How to handle a guy who wants a "special" deal...

21 replies
This is a first for us. We sell automotive touchup paint kits on line, it's also our main day job, doing the same type of work for car dealers. 17 years experience.

Got an email from a guy who has a BMW and he wants a "special deal" on one of our kits and in exchange he'll post a review on some of the forums he belongs to. He didnt specify what kind of deal he wanted, but our kits are not expensive to begin with, we do make a nice profit but I dont want to be giving it away to him or anyone else, for a vague promise of a review on a forum. What if he decides to slam us for some reason? We sell our kits mostly to owners of high end cars, a lot of them are BMWs. I know he would be pleased with the results from our kit, and I get it he doesnt know that yet. I really dont feel a need to give him a bargain.

I'm not sure how to handle this guy. Any words of wisdom?
Thanks,
Funkynassau
#deal #guy #handle #special
  • Profile picture of the author dbwebdesignz
    I would say if its not expensive then give him a kit. If your an established company then giving away a few freebies is ok. I have given away many free things in hope of it generating more business, its swings and roundabouts. Some work some dont. He could post 1 review and end up getting you 100 sales for you just taking a chance. Obviously just look at what you have to lose and if you can afford to lose it then i would say take a chance.

    I would say we will give you it for free, post reviews and tell them everyone who he gets give them a coupon code and say that they will get 10% off. Then you can know if they have come from him or not and everyone will be a winner
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  • Profile picture of the author daddykool
    Hey Funky

    Interesting offer!

    Ok, first do some "homework!" google is your friend

    Is the guy/gal legit, do they "really" have a bmw, are they a citation bot company?

    Answer to above is No, move down to next bit, if Yes.. get on with your work!

    Ask him what "value" his review will bring, where he will be putting it and why?

    Ask for a preview of a previous review he/she has done and did it help who ever they left it for?

    Most reviews are horse crap, made from review or citation bots, they mean nothing to anyone.

    If you DO get a genuine reviewer of your store/product/item/post/software/yadayada, offer them a deal back, get them to refer THEIR family, friends, buyers & contacts to YOU and they get a special X% OFF code/voucher/ticket/yadayada!

    Hope that helps a little!
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    • Profile picture of the author paul_1
      Originally Posted by daddykool View Post

      Hey Funky

      Interesting offer!

      Ok, first do some "homework!" google is your friend

      Is the guy/gal legit, do they "really" have a bmw, are they a citation bot company?

      Answer to above is No, move down to next bit, if Yes.. get on with your work!

      Ask him what "value" his review will bring, where he will be putting it and why?

      Ask for a preview of a previous review he/she has done and did it help who ever they left it for?

      Most reviews are horse crap, made from review or citation bots, they mean nothing to anyone.

      If you DO get a genuine reviewer of your store/product/item/post/software/yadayada, offer them a deal back, get them to refer THEIR family, friends, buyers & contacts to YOU and they get a special X% OFF code/voucher/ticket/yadayada!

      Hope that helps a little!

      Great Advice!!!! I couldn't agree more!
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  • Profile picture of the author Chris_Willow
    From my experience, people who want "special deals" are not the kind of people I want to work with.

    First they want a special deal, then a free phone consultation, then something else and the list goes on. I've never made that mistake again.

    For you it might be different, as you don't have to actually go an help the guy use your kit. As long as you're not losing money, the review might be worth it.

    That's just advice.
    Chris
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    • Profile picture of the author Ralf Skirr
      Mh, sounds fishy too me. If he posts that he got a discount this way, you're dead.

      Apart from that, it's the same like people asking for discounts and promising to send referrals. It never happens.

      They are usually exactly the kind of people who
      - forget you exist the moment they get what they wanted, or
      - who would refer people you wouldn't want as client in the first place.

      I had a few people ask me that over the span of my career, and always declined.
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  • Profile picture of the author Tom Reed
    Cash is nothing more than a "formalized barter" system.

    It clearly defines the value of a product or service so use cash in all your "barters" to see if you're really trading up or down.

