TAKE FIVE
with Atrion CEO Tim Hebert
Does anyone else hate it when a salesperson
After explaining that we were satisfied with
says to you, “Can I be honest with you?” Or,
our ownership levels—and that our travel
even worse: “Trust me.” Or is it just me?
choices (Iceland, Tanzania, Columbia and
What the heck have they been doing until
then? Blatantly lying to or deceiving us?
Maybe, a little bit of both.
I heard that magical phrase “Can I be honest
with you” while staying at my timeshare. While
there, my wife and I were invited to attend
a VIP breakfast with the promise of a free
excursion and a $150 Visa gift card—so long
as we sat through a 90-minute meeting with
Peru) are far off their grid and network—
the rep actually questioned our judgement.
His actual quote was: “Who really wants
to go to Tanzania when you can go
to Scottsdale, Arizona?”
After a few more “honestlys” and “franklys,”
we were done with the conversation. And,
because we did not stay the full 90 minutes,
we did not receive our excursion and Visa card.
a representative about how to get more out
To be honest—see what I did there?—the
of our timeshare experience.
conversation was pretty much over before
First of all, there was almost no sharing of how
we could get more out our timeshare ownership. Instead, it was a blatant sales pitch telling
us we would get more, if we bought more.
Didn’t see that one coming did you?!
Then came those six little words: “Can
I be honest with you? Based on
your income and predilection for
travel, you don’t have enough
timeshare ownership.”
it started because trust was never established.
We were merely a number to the rep, a deal
to win by the end of the 90 minutes. And,
with his intent crystal clear, the conversation
never got off the runway.
How many times have you worked with folks
you don’t trust? How often have you felt
misled, duped or deceived by your
community—be it your fellow
coworkers, vendors, clients, etc.?