I think he felt he was convincing us to go with him - but it was the opposite affect.
Nothing they did was right - everything he did was right.
In the end we politely just went our own way.
We met him after making the decision - and, as is our way - letting the others know. And he started up again Literally telling us we'd be sorry and how we'd wish we'd gone with him. Then began to bag the opposition again.
We've never been so glad we didn't go with him. We've since seen a few of his places - and they are not as good as we got.
He made us a bet we'd be sorry - real dollars !!! I asked for the money (half in jest) and he made some excuse and left ...
But - I hate people who just criticise the others. Praise your own - say why its best - but ignore the others.
There are ways to bring down a competitor without nasty comments. One of the things I do with my clients is show them a tracking report, which details how fast clients administration is progressing. That way they can see for certain that we are getting people from sign up to site in 4-5 months. I then suggest that they should ask to see the tracking report of every rep they're dealing with to make sure their admin is as fast, because every extra week that goes by costs the client money. There is a certain builder who has taken as long as 5 months just to get contracts and working drawings out to clients. I know this because one of their reps is now working with us and he couldn't get paid because the builders admin was terrible.
I also insist that they see a home under construction and should ask the competition to do the same. Basically, I'm asking the client to find the proof themselves as to why they shouldn't build with the competition. I'm showing them the corners where the dirty secrets are hiding and how to get the process swinging in their favour. It's still technically bagging, but it's a more professional approach to it. I highlight how well we're doing, and ask them to go see how bad the other guys are doing. Works every time.
I had a rep in a display village I used to work in tell people that I was a liar who would keep all the hidden costs tucked away which is how I kept the prices so low. He was telling people he knew me for years, yet he'd never met me. On my day off I went into his display dressed as a potential buyer and said I had been dealing with, well, me. I had my phone on record and stood there for five minutes while he went into excruciating detail as to how I'm personally a bad guy and how the company I worked for was the dodgiest builder in Perth. I then told him who I was and that I'd recorded the whole thing. Told him it would be sent to his manager and he'd likely get fired. Sure enough, he begged me not to. I told him he'd probably cost me at least $20k in lost sales, so no, his begging wasn't going to save him. I sent the recording to his boss and he was fired the following day. I was also offered a sum of money to ensure I didn't tell my higher ups (who would have used the building company) which I refused. Instead I asked them to ensure he couldn't get a job as a building rep at any company ever again. 2 years on, he's nowhere to be found. Bagging doesn't pay.
This sound really good.
I don't think most people realise the delay between talking to a rep and the build start date. Not really delay - just time it takes.
But - seeing actual work examples is a gr8 way to understand - ie see a house(s) - the workers, how they behave, their style.
Its not everything but it does help in the decision making process.