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Stories from the Sales Frontlines

91749 messages,  Last post on May 20, 2013 at 11:32 PM

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Messages Page 8619 of 9176

#86178 of 91749 Re: ANOTHER SALES STORY [mako1a] by abacomike

Dec 05, 2012 (9:09 pm)

Replying to: mako1a (Dec 05, 2012 8:46 pm)
Suction Auction, what's a little typo among friends.
 
Remember, I'm posting from an iPhone with a tiny keyboard and I type quickly. During the morning and early afternoon, I post from my desktop where I can touch type much more quickly.
 
Yes, each customer comes at you from a different perspective. The job of the salesman is to overcome as many of the customers objections to buying the car he selected that very day. The more objections you overcome, the better chance you have of selling the customer a car that same day. It is also the manager's job to try to overcome objections that the salesman could not overcome. In this case, his objection to buying had to do with what I was offering for his trade. So I overcame that objection.
 
There was nothing shady about what I did. I merely said, "...if you want me to give you retail value for your trade, then would you pay full retail for the new car?" It didn't work out all the time, but sometimes it did.

#86179 of 91749 Re: Computer is finally fixed! [abacomike] by robr2

Dec 06, 2012 (5:51 am)

Replying to: abacomike (Dec 05, 2012 4:19 pm)
One of the very few lessons I have learned regarding computers over the past 15 years is that when it jams or gets infected with a virus which I have tried to repair, it is more cost effective and much less stressful to just junk it!
 
The problem with that is a solution is that most people don't back up their important files and wind up losing financial data, photos, work related items, et al. It then becomes more expensive trying to recreate all of that.
 
My brother who runs an IT department has a phrase: "Run in circles, scream and shout. You should have made a backup."

#86180 of 91749 Re: Computer is finally fixed! [mako1a] by robr2

Dec 06, 2012 (5:52 am)

Replying to: mako1a (Dec 05, 2012 6:34 pm)
If you've ever needed a really strong magnet, take the hard drive apart, bend the disk in half twice to render it useless and remove the magnets
 
I prefer to put hard disks on my workbench and drill a few 1/4" holes right through the casing, disk, electronics...more fun and less hazardous.

#86181 of 91749 computers by tjc78

Dec 06, 2012 (6:16 am)

I fix / upgrade mine until I feel that it is too old to use anymore. I backup both my home and work computers all the time. If they died I wouldn't lose a thing.
 
Hardware is much cheaper today, but I couldn't see tossing a good machine that just got a nasty virus or some corrupted files. I'm computer savvy enough to fix just about any problem, or since I'm backed up I'll just suck it up and reformat clean and re-install Windows.
 
Imid posted GREAT advice and I pretty much do the same things he mentions in his post above.
 
One thing I do to really keep your web-browser performing well is to have it set to "delete all temp files/cookies/history on exit" this really helps to keep the "junk" files down your PC.
 
Here are a few of my favorite programs to help keep your PC clean.:
 
AVG Free anti-virus (Driver mentioned Avast, great program too)
Spy-Bot search and destoy
Malwarebytes
CCleaner (formerly Crap Cleaner)
Secunia PSI to help keep your drivers, etc up to date.
Diskeeper to keep your hard drive defragmented.

#86182 of 91749 Re: FINALLY, I GOT MY CAR BACK [explorerx4] by tjc78

Dec 06, 2012 (6:20 am)

Replying to: explorerx4 (Dec 05, 2012 8:00 pm)
Explorer,
How has your truck been to you? My buddy has a similar vintage to yours and his has about 170K on the clock. It puked up its transmission at 130K, and he has had a lot of little issues (alternator, suspension, paint peeled on the hood). Has yours been about the same?
 
He is running it until it blows up, but I was just curious. I know he maintains it by the book.

#86183 of 91749 Re: Computer is finally fixed! [imidazol97] by imidazol97

Dec 06, 2012 (7:01 am)

Replying to: imidazol97 (Dec 05, 2012 7:32 pm)
>I'd get a backup system in place. Myself, I use DriveImageXML and make a backup to an external hard drive.
 
No one commented but on the suggestions I need to make clear something I said. The term backup is used for a system that makes copies of files that have been changed during a time period or of just a group of files regularly. That is available as part of Win7.
 
I used the word backup, but what I prefer working with what should be called drive images, which also is available in Win7. With a drive image, the external drive is not connected to the PC in event of an attack or major problem. But the drive image can be overlaid on a new installed hard drive or over a problematic old one that has been reformatted.
 
Avira has not let me down and it's free. But I check to be sure it's updating and gets run every 3 days. I had XP system failures with AVG when I was using it (free). One virus or malware turned off the antivirus. Another time ADobe Reader had virus weaknesses that got past AVG. A third was caused by diskperfect or diskeeper, two defragmention programs.
 
