Why are ethical sales so important in water treatment?

The unfortunate truth

Unfortunately, a lot of companies in this industry have created the perception that ethical sales is an oxymoron. Everyone has heard of or been part of a demonstration where a salesperson has entered someone’s home and refused to leave until they signed on the dotted line.

In fact, this is a tale all too familiar – we faced a similar scenario about 15 years ago. And we’re not the only ones – many of our customers have come to us after being pushed into a rash decision by a salesperson, some of them having paid over three to four times the market value of their system, just because the salesperson was that good (and by good we mean pushy).

Our experience buying a water softener

When it happened to us, we decided to do some more research. We went into our local shops to see what was available, and the first question we were asked (repeatedly) was “What’s your budget?’

We knew that felt uncomfortable, but we couldn’t quite put our finger on it. Luckily, the more we learnt (via the internet and calling a few of the softener companies themselves), we figured out that it wasn’t just about the budget. In fact, the most important thing was knowing what our water problem was before even thinking about purchasing a water treatment system.

The companies asking us ‘What’s your budget?’ would simply estimate our water hardness or our water needs and find something within the requested price range, regardless of whether that product was right for us or not.

We also realized that our technical questions were either brushed off, or answered with little real information. It became easy to assess their level of real knowledge about the process and the industry.

Happily ever after

Eventually, we ended up going with a NorthStar water softener (Fun fact: they're made by EcoWater!). But that wasn’t all we got out of the experience – we felt like we had found an industry where we could make a difference simply by being honest, ethical, and knowledgeable.

We opened Waterelated (now EcoWater Markham) 20 years ago in 2001, and we became determined to learn as much as we could, helping us help our customers make the best possible decision for themselves – one they would be happy with for years to come. It’s a strategy that has (fortunately) worked well for us, and we’re glad to be able to say that our customers really value it. It’s all about the win-win!