as a sofa. Otherwise, you will get a FOREVER BED!"
I could not hold back my laughter anymore and neither could my friends. Either he was just a professional sales comedian, there to entertain all of us to compel us to buy his furniture in his joking manner, or he simply was the most honest salesman we have ever came across in this lifetime!
Every single furniture that we enquired had its flaws and this man was not afraid to share that information with us. If only every salesman was that honest, there would be no cheating cases in our world today. This business obviously belonged to him. While money is important, he somehow felt an important need to be honest to the customers. For such a run-down shop to have survived this long (many, many years) with such seemingly bad marketing skills, I would say that his customers would have probably been moved by his honesty to have bought from him (even though some of the exact furniture items could be bought at Tesco's or Giant at a cheaper price).
While I do value his honesty and his courage for being so bold in highlighting all the "WHY WE SHOULD NOT BUY YOUR FURNITURE" factors, I did not find what I was actually looking for except the confirmation that there are still honest people on this face of the earth. He is one of the very few rare gems that has its way to shine through this dark age of malice, ego, selfishness and lies. Whatever it is, he definitely brought a smile on our faces as we exited the premise that day.
Anyhow, I have now completed Chapter 3 and am moving onto Chapter 4 for the first book. My eyes are beginning to blur as I edit, re-edit and re-re-edit everything that I have written thus far. I am currently organising my priceless temporary possessions in the new house - my books. Looking at their spine lining upright on the newly-built cabinets is simply so divine! They appear like soldiers of different sizes in different uniforms, ready to march to the battlefield; in this case, the battlefield of knowledge.
Let's hope I finish clearing the mess before my visitor from India drops by for a short Yoga visit on Friday.
Love and light,
Genevieve
Your stories are so entertaining. Looking forward to reading more..
ReplyDeleteHi Genevieve! Where have you been?? No updates on the progress of your project?
ReplyDelete