I have 4 external hard drives, 1 Terrabytes, 1.5 Terrabytes, 1.5 Terrabytes, and 2 Terrabytes. I have each drive image on more than one external. I never unplug and external drive until the system has shut down. Many users report failures on externals in the reviews on hardware sites, but I believe it's related to the handling more than endemic failures in the externals.
 
Had a call a couple weeks back from a longtime acquaintance who knows little about computers but had a no boot on their old PC. They had no usable method for recovering photos and all else. From what she said her now ill husband may have used a backup style program sometime. But I couldn't take on trying to help because I was tied up here. And I've been burned trying to help folks at little or no charge in past.
 
I've probably bored everyone now, but folks need a nap as we get older.

#86184 of 91749 Re: computers [tjc78] by verdugo

Dec 06, 2012 (11:36 am)

Replying to: tjc78 (Dec 06, 2012 6:16 am)
I backup both my home and work computers all the time. If they died I wouldn't lose a thing.
 
Amen!!! I'm paranoid myself. This is my setup:
 
* Home PC has a RAID 0 disk array, so I always have an exact copy
 
* Home PC that does incremental back ups daily to an internal drive and does full back up once a week. Photos and videos get backed up in real time. I use SyncBack.
 
* External hard drive that i back up once a week and that I keep in a fire-proof safe at home
 
* I back up things as well to a cloud service (MS Sky drive)

#86185 of 91749 Re: FINALLY, I GOT MY CAR BACK [tjc78] by explorerx4

Dec 06, 2012 (4:32 pm)

Replying to: tjc78 (Dec 06, 2012 6:20 am)
He got 40k more out of his trans than I did!
I used drive it hard and overload it by a lot.
Like I told my wife, We bought an Explorer to do an Expedition's job.
I'm glad I bought an extended warranty for it and kind of feel like I got my money's worth out of it.
I would never recommend it as a vehicle for someone else, but I will hate to give it up some day.
Our family has had so many good experiences with it over the 10+ years we have had it.
I think one of my favorite memories when my oldest daughter, maybe 17 at the time, came home from practice, walked in the house and said 'Hey Dad, that 4x4 low is really great for getting out of the mud'.
When I went out to look at it, there was mud everywhere, especially underneath.
When she said 'do you want me to clean it up?', very sternly I said Don't you have some homework to do?.
Then i pulled it into the road and spent about an hour hosing the mud off it, but I was laughing to myself the whole time.

#86186 of 91749 HAVE YOU EVER LOST YOUR CAR? by abacomike

Dec 06, 2012 (5:23 pm)

I finally "took" some "me time" this afternoon and left Dad at home and went Christmas shopping for my grandchildren as well as shopping for gifts for my kids and my father. My first stop was at Sawgrass Mills in Sunrise, FL. The place was jammed, but I got some great gifts at more than reasonable prices. I got my Dad a 42" HD TV and will finally be able to get rid of his 15 year old tube TV in his bedroom. He doesn't see very well so this will definitely light up his life. Bought lots of clothing for the grandchildren as well as tons of Wii cartridge games my DIL said they wanted. I'll ship them out to California tomorrow.
 
I then went to Boca Town Center. The place was so crowded, I was lucky to get a parking spot. Bought Sees Candy for the neighbors and slippers for Dad and shorts and shirts for him. After about another hour of shopping, I came out of Bloomindales and started walking toward where I parked my car - or should I say where I thought I parked it. I searched for 20 minutes but could not find the car. I started to worry that maybe someone had stolen it, but felt that would be difficult without a key and in broad daylight. I stopped a police car and asked him for some help. He asked me if what kind of car it was and he asked if the Mbrace was active on the car. I said it was, so he asked me to get into the patrol car and asked if I had the App on my phone. I said I did and then it occurred to me - there is a function on the App that will show me on "MAPS" where it is parked if within 1 mile of my phone .
 
So I clicked on "locate" and about 60 seconds later, it chimed and showed where the car is parked in the sopping mall. It was on the other side of the mall next to Macy's. The officer drove me right to the car. He told me event if I didn't have the App, all I would have to do is call Mbrace and they would have directed me to the car as it is always on telemetry via satellite. I thanked him for his help - he said this wasn't the first time a Mercedes owner had forgotten where they parked their car and since most Mercedes cars and SUV's have Mbrace, it works out great since they can assist the lost drivers in finding their cars.
 
I usually park at Bloomingdales, but the lots were so crowded, I had to park near Macy's.
 
I guess I'm getting old!

#86187 of 91749 Re: FINALLY, I GOT MY CAR BACK [explorerx4] by tjc78

Dec 06, 2012 (6:38 pm)

Replying to: explorerx4 (Dec 06, 2012 4:32 pm)
I would never recommend it as a vehicle for someone else
 
That is too funny, as my buddy says the exact same thing. His had a very rough first two years in and out of new (unpaved) housing developments but now is just a 70 mile a day commuter. He loves the truck.
 
He is gonna retire it to 3rd car duty and grab a small car for back and forth to work soon.

Messages Page 8619 of 9176

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