I have a printer that’s flirting with a sledgehammer so I’m starting to think about buying a replacement. The other day, I was in a Best Buy store, picking up a flash drive when I realized that this was an opportunity to check out the printers.
I’ve heard some good things about Canon models as well as a few others so I went over to the display area. Next thing I know, I’m approached by two guys wearing white shirts and ties.
At first, I think they’re some kind of missionaries. But then one of them says, “Hey, let’s talk about these printers?”
I then realize that these are not missionaries or even people who work for Best Buy. From their name tags, I can see that they are are sales associates who work for Canon.
Their “office” is the narrow printer aisle in a busy store. I’ve seen representatives from companies set up booths in stores before but never just “hang out” in an aisle.
So the fellow tells me all about the printers, has me try to pick one up (he believes that heavy is good), and tells me that I’ll miss out on a smoking deal if I don’t buy one today. It’s a zero to 60 mph hard sell in a matter of seconds.
Little does he know that one of my superpowers is the ability to resist high pressure sales tactics. I’m strictly there to browse and not buy. I rarely buy electronics before doing some online research on a product. Why wouldn’t I survey other people’s experiences with the product before I pull out a credit card?
The Canon representative is disappointed and I was glad to part company as I found the whole encounter a bit weird and creepy.
Later, I wonder what would have happened if I had migrated to the Epson printers. Would he have followed me those two feet over? It’s not like he has anywhere to go. Would he and his colleague have started to snap their fingers like members of the Jets or the Sharks, of West Side Story, had I picked another brand.
Often when you need some extra help in a department store, you can’t find anyone. In this case I had two well educated sales people within touching distance but something wasn’t right.
Here’s some ways that Canon can Clear the Path of the some of the challenges I saw in this unusual sales process:
- Don’t just talk about the features of the printers. I can get that info off the printed card in front of the machine. Instead ask me questions about what I’d like to use the printer for and what I’ve liked or disliked about printers in the past.
- I’m sure I’m not the only person who craves outside reviews of products. ?Have an iPad handy where we can quickly pull up product reviews. ?That shows a lot of confidence in what your selling.
- I’m sure the training manual says to push hard for an instant sale but that ignores a lot of potential business from people who just didn’t want to buy that instant. ?Maybe there’s some sort of card people could be given that summarizes the discussion of the models as well as supplies the model numbers so you can easily look them up later In this scenario, you’re serving as resource or company ambassador and not just a salesman.
Unfortunately, unless they have Harry Potter’s cloak of invisibility, I’m not sure if there’s much that can be done to get around some of the awkwardness of having two guys holding court in a small aisle. Camoflauge perhaps?
