just took the BLT tour... kind of bugged with DVC guide

[Mickey'sApprentice]

I'm sorry that you had a negative experience.

There is an art to knowing when to ask for the sell. The guide could tell that you knew a lot about the product. She read that to mean that you were ready to buy. Yes, she jumped the gun, but getting the paperwork was your guide's way to ask for the sell. Perhaps she should have said...well, it seems like you guys are ready...would you like for me to get the paperwork?

Plus, the guide had spent 40 minutes with you. The attitude of A LOT of professional salespeople is...if you knew you weren't ever going to buy from me...why did you waste my time?

Personally, I would have either told the guide upfront, and just asked to see the models...or I wouldn't have mentioned it at all, or at most said I am also considering resale.

I may get flamed for this...but spending 40 minutes with your guide, and then telling them that you are definitely buying resale is also inconsiderate.

 

[kapeman]

They weren't able to do so for HH or VB. Some would say if it's not broke, don't fix it, IMO it's been broken from the start. I think many here on DIS see it as either low pressure or sleazy high pressure and there is definitely a middle ground. Many others do this successfully who are more aggressive but still honest overall and appropriate to the tour groups as well as current members. Marriott, Westin and Hilton certainly come to mind. I don't see any way to legitimately lay slower sales at Jim Lewis' feet, I can't think of anything he's done or that DVC has actively done that is likely to have impacted sales significantly and that includes the hot topic items we've discussed the last year or two. As for alienating a segment of their customers, I believe that is a far overestimate and over rated item but that changes can be made without doing so other than those hard core people that would feel this way with any change. Most people who buy aren't the DIS regulars, they're buying because it's Disney, nothing more or less. Disney could totally change the entire system in a way such that each and every member here would think twice about it and it still likely wouldn't have an overwhelming affect on sales in all likelihood. IMO, DVD has left a ton of sales on the table trying to be too nice and it's cost us as members multiple off property options. IMO, it's time to become more mainstream, professional but more firm. Whether they want to do tour incentives, preview stays and OPC's is debatable.

IMO DVC has survived in spite of a poor sale approach simply due to WDW and the rest of the Disney empire. They were not able to compete appropriately in HH or at VB and unless there is a change in tactics, won't be able to do so for HI or beyond either. TV and print adds alone won't be enough to make it work.

Some would say that HH and to a lesser degree VB are far from stellar properties in the context that they have to compete on their own merits.

But I do think it is safe to say that OKW, BWV, VWL, BCV sold pretty well under the old regime.

I never said that slower sales were the fault of Jim Lewis. I specifically noted the downturn in the economy and noted that it has hit all the players involved.

What I did lay at his feet is the increase in the use of high pressure sales tactics. While I agree that it may be possible to reach a happy medium with the amount of sales pressure used, I dont think that a. DVC should go there or b. that it would stop at the medium level under the leadership of a sales/marketing guy like Lewis.

I reiterate that the low pressure sales strategy is a plus for DVC and indirectly for us as owners. Not to mention the lower rate of buyer's remorse (what we called post purchase dissonance in the old days!) for those that bought with out the pressure.

Ultimately, I think it is too early to tell which will result in the higher amount of sales.

 

[Dean]

Some would say that HH and to a lesser degree VB are far from stellar properties in the context that they have to compete on their own merits.

But I do think it is safe to say that OKW, BWV, VWL, BCV sold pretty well under the old regime.

I never said that slower sales were the fault of Jim Lewis. I specifically noted the downturn in the economy and noted that it has hit all the players involved.

What I did lay at his feet is the increase in the use of high pressure sales tactics. While I agree that it may be possible to reach a happy medium with the amount of sales pressure used, I dont think that a. DVC should go there or b. that it would stop at the medium level under the leadership of a sales/marketing guy like Lewis.

I reiterate that the low pressure sales strategy is a plus for DVC and indirectly for us as owners. Not to mention the lower rate of buyer's remorse (what we called post purchase dissonance in the old days!) for those that bought with out the pressure.

Ultimately, I think it is too early to tell which will result in the higher amount of sales.

Given that everyone else is where I think DVC needs to be to sell resorts like HI or are even more high pressure, I think we do know which one sells more timeshares. While I'd agree that HH and VB are less than stellar properties from the standpoint of location and sell-ability, other companies have successfully sold worse resorts in worse locations faster and better with a far worse retail to resale differential. It's hard to argue that the on property resorts sold well enough, IMO it's not possible to reasonably argue that they did so because of the low pressure sales techniques but rather in spite of them.

I don't have the numbers, but I would be willing to bet that the sales numbers were just fine prior to the hiring of Jim Lewis.

I took this statement as laying the blame on sales at Jim Lewis' feet.

Members might want to consider whether they want an expanding system with more options or they want the kids glove sales approach as I see that as a true and definite choice going forward, esp for resorts like HI.