    Trying to replace cash with direct product barter deals always makes it harder and usually makes one party a winner and the other a loser.
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  • Profile picture of the author Michael Oksa
    Originally Posted by funkynassau View Post

    This is a first for us. We sell automotive touchup paint kits on line, it's also our main day job, doing the same type of work for car dealers. 17 years experience.

    Got an email from a guy who has a BMW and he wants a "special deal" on one of our kits and in exchange he'll post a review on some of the forums he belongs to. He didnt specify what kind of deal he wanted, but our kits are not expensive to begin with, we do make a nice profit but I dont want to be giving it away to him or anyone else, for a vague promise of a review on a forum. What if he decides to slam us for some reason? We sell our kits mostly to owners of high end cars, a lot of them are BMWs. I know he would be pleased with the results from our kit, and I get it he doesnt know that yet. I really dont feel a need to give him a bargain.

    I'm not sure how to handle this guy. Any words of wisdom?
    Thanks,
    Funkynassau
    Hi Funky,

    You could tell him that every kit you sell is already a special deal. Actually, it's more than a special deal, it's an investment in his fine automobile. Go on to explain the benefits of using the kit, such as increasing the value of his vehicle, improved looks, feeling better about his car, etc.

    At this stage, he may really only be looking for reassurance about spending his money.

    On the other hand, and I hate to say this, he could be engaging in a kind of subtle blackmail. While he says "give me a deal and I will post a review", he may really mean "if you don't give me a deal, I will do my best to ruin you." Yes, some people will do that over $17.

    If he is a BMW owner, you can try appealing to his pride as well.

    All in all, it sounds questionable to me, though I could be wrong. Personally, I would NOT give him a "special deal", and would use the investment in his vehicle approach.

    All the best,
    Michael
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    • Profile picture of the author Hooker
      If he is curious about the product and is only interested in reviewing it because he is trying to provide some kind of value for an audience, I say give it to him. It might be good for business. And if the kits are inexpensive for you to produce, it's a small risk.

      However, if he is going to use the product himself and just wants a discount, tell him to buy one just like everyone else. If he thinks it's great, he should promote it on the forum anyway.
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      • Profile picture of the author Bill Farnham
        If it's his habit to barter reviews for tangible items perhaps he can give you links to other reviews he's posted.

        Honestly though, I may be tempted to just ignore the first email and wait to see what develops.

        ~Bill
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  • Profile picture of the author Sylviane

    I would do 3 things to handle this guy.

    1) I would Google him and see what I can find out about him. People often forget that, but you can Google ANYONE nowadays. Usually the first things that would pop up are facebook and Linkedin profiles and whatever else they may be into. Even what they don’t want to show J
    2) I would communicate openly with him. Being frank is a good think. First ask him why does he feel that he needs a deal even though the price is already low, and how could he prove that he will do his part of the bargain.
    3) If the guy check out OK, I would give him a deal. That could turn out to be a GREAT deal for you in the end if he is legit.
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  • Profile picture of the author Ron Killian
    Seems kinda odd, the guy has a expensive car and needs a deal.

    I am with every one else, ask him where and what he's going to post.
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  • Profile picture of the author funkynassau
    Thanks for all of the replies! I dont have his name, just an email address, so I cant google him to find out who he is. In fact his email starts with super_supply@(blank).com. He didnt even give me his name, so that made me suspicious right away.

    I asked my husband what he would have replied to this guy and he said tell him to tell us what forums he plans to post to, once he's used our product, and then sell him a kit at full price. If he does as he said he would, give him a discount on the next kit.

    I dont plan to give him a freebie even tho our prices are not high. I'd give him a discount on a future kit, as hubby suggested, after a good review. This guy got my "hinky meter" going, I have no way to know if he's on the level or not.

    It'll be interesting to see if he does write back, and I'm not going to bet my farm on it.

    Thanks!
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    ChipFixx custom mixed auto touchup paint kits.
    http://www.chipfixx.ca

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  • Profile picture of the author marketingva
    I do local SEO and marketing for small businesses and some of my dealings have included relationships with Yelp and other places where you can place a review. I've seen them ban the business owner if they find out that they gave an incentive or discount out in exchange for reviews.

