Day in the life of
Timeshare Sales Rep – Lisa Ann Schreier
The day usually starts with a 7:30 am meeting. The managers recapped the sales from the previous day and gave us an idea of how many people/families were scheduled for sales presentations that day.
After that, we waited in some area or another until, according to an oftentimes skewed rotation system, we were given what constituted a worksheet with the name of the client in it. We then walked out to the area where all the people/families were waiting, called out their names, introduced ourselves, and guided them to the area where the sales pitch would be given.
These pitches typically lasted 3 hours. Depending on how busy the sales center was on that day and/or if you were able to sell a timeshare, you may get to repeat the process with another person/family. Generally speaking, we’d be done by 2:00 or 3:00 pm unless management had scheduled training. The timeshares were for vacation accommodation usually at a condo type of set up with more room and amenities than a typical hotel room.
The presentation or pitch was broken down into 10 distinct parts.
Salespeople were trained to carry out these parts or phases in an attempt to get the customer to purchase.
Without going into great detail, there would be a greeting, a warm up, a discovery where the idea was to find out about the customers’ likes and dislikes and their vacation habits, the uncovering of the so-called vacation problem without the problem, there’s no sale, the tour of the property, the presentation of the solution to the aforementioned problem, the price negotiations and the eventual sale or not.
Pros
On the pro side, if you’re a people person, this is great. I also highly recommend everyone take a job where they’re selling something for at least 6 months. You’ll learn a lot about yourself. It’s not hard physically of course. The hours allow for more free time and/or a second job more so than other full-time jobs.
Cons
On the con side, no one and I mean no one wants to listen to a timeshare sales pitch while they’re on vacation. They are only there because they have to be. You as the salesperson have absolutely no control of who you are paired up with. I’ve spoken with educated, nice, polite, financially stable people who like to vacation as well as rude, impolite, lying, nearly destitute people. Additionally, in my opinion, the entire paradigm of timeshare sales is antiquated and needs to change. You’re asking people to purchase something for $20,000 or more based on a 3-hour pitch. There’s no thinking about it, no coming back tomorrow…you tell these consumers it’s now or never. Very outdated.
Note that I’m a former timeshare salesperson. I’ve been writing about and educating people about timeshares for many years. I’m no longer selling or affiliated with any developer now so that I’m unbiased and impartial.
