A friend of mine recently went into a Verizon Wireless store with some questions.? I tagged along for moral support.? My friend has more than six months left on his family cell phone contract with another provider and is shopping for his next plan.
Our experience demonstrates a lot of the problems with sales today.
Immediately on entering the store we were funneled to a sales person.? We were told her name was Justine. But the woman who met us was wearing a name tag that read, Stephanie.
When we asked what we should call her she said, ?Justine.? I have to wear a name tag but I?m new so I don?t have one of my own.?
Maybe it?s better to have a blank name tag than one with the wrong name on it.? Or perhaps a national company need to speed up the name tag production process for new hires.
My friend outlined his needs for a cell phone plan, which requires four phones.? Two of the users are very fond of sending emails and texts so this is an attractive customer.
Justine/Stephanie took us over to a row of phones but before she could show us any she asked, ?Why don?t you switch to Verizon today??
My friend replied that if he did, he would pay more than $400 to cancel his current plan.
Justine/Stephanie then said, ?Why not just pay it and switch??
That was it?? That was the big sales pitch designed to make Verizon the obvious choice?? The special deal that is the irresistible offer?? No discussion of better coverage, high tech phones that would improve your life, or reasons why sticking with a current provider would cause you pain.
My friend replied that $400 is a lot of money and that he?ll wait.? I tried to be helpful to everyone and said that since cell phones are constantly getting better, perhaps she could give my friend an idea of what might be new when his current contract expires.
?I don?t know,? Justine/Stephanie replied.? ?But if I did, I wouldn?t be allowed to tell you.?
As potential customers we were frustrated that we couldn?t even get a vague answer like, ?They?re going to keep getting smaller, more powerful, and you?ll continue to wonder how you ever lived without them.
We left the store a few minutes later.? We do have Justine/Stephanie?s card.? Well, not exactly.? Justine/Stephanie doesn?t have a card yet either.? So she had to take another person?s card, cross out some of the information and write in her own.
I?m sure my friend will hold onto this card because if he decides to come back, he?ll want to call ahead of time, check on Justine/Stephanie?s schedule, and make sure he visits with the sales associate who offered him no reason to buy.
It may seem that I?m being unfair to a new employee like Justine/Stephanie.? But I assume that a new employee would be just coming off company training and should be well versed in the sales process, which in this case appeared to have been delivered during a coffee break.
Sales are about taking a customer?s pain away, not adding to it.
