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In Reply to: Totally not. Ever studied sales techniques? posted by clarkjohnsen on February 16, 2007 at 07:54:29:
are useful for increasing individual sales; but are short-sighted and harmful to the business in the long run. The people writing those books, and trying to sell you expensive seminars on 'The power of saying no', are looking to profit on people with weak business models.
Follow Ups:
They're the useless ones. Also you must realize, there are some (many?) weirdos out there who just want to waste other peoples' time. You have to learn to blow them off! Unless, of course, you're just sitting on your hands most of the day, in which case you *already* have an unsuccessful business model.
Clark,The approach suggested by the sales manual will result in the salesperson generating a negative signal, and this will almost certainly be perceived as such by the potential customer. Most people are surprisingly sensitive to these signals. As a sales organization, if you approach people with anything less than a desire to be of service or even worse a frown and a negative attitude, the potential customer can only think that they are not welcome. If a sale professional were to follow that advice in the 'sales manual' you quoted, productivity would almost certainly suffer in the long run. One must accept that not every opportunity will result in a sale.
nt
what is your definition? I think that phrase has different meanings to different people. Do you consider reviewers tire kickers? Do you know why it can be a good thing for someone to have their tires kicked? Do you think that all tire kickers are bad? If you have so much business that you feel that you must cherry pick your customers, maybe you should consider expanding. If 90% of your traffic is tire kicking and not buying, don't blame the tire kickers.
Tire kickers are customers who have little idea how to shop or how to ask intelligent questions.Qualifying is not "cherry picking", the references make that quite clear.
"Tire kickers are customers who have little idea how to shop or how to ask intelligent questions".The average consumer is typically not well educated when it comes to sorting through a wide variety of electronics, nor are they well versed in the proper lingo or terminology. This means that they are less than "good shoppers" and not very likely to ask the most pertinent questions. In effect, everyone BUT dedicated electronics enthusiasts could be called "tire kickers" by your own definition. Even then, many dedicated electronics enthusiasts can be difficult to deal with, as many of them simply like to browse and "talk shop" with other enthusiasts, professional or not.
With that in mind, it is the dealer's job to help the "tire kicker" find the product(s) that are best suited for them, educate them about their options and help them obtain the best performance from them. If a dealer can do this, and offer any needed support AFTER the sale, they are more than likely to establish a great reputation and repeat customer base. If they can't do ALL of this relatively consistently ( we all have bad days ), they are more than likely going to have problems supporting their business in the long term.
As a side note, the more advertising that one does, the more "tire kickers" they are likely to encounter. That's because the uninitiated don't know who to turn to with their multitude of questions, so they turn to those with a higher visibility factor. As such, if you don't want to deal with those that are less than educated about the products they seek out, stop advertising.
When one takes this approach, the majority of customers that they'll end up dealing with will either be repeat customers / referals or those that are already familiar with the basics and have sought out what they consider to be a worthy dealer. While this approach narrows down the prospective list of clientele, it also allows the salespeople to spend more quality time with those that took the time to seek them out and / or were previous customers / referals. It is a win / win situation for all involved, so long as the dealer maintains that high level of customer service and their customers spread the word. Sean
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..."Tire kickers are customers who have little idea how to shop or how to ask intelligent questions" I should have added, "yet they come with attitude -- the attitude that they know everything.Sean, you (of all people!) seem unable to grasp the fact that some folks (like a dozen or so here on AA) are simply not worth dealing with, you'll never get through to them.
That doesn't mean that i can't try. An education, even if it is very slow, time consuming and clumsy, can be a powerful thing. It is rare for anyone to have a change of heart at the drop of a hat. As such, incessant tire kickers get the benefit of learning the how's & why's through extended conversations.In this respect, many "tire kickers" become the best, most loyal clients. You've not only show them the ropes, but that you truly believe in what you do and are willing to take the time to help others understand too. After all, customer service is what breeds customer loyalty. Even if they aren't customers yet.
I'm very much the optimist in real life, even though i may do a lot of bitching about "incompetence". I have faith that with enough education and coaxing, people will do the right thing. While it is true that many won't come around, i'm still too young to want to believe that. Bitterness is for the old and disgruntled, who have pretty much given up on mankind. I'm still trying to change the world.
Oh good. For a minute there, I thought I was a tire kicker.
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