The Southwestern Company Internship Difference Blog
Often, members of a traveling sales crews can’t seem to get their stories straight – from school trips to London, to military donations, to a semester in Seattle – they all seem just a hair shady.
To add to the shadiness was the local factor: saying they were from the neighborhood and knew people in the area – a common sales crew ploy. When asked, however, no one was able to produce any form of legitimate credential or identification. Hmmmm… go figure.
While a few of the traveling sales crew members were identified as working with an organization called Dynasty Sales, according to the article, the company did not have a phone number available an did not return e-mail. While I can not personally vouch for the legitimacy of Dynasty Sales, I can tell you this: if a company is hard to contact and nonresponsive, chances are, you roll the dice when doing business with them. All of the aforementioned red flags should make you want to put the dice back into your pocket.
This brings me to the question: What are some of the things you look for in the legitimacy of a specific company you want to do business with? All comments welcome!
Dynasty Sales goes door-to-door in Carroll County
By Marc Shapiro, Carroll County Times Staff writer
Some of the things most people look for as well as myself is plenty of information! If a business is selling something door to door I think they should have alot of information about the business. Such as tee shirts or proper uniforms and phone numbers or website information that the customer can contact and check out on thier own. People look for professionalism, someone who has studied and knows the product. If I see a student/person come to my door at night,hunger,thirsty,regular beach clothes,some books that look like they came from his house, and asking for a big deposit that same day, lots of red flags would start to pop up in my head!! I think the company should work on the way it presents itself, through the student and it might make the door to door experience seem more legtimate than fake!
Great point – anyone who has information is much more credible. Southwestern Company student dealers have two-sided photo ID badges with both their information and that of Southwestern. The lanyard it hangs from has Southwestern Company's website prominent on it. Also, the order book the stduents write up the contract on contains lots of valuable information for the customers. Legitimacy is the key – thanks for your thoughts on this!
Selling door-to-door poses uncertainties for both sides… the person selling, equally has to take measures to protect themselves and their business enterprise. Whether it is safety, ethics or bad checks and lies people tell to avoid saying no, customers can be shady too. Everyone has to take all necessary measures to protect their interests, but let's not forget to be civil, build relationships and believe in the positive nature of most people.
Some good points! Someone told me once, "The customer is not always right, but they are still the customer." It pays to enter into an agreement with anyone with some common sense in the form of protections frm scam and in the interest of safety.