Re: Portland Conservatories

[Tony Bryer]

Portland Conservatories (based in Manchester)looks good, if a

> little pricey, does anyone have any comments (either good or bad) > about this company?

Go to

and click on the Conservatories link under Highlights of the Week (bottom of right hand column - don't know how long it will stay there). Nothing specific IIRC about any particular company but some good background on the marketing.

[Tony Bryer]

No, *three*. SOP is that you do not even think about going out to the house unless both members of the couple (unless it's a single person household) will be there. If they're not one will say "I can't sign anything until I've discussed it with my husband/wife" and you're lost. According to the Y&Y clip a good technique is to get yourself seated between husband and wife so they can't make eye contact.

I drew plans for a conservatory company for a while - the salesman got 10%, I got about 1%. One of their techniques was to write an oversized 'cheque' to the customer 'valid today only' for £500 or £1000 and put it on their coffee table as a way of inducing them to make their minds up. I used the same trick to reverse effect when buying my latest car: when I got my cheque book out on the desk in front of the salesman suddenly a much better offer was forthcoming