by Let-Them-Fly » Wed Jan 26, 2011 6:42 pm
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Let-Them-Fly
- Yellow Belt
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- Posts: 54
- Joined: Thu Oct 21, 2010 9:29 pm
- Location: North Carolina
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Roger,
All of them haven't been taken in greed yet, but unfortunately, many have and it's unnecessary... some of us call it down right wrong! When I was arranging my clientele twelve years ago, one of the qualifying questions was: "If your staff is busy and a family comes in, do you have any problem with me making the arrangements?" If they objected, that was my high sign it wasn't a place I needed to be because the owner's primary concern was "doing them HIS way", which normally meant, getting as much money as possible on the contract.
The places I help out now, I let the owner know my style of doing it and they agreed; four even changed how they WERE making arrangements in favor of mine, which meant LESS complaints of being taken advantage of during a trying time and MORE folks being able to "comfortably" fulfill their obligations. My style, if it's a "at-need" case, is to talk about what $ they have (or don't have) before they ever step into the show room. That way, I can take them to what's in their price range and/or show them similar priced units that I can order. Even if they don't have funds to work with, I can set them up with a service that outsiders couldn't tell that it didn't cost a pile of money! They're happy and still have their dignity, and because of the way the pricing is set up, there's a percentage of paid services put into a trust fund that covers cases like that, so NO ONE is loosing anything.
I saw one of the owners I worked for in the past ask a family to bring "mama's" dress in when they come to make the arrangements... when they went in the showroom, the owner took the dress and placed it in a solid bronze (high end) casket and said: "Now you know your mother just wouldn't look right in anything but this".... the family members minds weren't even there and quickly agreed. I got fired from that place because after the family left, I asked the owner if he was selling cars instead of caskets! Oh well. (that family got a FREE service and the company got audited because "somebody" filed an ethics complaint with the State Board!)
I can't stand seeing those who are vulnerable being taken advantage of... money be damned!