I got "sold" this weekend. It happened while I was furniture shopping with my wife - more accurately, furniture buying with my wife. We entered the store knowing the sofa, loveseat, and chair that we were going to buy. All that remained was coffee/end tables. Upon entering, we were immediately hooked up with a salesman - not a surprise as we'd been through this drill a few times before. We explained to him what we were doing, what we had already decided on, and what we were trying to decide on. We made it clear that our goal was to leave the store with furniture purchased and delivery arranged. Pretty easy, right? This is when the "selling" began in earnest (note the tongue firmly planted in cheek)...
Our salesman began to negotiate price with us. Why he did this, I'm not entirely sure. He disappeared for a few moments and came back with a price for our furniture. Bear in mind, we still hadn't picked out our tables yet. He had "helpfully" chosen some tables for us and added them into the price. "Why those tables?" we asked. No really good answer given. He then asked if he could go ahead and get the order going for us and schedule a delivery date. "We haven't picked out tables yet", we said. We assured him that once we picked out the tables we liked, we'd get the order going and schedule a delivery date.
He again disappeared for a few moments and came back with a new price for our furniture. The only trouble was, it was for a different sofa, loveseat, and chair. "Why?", we asked. We were told that they matched the tables (that he picked out) better plus they were cheaper. "But that's not what we want", we said. He thought that the price was too high, so that's why we were hesitant on the tables (that he picked out).
He then disappeared again for a few moments and came back and offered me a 2% discount on the price he quoted. At that point, we stopped shopping and fled the store. Later that evening, we made our purchases online with no "help" from a "salesman".
For all sales professionals out there: if we want to continue to have a livelihood, we'd better start asking the right questions, actively listening to the answers, and using that information to add a ton of value to the buying experience. A few well-placed questions along with a very small amount of value-add service would have netted a far different result for my furniture sales guy.
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