Recently in class, Professor Sweet spoke about the digital age and how it has leveled the playing field between salespeople and customers. Now, more so than ever before, customers have access to information and data that in the past, only salespeople had access to. The customer now knows as much as the salesperson which may or may not make the job more difficult for the salesperson. This in turn means that the modern salesperson must be thoroughly educated on the products they sell because, customers have the resources to fact-check what the salesperson says. This reminds me of a story a certain Professor once told our Principles of Marketing class about him and a very unlucky salesperson.
From what I remember, the Professor and his wife were out shopping one day when they came across the refrigerator section of the store. The Professor was very educated on fridges and was familiar with the core parts of the fridges that were on display that day. The regular refrigerator salesperson wasn’t there that day so a different salesman, one who was unfamiliar with fridges, took their place. Unfortunately for the unknowledgeable salesman, he was dealing with a very informed customer (the Professor). The Professor told us that the salesman failed to answer any questions, and that he (the Professor) could’ve been a better refrigerator salesperson than the salesman was! According to the Professor’s recollections, the salesman was a little red with embarrassment by the end of the discussion, but at least he knew it was time to learn more about fridges so something like that wouldn’t happen again.
Although this was a story from a marketing class, it is still a great example of why we need to be educated on whatever we are selling. As salespeople, we should know the ins and outs of whatever we are selling so that we hopefully never have to be like that poor backup refrigerator salesman!
BoweryJE22
I agree that being knowledgeable is very important as a salesperson. Knowing every single detail about your product can help, but only with certain customers. It is important to not tell too much. Some people may want to come in for the fridge and be like “What colors does it come in and will it keep my food cold,” and others will want to know the power consumption and details like that. It never hurts to know the answers to all the questions a customer may have.
This story about the backup refrigerator salesman made me laugh. That had to be such an awkward situation for that guy but he definitely learned his lesson on knowing the product. It does show an important point though that with this being the digital age, the buyers know just as much about the product as the salesperson does. It can be a blessing and a curse.