Turn Ons & Turn Offs

[salesdvl]

Term, I've been thinking about this and I think you should:    walk up the customer, say "Can I help you"  when they say "No, just looking", hand them a brochure, and tell them to let you know if they have any questions, then go back and sit down and finish your cigarette.      

[HotTubMan]

1.  Don't knock the competition.  I may like the tub you're knocking just as much, if not more than your tub, so essentially you're telling me "My baby is ugly".

2.  To go with point #1, just talk about the benefits of your tub as they compare with other tubs.  Also, please don't tell me your tub is the best.  There are a lot of good tubs out there.

This is usually pretty easy, but my boss came across a tough one the other day.

We sell Hydropool. The store used to sell BRAND X.

A shopper came in and was criticising our warranty stating that BRAND X's warranty was "no fault" and that "no matter how bad your water chemistry is, its covered"

My boss and I know this not to be the case. We have seen BRAND X reject many claims for water chemistry and all sorts of excuses.

My boss told them this. They didn't like it and refused to believe it. I showed them a copy of the BRAND X's warranty, pointing out the very vague exclusion clause in their warranty.

The shopper became infuriated and walked.

I guess we crossed the line? Its tough when your product is being put down by a shopper that has been fed misinformation.

Professionals:What would/could you have done differently?

[marks]

I agree with the earlier post on price.  Why not have a price on the spa that represents the real price.  All of the dealers I went to except the one I bought from gave me vague ball park figures on price.  This really turned me off.  I did not expect buying a spa to be similar to buying a used car.  I expected it to be like buying a luxury item.

[Bill_Stevenson]

HotTubMan,

One of the first principles of sales is that you can't win them all.  Sales is a matter of percentages.  You did nothing wrong.
I was not there so to help you to have a better hit rate in the future let me ask you a couple of questions:
1. Did the prospect provide the competitor's warranty or did you have it on file?
2. Did the prospect display any signs of resistance during the discussion of the competitor's warranty?
3. Was any attempt made to discuss the warranty policy of your new line?
4. Besides warranty, what else did he like about the competitor's line?  How does your line compare in these areas?

Regards,

Bill

[obi wan]

i don't think you did anything wrong. there are some people whom you will never sell, and they will never be happy, no matter what they buy or from whom. if a person comes into your store, is argumentative, and adamantly criticizes your product based on incorrect info from a competitor, sometimes you have to set them straight.

I am not in the tub biz, I am in the home electronic automation biz (alarms, lighting, home theater, intercoms, cameras, etc...) we get that kind of situation on a semi-regular basis. i have found that a comparison to cars often helps put things in pespective for some customer issues.
good example: we install high end home theater. real question from last week-" i saw a best buy add that has a surround sound system in a box for $399, why does yours cost so much more?" my answer, "audio/video equip is a lot like the car market, a ford taurus, and a mercedes 500sec both are cars that run on gasoline and get you to where you want to go, would you say they are equall? should they cost the same?"

in your situation of the water chemistry vs. the warranty, you might try something like," if you bought a new car, and never changed the oil, and the engine blew at 45k miles, do you think the manufacturer will unconditionally give you a relacement engine?
for some odd reason people seem more able to relate to cars and tvs and semi understand that all of them are not equall and costs do vary.

term, on the actual topic, my BIG pet peeve is: know your own product. you may not know every single detail on every tub, ever made, and I dont expect you to. BUT, if you dont, DONT LIE OR BLUFF YOUR WAY THROUGH. just be polite, and say something like, I'm pretty sure but let me double check on the answer to your question.

[HotTubMan]

HotTubMan,

One of the first principles of sales is that you can't win them all.  Sales is a matter of percentages.  You did nothing wrong.
I was not there so to help you to have a better hit rate in the future let me ask you a couple of questions:
1. Did the prospect provide the competitor's warranty or did you have it on file?

We had it on file. We have 300+ customers with BRAND X tubs that we sold & serviced until BRAND X opened a new store in town.

2. Did the prospect display any signs of resistance during the discussion of the competitor's warranty?

These folks displayed signs of resistance with everything. They resisted Hello. They resisted telling me that they had been in before. They resisted telling me that they had spoken with my boss before.

