Originally Posted by
SteveL
This is not something exclusive to the gun industry. Do your homework on TVs for example and then walk into a Best Buy and start asking questions you already know the answers to and see what happens.
It's been my observation over the years that you'll find three types of people working as salesmen, regardless of what it is they sell:
1. The rarest is the one who is educated on the products he sells and legitimately knows what he's talking about and wants to do right by his customers. This is the guy who will ask you questions about your intended use for the item and what you're looking to spend, etc. in an effort to match you up with the best product for your needs that your budget will allow. It's not uncommon for this guy to recommend multiple items for you to choose from after talking to you. He might put three pistols on the counter in front of you for example and say "any of these will meet your needs." Even if you end up disagreeing with him, he will still be respectful of you as a customer. Be grateful if you have a place around with salesmen in this category.
2. The next one is the person who truly doesn't know any better and only knows to repeat what he read in a magazine, recite the spec list to you, or repeat whatever the manufacturer sales rep tells him to say. IMO this guy's heart is in the right place, but he could benefit from doing a bit of homework on his own. No need to be a prick to this guy, but take whatever he tells you with a grain of salt.
3. Then you have the guy looking to make a sale, regardless of your needs/desires. His goal is simply to move product off of his shelf. This is the guy who'll tell you that "a DPMS is as good as a Colt," or that "a Proscan is as good as a Panasonic," or tell the 90 pound woman "all you have to do is rack this 12 gauge and the bad guy will run away screaming and pissing himself." He'll be offended any time you disagree with anything he has to say and expect you to hang on his every word. This guy is a douche bag. You can not have a rational discussion with him and any disagreement will result in an argument or you being treated like you're beneath him and lucky to simply be in his presence. Avoid this guy like the plague.
On another note, it's interesting that a previous poster mentioned that magazines used to have useful reviews in them. When I was in my early 20's I had my first crotch rocket. I also had a subscription to Motorcyclist Magazine. In one particular edition the editor told the story of a moral dilemma they faced at the magazine one day. They were provided with a motorcycle for evaluation by an unnamed manufacturer. Said manufacturer bought a considerable amount of ad space in their magazine. They were expected to "evaluate" this motorcycle and write a (glowing) review. The problem was that after the evaluation period they didn't hold a particularly high opinion of this motorcycle. It wasn't bad per se, but you could get something considerably better for the same money. The question they then faced was whether to write an honest review and risk losing all of this manufacturer's advertising dollars, or do they write what they were expected to write in order to keep the money coming in? In the end they chose integrity and wrote an honest review. Sure enough, this manufacturer stopped buying ad space in their magazine. This was when I learned that magazine reviews, no matter the types of items being reviewed, are suspect at best.