My Best and Worst Sales Experiences

When you think of the word "sales," I’m guessing it’s not the most exciting thought that comes to mind. Sales on paper are rather bland and simple; you have a product and a person that needs said product. An exchange goes down, the product is moved, and a sale is made. Some go well, but some not so much. I’ve been sold many things in my life, but two instances stand out more than the rest. One was very good, one was very poor; here’s what they were.

Fast food needs no introduction. Rather unhealthy, but typically more convenient than preparing healthy food at home. Taco Bell is a standout chain in the USA that provides Mexican-based fast food options, even though their best item is fries. It just so happens that my worst sales experience happened at Taco Bell.

My father and I went to Taco Bell one evening to get dinner for everyone. At this point in the evening, everyone was pretty hungry. We rolled up to the drive-through and eventually got up to the order station. We ordered and then waited in line for our food to be ready. After a few minutes, we got our food, did a quick bag check to make sure everything was there, and then drove home.

However, upon arriving at home, we discovered that we had nearly nothing that we had ordered. Everything was wrong, except for one item. Everyone was rather furious with this ordeal. My dad and I quite angrily got back in our car and drove back to Taco Bell. Once there, we showed them our receipt and all of the incorrect food they had provided. They told us to park and come inside while they remade the order. So we did, our order was made, and we went back home with the correct food.

What really bugged me about this sale was the clear incompetence displayed by the employee(s) working there at that time. It wasn’t like my dad mumbled the order; he spoke very clearly. The drive-through line wasn’t backed up either; there were only a couple cars in front of us, and they didn’t take long. While they weren’t argumentative about replacing our order with the correct items for no extra charge, this sort of mistake shouldn’t have happened to begin with. It’s one thing when a single item is slightly incorrect, for example, a beef burrito instead of a bean burrito. But when nearly the entire order is completely wrong, that says something. Needless to say, Taco Bell remains far down on my list of options when considering fast food for dinner.

My experience buying my second car was, fortunately, nothing like my poor experience at Taco Bell. In fact, it was quite the opposite. After having lost my first car a few months prior and subsequently saving up for a new one, I found a nice-looking car listed online from a dealership in early 2022. My dad and I went out to check out the car. It was pretty much flawless. It ran well, was very clean, had good gas mileage, and most importantly, was a stick shift. After a test drive, my dad and I went ahead with the purchase and drove it home later that day.

Almost two years later, the car is doing great. I’m able to get where I need to go without having to worry about borrowing one of my family’s other cars or asking someone else for a ride. Buying a stick shift was important because I wanted to learn. Now, I’d say I’m pretty good at driving manuals. I love shifting through gears and using a clutch pedal. The extra action is engaging and loads of fun. Not to mention, there’s plenty of room to haul passengers when I’m with friends. It was definitely my favorite purchase ever.

What made this sale so positive was undoubtedly the sentiment and excitement of buying a car. Having a vehicle of your own is like having a pet in some ways. You get to know your car, understand how it drives, and, depending on where you live and what you do day to day, you’ll spend a lot of time with it. Something else that was key to this positive sale were the people at the dealership. They were very kind, persuasive without being pushy, and knowledgeable about what they were selling. My dad and I had a good conversation with the lady who gave us the paperwork for the sale and the gentleman who showed us the car. It was presented neatly and cleanly, was topped off with gas, and had gone through an inspection the day prior or the day of as well.

It seems to me, at least from these two experiences, that a very important part of a sale is the integrity of the salesperson. In both of these instances, the key to what made the sale what it was came down to the people making the sale. For the car, I was shown kindness, honesty, and integrity, which resulted in a positive sale that I do not regret to this day. As for Taco Bell, I was shown ignorance and carelessness, leading to my view of Taco Bell tanking as well as writing them off in the face of other fast food chains. If you want to be a successful salesperson, the customer’s satisfaction is key to making the experience positive.