3. Was any attempt made to discuss the warranty policy of your new line?

They simply wanted to know if our warranty was no fault like the other guy. We could not in good faith tell them that the warranty is no fault. Poor water chemistry can and will erode hot tub components, seals etc.

4. Besides warranty, what else did he like about the competitor's line?  How does your line compare in these areas?

Not quite sure what they liked. I wasn't listening in on the whole conversation. Our product and theirs both present their own unique attributes and are both quality products. Our store did not stop selling BRAND X because it was garbage. It was more about how the company stood behind their product, how they dealt with their customers (dealers).

[HotTubMan]

term, on the actual topic,  

Apologies if I hijacked the thread..

[tootsie]

They simply wanted to know if our warranty was no fault like the other guy. We could not in good faith tell them that the warranty is no fault. Poor water chemistry can and will erode hot tub components, seals etc.

Clearifying something they heard or thought they heard  from salesperson of brand X with black and white proof, is not putting down the competition, It's informing the consumer and sometimes you salespeople are  consumers only information on hot tubs.

[windsurfdog]

Limit yourself to one follow-up phone call per customer...

I have to disagree with this comment.  There was only one dealer that bothered to follow-up with me via phone.  Each time he called, his price dropped until he quoted me an acceptable price.  The last phone call happened just after I had been told by another dealer, "What makes you think you have the right to come into my store and offer me a price for my product?"  Leave it to say, I was anxious to buy from anyone but that jerk.  I told the other dealer of this confrontation and also told him I still needed to check out at least 3 other dealers before making my decision.  He said, "How about if I can save you a lot of time and effort and get you into the spa of your choice right now?"  He then quoted my target price for the LSX and we made a deal over the phone.  After being "slapped in the face" by one dealer, I felt this dealer really wanted my business.  I certainly appreciated multiple follow-up calls.

[johnvb]

Sounds like you had a better experience than I.

My problem was we had already decided not to buy from our high-pressure phone guy, and I imagined how he was going to react when he got the bad news. And I was right, he got real nasty.

I liked the way my Caldera dealer followed up, with several emails.

[razoruk]

I'd recommend being honest and answering the customers questions. As someone that's recently ( a week ago I put down nearly $7k on a tub) been shopping.
The salesman that won my business was the one that knew his product, knew his competitors, was willing to talk about the faults of his own spa (that was refreshing and unique around here) rather than his competitors. He gave me time to look around, time to play with all the jets and all the other features. He made me feel like I was the sole reason he was there, his cell rang and rang and rang continuously and he just ignored it to answer my questions.

Bashing the competition was a major turn off for me, and was one of the reasons that the Hotsprings dealer didn't get my business in Boise.

[Kelly]

Don't ask your customer. "Well, hat do you want the spa for?" as your first question. I had a new, young, HS salesman ask me that first thing. I was really tempted to respond "WTF do you think I want it for?? Got anything with a slide or diving board??" His question just set the tone all wrong from the start.
I was in the store for only a couple of minutes and, after I left, almost wrote HS off w/out ever having even wet tested.
I did end up eventually buying from that dealer (limited choices in my area) but made it a point to buy from the other salesman.

[Kelly]

hat=what

:::sheesh:::

[Spatech_tuo]

hat=what

:::sheesh:::

just use the "Modify" option on the post and you can correct any errors.

[Bill_Stevenson]

HotTubMan,

From your answers it is obvious that you did nothing wrong and there is nothing to be learned from your encounter with an obviously irrational person or persons.  Reading your posting, I just shake my head.  I am sure that you have already put it behind you.  

Years ago I was taught that statistically the average sales person talks with 15 people to get approximately 3 qualified potential buyers and this will result in 1 closed sale.  These numbers probably vary for different products and different industries, but the prinicple is sound.  If you look on the bright side, after that turkey walked out the door, you were down one and only had 14 more to go for the next sale!  Other useful tidbits are that 20% of the salespersons account for 80% of the sales.  The others can't stand the rejection rate to get the numbers.  

If sales were an easy profession anyone could do it.  I am sure you already know to just hang in there.  Your concern and eagerness to try to learn from this negative encounter, plus your active and positive participation in this forum demonstrate that you are one of the winners.  

Regards,

Bill