This thread really strikes a chord with me.
In the late eighties through early 2000's I did automation technical sales. I am NOT a salesmen by nature, I was technically competent with the product and could sell it because I could explain it and help people solve their problems with it. In addition to that I was VERY committed to taking care of my customers and they appreciated it.
In the process of my "sales" experience from this period of my life, I drove sixty to seventy thousand miles a year throughout several states. Being a country boy I was always observing the tractors along the road.
From the above experience I learned a number of things that apply to the subject in this thread. Firstly my nature is to treat EVERYONE well, not just the people who could do something for ME. This is just common decency. I have struck up conversations and offered help to people in positions of Janitor all the way to CEO. You reap what you sow, and if you are reaping good will with everyone you deal with, good things will come from it. Customers buying hundreds of thousands of dollars at a time from me, got the same help and respect as someone buying a simple thousand dollar add on or upgrade.
The other thing I learned that applies to this thread is the distribution of different tractor brands along the road. The next time you take a long trip, notice the tractor brands in the field as you drive from town to town. What you will discover is that near one town, tractors will be predominantly Green and Yellow, while near the next town they might be Orange, and then near the next town, they might be red. I propose that this is because of the local dealers in that town. Most manufacturers make good machines, but the local dealer determines who gets the Lions share of tractor business in that community.
About a month ago I bought a new tractor. It came down to orange or green. The orange dealer in my community has a HUGE inventory and sells LOTS of tractors. The green dealer is part of a chain and has a moderate inventory. It doesn't take too many trips into these dealers to understand the difference. The orange dealer is right on top of things when you call or stop by. They are friendly, helpful and non discriminatory, that is, little purchases and big purchases both get prompt, helpful, friendly service. The problem for me is that they won't come off of list price hardly at all. Isn't that interesting? They give good enough service that people will pay them close to list price.
The green dealer won't even acknowledge your existence when you walk into their huge, somewhat empty showroom. Before buying a tractor I was trying to buy a chain saw there and they wouldn't wait on me for that either. I tried to get help buying a tractor there and they gave me high prices and a sort of, you are so lucky that we are willing to sell you one type attitude. They also tried to stick close to list price.
BTW, my local dealers are 20 miles away. I ended up calling around and talked to the green dealer who is part of the same chain as the local green dealer except they are 55 miles away. They were unbelievably friendly, helpful and non discriminatory. They gave me an unbelievable price over the phone. It was so cheap I was afraid that it was a mistake, so I drove over there the same day. When I got there I found a HUGE facility on the Interstate. The building was huge and it turns out the facility is over 30 acres. The price was not a mistake and it turned out the store manager lives about five miles from me so he delivered it to me no charge on the way home one evening.
I personally have absolutely no use for anyone, salesman or otherwise who treat people differently according to their position or any other criteria. The best way to live your life is to treat everyone with decency until they prove that they do not deserve such respect.
By doing business with jerks like described by the OP, you simply perpetuate that behavior. I refuse to be part of that. I offer respect to others and reward those who return that respect.
Oh yeah, another thing that I learned from my experience in the automation industry was the value of a complaining customer. When someone calls to complain, they are pointing out a problem that you have that you might not have known about. If you don't know that you have a problem, you can't solve it. Since learning that, under certain circumstances I will call the management and tell them of my experience.
In the case of the sales experience in the original post, I probably wouldn't call management based on that one experience with that person. The reason is that I don't know what's going on in that persons life that day. His wife might have just called him to tell him that she wanted a divorce. Who knows what? If I get that same attitude from someone a second time I will call his boss to let him know that he has a problem that he needs to deal with.
My $0.02,
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