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Yes.. It is fear that keeps this from being widely accepted.
It will be a bit long (as many of my rants are) but consider this:
In the timeshare industry, sales and marketing personnel are the individuals who have risen through the ranks into senior management positions.
For timeshare sales people- it's always been more about the presentation of the sizzle than about the steak. In other words, the quality of the product has nothing to do with its success- in their mind it all comes down to packaging! For the most part, the industry has not been built on the idea of providing a high quality product- but rather on the use of marketing gimmicks and high pressure sales techniques to ensnare buyers.
Timeshare salespeople are not service providers. They are hunters who attempt to track and overcome their prey. I've always thought it was interesting how the backroom of many a front line sales office reminded me of a hunting lodge. The sales people all sit back and swap stories about how they bagged their latest prey! It's normally a very competitive and aggressive environment.
Initial sales training for timeshares almost always consists of more time learning the psychology of sales, and studying techniques to manipulate their prospects rather than on developing product knowledge. How many presentations have you been on where you understood how the timeshare system worked better than your salesperson?
Juxtapose that image with another sales environment such as a restaurant where the employee training has always been focused on service . The servers are always taught basic sales techniques to upsell and build the check, but in well run establishments the emphasis is always on service rather than just sales tactics.
One business is based on creating initial sales. The other is based on building customer loyalty and developing a long term relationship of repeat business.
Over the past two years as the supply of new prospects has diminished, timeshare developers are trying to reinvent themselves into the second model. The ARDA reports prove that an increasing ratio of developer sales have become upgrades and sales to their current owner base, rather than new sales.
The problem is that most of the people who are still in charge of timeshares don't have a service mentality.. Many are wolves trying to hide their true nature in sheepskins, but if you could look inside you'd still see the same front line sales guy who does not believe in the value of the product and thinks that trickery is the only way it can be sold. Most unfortunately don't seem to have any respect for the product or for the consumers who actually buy it!
Because deep inside many of these same individuals believe that timeshare has little to no value, most are convinced that if the individual owners had an effective opportunity to get out- there would be a flood of abandonments....
It's a shame.. For most resort brands- these people are so entrenched in upper management that any significant change is impossible. It's the culture of timeshare itself that needs to evolve, and I have doubts that this will ever be able to happen until the vast majority of these wolves are pushed out..
It will be a bit long (as many of my rants are) but consider this:
In the timeshare industry, sales and marketing personnel are the individuals who have risen through the ranks into senior management positions.
For timeshare sales people- it's always been more about the presentation of the sizzle than about the steak. In other words, the quality of the product has nothing to do with its success- in their mind it all comes down to packaging! For the most part, the industry has not been built on the idea of providing a high quality product- but rather on the use of marketing gimmicks and high pressure sales techniques to ensnare buyers.
Timeshare salespeople are not service providers. They are hunters who attempt to track and overcome their prey. I've always thought it was interesting how the backroom of many a front line sales office reminded me of a hunting lodge. The sales people all sit back and swap stories about how they bagged their latest prey! It's normally a very competitive and aggressive environment.
Initial sales training for timeshares almost always consists of more time learning the psychology of sales, and studying techniques to manipulate their prospects rather than on developing product knowledge. How many presentations have you been on where you understood how the timeshare system worked better than your salesperson?
Juxtapose that image with another sales environment such as a restaurant where the employee training has always been focused on service . The servers are always taught basic sales techniques to upsell and build the check, but in well run establishments the emphasis is always on service rather than just sales tactics.
One business is based on creating initial sales. The other is based on building customer loyalty and developing a long term relationship of repeat business.
Over the past two years as the supply of new prospects has diminished, timeshare developers are trying to reinvent themselves into the second model. The ARDA reports prove that an increasing ratio of developer sales have become upgrades and sales to their current owner base, rather than new sales.
The problem is that most of the people who are still in charge of timeshares don't have a service mentality.. Many are wolves trying to hide their true nature in sheepskins, but if you could look inside you'd still see the same front line sales guy who does not believe in the value of the product and thinks that trickery is the only way it can be sold. Most unfortunately don't seem to have any respect for the product or for the consumers who actually buy it!
Because deep inside many of these same individuals believe that timeshare has little to no value, most are convinced that if the individual owners had an effective opportunity to get out- there would be a flood of abandonments....
It's a shame.. For most resort brands- these people are so entrenched in upper management that any significant change is impossible. It's the culture of timeshare itself that needs to evolve, and I have doubts that this will ever be able to happen until the vast majority of these wolves are pushed out..
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