 

[Maistre Gracey]

Wanted to say that kapeman has taken the words right out of my mouth with his last couple of posts.
I couldn't agree more...

MG

 

[chris4disney]

I'm sorry that you had a negative experience.

There is an art to knowing when to ask for the sell. The guide could tell that you knew a lot about the product. She read that to mean that you were ready to buy. Yes, she jumped the gun, but getting the paperwork was your guide's way to ask for the sell. Perhaps she should have said...well, it seems like you guys are ready...would you like for me to get the paperwork?

Plus, the guide had spent 40 minutes with you. The attitude of A LOT of professional salespeople is...if you knew you weren't ever going to buy from me...why did you waste my time?

Personally, I would have either told the guide upfront, and just asked to see the models...or I wouldn't have mentioned it at all, or at most said I am also considering resale.

I may get flamed for this...but spending 40 minutes with your guide, and then telling them that you are definitely buying resale is also inconsiderate.

If DH and I toured BLT and fell in love with it in those 40 minutes, plus add in the incentive they were giving us, then yes... maybe we would have bought right then from Disney or talked about it and called her back while we were still at WDW that week to sign up. But what I have learned by reading here at the DISboards is that you pick a Home Resort that you want to stay at the most. And quite honestly, DH and I did NOT like BLT at all... other than the fact that it's on the monorail. We really don't care what the inside of the rooms look like, it's the atmosphere of the resort and it's amenities that appeals to us. Because of that, we are able to and have visited other DVC resorts to see if we like the atmosphere without taking the DVC tour and "wasting" any guides time. Unfortunately they have built BLT like Fort Knox and you can not view the inside of that resort without being a guest there or on an official DVC tour. Since we were not registerd guests, the tour was our only option. So we took the tour and came to the conclusion that we did not like BLT over BCV. Just because it took 40 minutes out of the guide's day to make that decision, I don't feel we owed her anything other than a kind thank you. I am in sales and I spend quite a bit of time with potential clients that don't end up buying anything. It sucks, I don't like it, but IT'S PART OF BEING IN SALES. All you can hope is that even if those potential clients didn't spend any money with you that may be they liked you, felt you were honest with them and would recommend you to someone else who maybe ready to buy.

 

[Crystal_27]

I may get flamed for this...but spending 40 minutes with your guide, and then telling them that you are definitely buying resale is also inconsiderate.

I'm not going to flame you at all, but I do disagree with you. For someone who is selling something that costs at minimum $15,000, I think that it should be a given for the salespeople to expect people to opt out after taking the tour. DVC is everywhere at Disney, and the CMs at the kiosks always tout how "low pressure" the tours are. The OP's guide's actions were inappropriate, from the high-pressure tactics to the lies about resale. It may be the guide's job to sell DVC units, but her tactics were contrary to what I expect from the Disney "brand."

 

[Cruelladeville]

Disney buys back every BCV contract via ROFR!"

Why, those sneaky disney people must be using fake names again!! All this time I thought our buyer was a real person, and ROFR was refused by Disney.

 

[disneydreamingdebby]

Just closed on a 100 point BCV $85 a point Feb use year less than a month ago.

 

[puntagordabob]

Sorry to hear about the little drama your guide tossed at you... but at least ,in your case, you were educated enough to know what she was tossing was Cow Paddies....imagine how those who do not know much or anything at all about DVC who would have been "taken advantage" of by her, well lets be honest: LIES! Those other potential members who get lied to and act upon the info believing in good faith that no Disney guide would be like that are the true ultimate victims!

Our guide is Michael Johnson....I have never had the pleasure of actually meeting him in person because he was my brother's guide (he owns at OKW and we at BLT@CR) ... he was never pushy, never BS'd us, etc.... so if you need a guide perhaps request him. If you meet him tell him Bob from Punta Gorda, Florida says Hello lol

 

[Mickey'sApprentice]

Thank you for clearing up your intentions.

IF you went to see if you were in love with BLT, and then weren't then that's ok. That is an honest thing to say to the guide.

Although it was not your situation, I still submit that someone going through the full tour with no interest in purchasing is inconsiderate.

Please forgive me for saying that you were inconsiderate. You were totally in the right. I'm sorry for saying otherwise.

 

[Dean]

Although it was not your situation, I still submit that someone going through the full tour with no interest in purchasing is inconsiderate.

As a rule, no one goes on a timeshare sales tour to buy a timeshare. Certainly there are a few exceptions, more with DVC than most, but as a rule people tour then buy but most don't have the intent on buying going in and most intend not to buy. I would therefore disagree that you shouldn't tour if you don't intend to buy. DVC is somewhat unique in that they don't provide tour incentives and they tend not to tour people more than once, esp if they already own. The rest of the timeshare world tend to do both repeatedly. I can't count the number of timeshare tours I've been on where I was telling them I had no intent on buying and they were insistent on signing us up anyway. IMO the onus is on the seller and not the buyer in this situation. I think one should be honest but after that it's their call if they want to your you or not.