The Southwestern Company Internship Difference Blog
Here at the Southwestern Company we always hear stories from customers who are happily surprised when they ‘discover’ that our students are legitimate sales people!
We encourage everyone to be alert and look for ‘red flags’ when dealing with unknown sales people. Below are a few tips that will help you identify a Southwestern Company student dealer and should be kept in mind for all door-to-door sales calls.
Legitimate salespeople, including Southwestern Company student dealers will:
- Identify themselves immediately, and have a photo ID in sight
- Identify the products they are selling and the name of their product provider
- Possess a solicitation permit (if required)
- Have the product or a sample in their possession
- Will not use high-pressure sales tactics
- Respect a consumer’s privacy
- Respect a consumer’s right to end the sales call at any time
- Explain verbally and in writing the cancellation policy which Federal law states as a three-day cooling-off period
- Leave two copies of the receipt
What a great and concise list. With the number of people that come to my door every year from every different industry, I appreciate the concise compilation of tips to help me make sure I am always dealing with legitimate people.
We need some information, it appears that a sales person possibly from another company is representing themselves as a employee of our local school.
How could we tell if they are a “Legit?”
http://www.londonderrynh.net/?p=10417
Steve – the best way to know if someone is legitimate is exactly by what you are doing – research. Just like in your job as a reporter, it is important to know the facts, weigh them in the context of the situation and make a decision besed on the findings. Start by asking questions and looking up the company as you have with Southwestern is the way to go. The things you find (or don’t find) will tell the rest of the story. In the case in your town, you were able to research Southwestern and contact me. Companies that are not legitimate do not have open communications and are very hard to track.
Credible third party resources such as the Better Business Bureau or Attorney General’s Office of a particular state are also good places to see if there is a history of compalints or general customer dis-satisfaction.
There are also items in the widgets on the left side of this blog and in past blogs that talk about what to look for – from common pitches used by scam artists and traveling sales crews to how legit companies operate versus non-legit ones.
Look to see how old the company is and how long it has ooperated with the name it does business as currently. Many disreputable companies will change names frequently.
Hope this helps! Thanks for looking out for your community.
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