Is your authorized Dealer your "new best friend," or an annoying, "used car salesman?"

At times we’re BFF’s but certain remarks makes me cringe so I don’t visit for a while….

I am friendly with sales staff, but I never mistake them for friends. Their goal is to separate you from as much of your money as they can, forgetting that allows them to get even more money from you.

I am ok with commission-earning salespeople. They are just trying to make a living. But what I look for is their technique. I know a thing or two about sales, because in my 20's I was the lead in the Business Machines department at my local Office Depot, where I got a commission for every computer system and every copier that I sold. But I never used cheap tactics. I always spoke frankly, and informed the customer about every aspect of what they were buying. I'd say things like, "If you buy this system, you should think about upgrading the RAM, since you plan to use it for photo editing. Otherwise it will run slow." etc. I wouldn't push, but I would always inform.

In my mid-30's to early 40's, I sold real estate. And I used the same technique. Complete honesty, good advice, never pushy. And I did quite well, even in a crowded marketplace like Austin, where I had a competition numbering about 10,000 agents in the Greater Austin area.

So when I deal with salespeople, I look at their approach. Do they really care about helping me get what I want? Or am I just a dollar amount to them? I can smell a phoney a mile away. I don't need them to be my best friend. But I do need them to be friendly, professional, courteous, and aware of their fiduciary duty to me. If they aren't, then I take my business elsewhere.

Great topic, I'm very curious about this for those who have relationships with ADs.

I have a watch broker who I trust implicitly, because he is "long-term greedy" as opposed to "short-term greedy." I've bought and traded back something like 30 watches now through him. Often, I worry that he's not charging me enough to generate enough margins to be viable for the long-term!

Most recently, I was able to get this from him brand new for something like 15%+ off MSRP, free overnight FedEx shipping, and "out of state sales tax treatment," meaning he trusts that I will follow up with my own state tax authorities to pay the sales tax on my own. 😜

I buy, he sells, we both benefit.

Oooo... What's the gossip??

What did they say?

When he talks about watch as investment it just turns me off.. and he goes on and on and all I hear is yada…yada…yada… and he talks shit about my Citizen and it hurts my feelings 😢

The one closest to me runs a clock repair shop and is definitely using the same sales tactics he's used since the 80's. "Once those models have moved we're going to have to raise the price." Borderline insults me everytime I go in, claimed my islander had a Chinese movement. And openly berates his sales staff in front of customers. I learned pretty fast that I'm not the type of customer that keeps places like that running, they try to sell you a gray dial Seiko presage that isn't moving like they're doing you a favor, or maybe you'd be interested in a lunar lander that has a lug to lug wider than the doorway you just walked through. I'll stick with Jomashop, much better deals.

I dream of AD's that are watch nerds instead of watch snobs.

Best friend… no.. person I can count on to take my money and get me the watches I want.. yes.

Much closer to BFF than used car salesman. It’s business, but pleasurable.

What kinds of watches does he sell? Just out of gossip, not just me mentally preparing for when I have disposable Monee 😉

Out of all the times I've been to an AD of any brand, I can only say there's been one time the sales associate was passionate about watches. It made the visit extra special, because even my friend who dgaf about watches enjoyed the visit. Unfortunately, most of the time I've ended up just trying things on and keeping my opinions to myself 🙄

I'll DM you his info.