Ask the Owner
Store Front
If you’re like me, you’ve been conditioned to be at least a little suspicious when you’re approached by a salesperson in a retail store. You KNOW they’re going to try to sell you something. However, you may not always understand what it is they are trying to sell!
In a Target, Wal-Mart or Macy’s, you’ve already been sold before you walk in the store – by the brand name. The clerk is simply there to take your order…and your money. But at Bob’s Bait and Bagels or Sally’s Hutch Hutch, the owners are trying not to simply, or even primarily, sell bait, bagels or hutches. They want to sell you on the same thing that Target already has – their store.
So what do I do with that information? I engage the store owner (or knowledgeable clerk) in conversation. I ask questions. Although they certainly want to make a sale, even more, they want me to come back again…and again…and again.
Bob or Sally, being smart retailers, want me to feel that I received the best value I possibly could on that bait, bagel or hutch. I might learn from Bob that pink worms aren’t any good unless the Bass are spawning or from Sally that solid oak is once again preferred for firewood, not furniture and that hickory veneer looks better and cost half as much.
Saving real money is more than clipping coupons, it’s being informed and that “evil salesperson” may be your best source of information.
