Good Sales Skills
Marks out of 10 for Rob Trainee at PC World: 11
Went shopping at the weekend, in preparation for a holiday I have just booked. Suncream? Shades? Sandals? No, what I wanted was ….a netbook.
It could be argued that I don’t need any more computers in my life but my iMac won’t fit in my suitcase (I’ve tried) and a girl needs to know what’s going on back home when she is away. Even if it is only for a week. Besides…they’re really dinky, they do them in all sorts of lovely colours these days and you can get cute little bags to put them in. I know. I am such a techie! Despite my enthusiasm for my prospective purchase, I wasn’t looking forward to actually having to buy it. Whenever I try to buy something with a plug, I always seem to attract the salesman most likely to win Mastermind with his specialist subject of…’the inner workings of 21st century electrical goods’. And with the fewest influencing skills or sales skills.
When I bought my beloved Mac for example…I was in the first shop for well over an hour and left without one. I still can’t believe I stayed there that long, but here’s how it went:
• Ten minutes trying to find a salesman
• Sales pitch about things I do not care about or understand
• Smelling salts to revive me from resulting coma
• Lengthy wait while salesman discovered that my address does not come up on Royal Mail address look-up facility (which I told him before we started)
• Further sales pitch on merits of insurance which I’d already said (twice) I didn’t want
• Left alone every few minutes while salesman answered phone
• Ran for it when he wasn’t looking….
You’ll understand, then, why I braced myself as I stepped into PC World in Bournemouth. But, what a difference in sales skills!
• Immediately approached by Rob Trainee (I think that was his job title, not his surname) who…
• Asked questions about what I wanted to use netbook for (and what colour I wanted!)
• Recommended a product, explaining in simple terms how it would meet my needs i.e. it was red and would match my swimsuit (I think he guessed that I am no Bill Gates)
• Found me a fabulous ‘sleeping bag’ to keep my new netbook safe
• Whisked me to the business area, when I said I was short on time, to take my payment
• Listened when I told him about my address and immediately input this manually
• Gave me a leaflet to think about insurance
• Escorted me to the door with a smile – less than 10 minutes after I came in!
He should be Rob Store Manager, not Rob Trainee. Outstanding service!
Selling is about listening to what the customer wants and then delivering it. It’s not hard but it’s amazing how many sales people do not do this. If you want to improve your sales team’s performance, take a look at our sales skills training courses. If you’re not sure what you need, email us (and I’ll reply to you using my shiny new netbook).
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