    It's against the TOS of some of these sites and very risky.

    Bonnie
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  • Profile picture of the author Exel
    In my experience those people that ask for "special deals" are just nicer beggars, they
    are really cheap and only want to save money, they don't care about helping your
    business in any way or do anything in exchange.
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  • Profile picture of the author temlawn
    The definition of a "Special Deal" is really a guy saying "Man I want this but I cant afford it" -

    If he a BMW he should be able to afford it, but it is actually a catch 22 because 1 of many things can happen.

    1) You give it to him - he likes it - follows through and you get some free pub.
    2) You give it to him - he likes it - you never hear from him again
    3) You give it to him - he doesnt like it - posts some neg. stuff (not good)
    4) You dont give it to him - he buys it
    5) You dont give it to him - he gets mad and posts neg. stuff (not good)

    My suggestion his special deal should be a $ amount off (your cost+10%) or something like that, then sell him on it... meaning

    "Ok I normally don't due this but im kind of interested.. I can give you the product at cost"

    or something like that... 9 times out of 10 - the special offer asking people are full of it and they dont follow through...

    Once in a while somebody might surprise you..

    Good luck!
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  • Profile picture of the author funkynassau
    Here's an update. He wrote last nite and here's his email to me, below. I then wrote back saying if all you want is the Basic kit we cant offer a discount as it's not very expensive to begin with. (I'd already decided this guy was not getting any deal.) So today he wrote again and said what he really wanted was double the paint and double the solution and how could he get that. So I wrote and told him to buy two Economy kits then he'd have all he needs. I think he writes like he's a guy of around 20 with his first car. Plus if he's got this fancy BMW and he's already touched it up before, what the heck is he doing to get it all chipped up again? I think he just wants something for nothing or close to it. No more mention of reviews on forums.

    ****

    Hi, thank you for the prompt response! I visited the website, but written testimonials aren't the best in terms of seeing how the product works. I do understand that your company has been around for a while and from the website and the kits available I do see that you are definitely serious about the business. Dr Color Chip worked great, but with UPS brokerage and shipping problems it's just not worth the hassle, a Canadian alternative is the perfect solution.

    Any chance you could send me some photos just to see how the touchups worked? I do have a lot of primer showing through and am curious as to how much paint I would need to cover it all up. I don't really know what you guys are able to offer in terms of a deal so just let me know what you think the best deal is that you could work out for me.

    After looking at your kits it seems that I would probably need just the most basic kit since everything else seems to not be too necessary, but my concern is will one kit be enough?
    I don't have big chips to cover up just a LOTTTTT of white marks from the outer layer of the paint chipping off, so I would just need to spread out your product like crazy everywhere and then wipe it clean and hope for the best.

    ******
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    ChipFixx custom mixed auto touchup paint kits.
    http://www.chipfixx.ca

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  • Profile picture of the author autolinetransport
    Seems like a shady individual. Dont think I would trust him to keep him word.
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  • Profile picture of the author tpw
    Originally Posted by funkynassau View Post

    This is a first for us. We sell automotive touchup paint kits on line, it's also our main day job, doing the same type of work for car dealers. 17 years experience.

    Got an email from a guy who has a BMW and he wants a "special deal" on one of our kits and in exchange he'll post a review on some of the forums he belongs to. He didnt specify what kind of deal he wanted, but our kits are not expensive to begin with, we do make a nice profit but I dont want to be giving it away to him or anyone else, for a vague promise of a review on a forum. What if he decides to slam us for some reason? We sell our kits mostly to owners of high end cars, a lot of them are BMWs. I know he would be pleased with the results from our kit, and I get it he doesnt know that yet. I really dont feel a need to give him a bargain.

    I'm not sure how to handle this guy. Any words of wisdom?
    Thanks,
    Funkynassau

    Tell him NO.

    There are a lot of people that play this game, just so that they can get discounts or freebies.

    They have no intention of delivering what they promised, once they get their discount, and even if they want to deliver, they can't.
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  • Profile picture of the author Randall Magwood
    I wouldn't think twice about it. I'm confident that you could get more sales that will greatly surpass this "special deal".
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