Lessons from Washing Machines
I'm currently looking for a new washing machine. I'm getting some great reminders about sales as I go looking.
I subscribe to a consumers' advice magazine called 'Choice.' I got their recent washing machine report and rankings to read before my purchase. From this report, I identified 3 models I was interested in and I 'phoned a local retailer of electrical appliances. I explained to the salesperson that I had three models I was interested in and that I wanted to check availability and pricing before I visited the store. He asked me what was the first model on my list. I told him and he replied "No. You don't want one of those, you want a _____."
He then proceeded to give me a torrent of irrelevant information about another model. He described its features, most of which were of no interest to me. While he was talking, I checked the Choice comparison and found the model he was promoting ranking more than halfway down the list and that it had a greater capacity than I needed. When I told him that it was a larger capacity than I needed, without asking any questions, he switched his product dump to another model which didn't rank well and didn't meet my needs. I ended the call.
What could the salesperson have been done better? Firstly, he could have asked a few questions about what I already knew and what I wanted. I would have answered with information to help him help me. He could have asked me all 3 models I was interested in before he started telling me ( telling isn't selling ), and he could have asked me why I was interested in those three models. I would have told him that I had the Choice comparisons and he could have been careful not to contradict an independent source with more perceived credibility than him at this stage, especially without him yet knowing its contents. By making some sweeping statements about other products that were directly contradicted by the independent information that I had in writing, he lost credibility very quickly.
I subscribe to a consumers' advice magazine called 'Choice.' I got their recent washing machine report and rankings to read before my purchase. From this report, I identified 3 models I was interested in and I 'phoned a local retailer of electrical appliances. I explained to the salesperson that I had three models I was interested in and that I wanted to check availability and pricing before I visited the store. He asked me what was the first model on my list. I told him and he replied "No. You don't want one of those, you want a _____."
He then proceeded to give me a torrent of irrelevant information about another model. He described its features, most of which were of no interest to me. While he was talking, I checked the Choice comparison and found the model he was promoting ranking more than halfway down the list and that it had a greater capacity than I needed. When I told him that it was a larger capacity than I needed, without asking any questions, he switched his product dump to another model which didn't rank well and didn't meet my needs. I ended the call.
What could the salesperson have been done better? Firstly, he could have asked a few questions about what I already knew and what I wanted. I would have answered with information to help him help me. He could have asked me all 3 models I was interested in before he started telling me ( telling isn't selling ), and he could have asked me why I was interested in those three models. I would have told him that I had the Choice comparisons and he could have been careful not to contradict an independent source with more perceived credibility than him at this stage, especially without him yet knowing its contents. By making some sweeping statements about other products that were directly contradicted by the independent information that I had in writing, he lost credibility very quickly.
posted by Sean at 6:53 pm
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