In the last month, I made a purchase that was almost difficult to make. I went to the store with the full intentions of buying the item. I had the money, I had done all the research, and I had already sold myself on the item. When I asked the salesman to see the item, he very lethargically went over and got it out for me. When I asked him questions (which I already knew the answers to) he gave me very uninformed responses. When I showed interest in the item, he tried to talk me into a lesser model because that was his preference. While I was looking at the item, he seemed to show very little interest in making the sale. After a while of looking at the item, I told him I would take it; and he simply said OK and slowly began to walk back to the counter.
Throughout this experience I found myself asking if I really wanted the item. I was completely convinced before entering the store, but after the lousy sales experience I wanted to walk out. The unexpected salesman had an easy sale and made the experience awful. This just goes to show how a poor sales experience can ruin the customers perspective.
BoweryJE22
This always happens to me at Verizon by my house. The sales people there are not helpful and never encourage me to make the purchase I came in hoping to make. It’s discouraging because I am willing put up the money and make the purchase, but when the sales people are inadequate it makes me think twice about it.
This is a really interesting perspective–we’ve been learning about how to be good at sales, but it is just as valuable to discover what behaviors should be avoided at all costs. I hope that most people simply need to hone their selling skills, yet it is worth asking yourself the hard question: are there behaviors that are driving people away from me/my product?
This is so true. I always end up second guessing myself when the salesperson didn’t seem confident in my purchase. It does always help when the salesperson says something like “I just bought this a couple weeks ago and I love it”. That makes me feel like I made a really smart purchase, but if they act like they could care less I’d definitely second guess myself.
We may not realize it, but a great deal of our excitement in making any purchase come from the excitement of those around us. Is the salesman excited to sell it, will my family and friends be excited to use it, will people around me be excited to see it, etc. When a salesman robs you of that initial excitement by giving you a lackluster sales experience, it takes some of the charm our of the item itself. Likewise, an excited, fun salesman has the same ability to add charm to an otherwise dull purchase, such as insurance.