Is it possible to be honest and a successful Hi-Fi salesperson?

[Clmrt]

My mother is a wine specialist at a liquor store. She knows what wine people like and develops relationships over time, and will not push the perks or kickbacks on them. She'll talk about them, and give her honest opinion about them, as all "push" items are tasted by staff. Notes are kept.

Now there's also the crowd that needs no advice - easy. Just take the money.

Then there's the newbie. No idea. Lots of questions. They tend to get the push items - no harm there. Come back and tell me what you think. Now try this. Or maybe this. Whatever. She is always honest if asked, but her job is to make money. If she can educate consumers while doing so, and cultivate a relationship with a customer over time, all the better.

Be it a bottle of wine or a pair of speakers, the nuance is the same. If a bottle of house wine is worse than that bottle of low end French at the same cost, we learned something about tastes and quality.

In audio, if the customer later likes a different pair better than the pair I sold them, we have a better idea on taste in speakers. Do a trade. Whatever. I could sell audio gear all day long. My boss might want me to be more aggressive on the high margin stuff, sure, and I will, to the right people. "Here's a set of nickel plated bananas. Then there's these really nicely made Rhodium Plated jobs. Feel how heavy they are. Shiny, aren't they?"

KNOWING that cables are cables (if constructed properly) doesn't mean I'm dishonest when presenting (pushing) them to a customer. If they are moving from a $2k 10 year old 5.1 to a $15k component stereo rig, I'd suggest dressing it appropriately. If asked if it would sound better, I'd seriously take time to explain placebo theory. And hey - if you want to drop that kind money on a rig, you really should consider cables - I mean hey, man, nice shirts need cufflinks. They don't do shit any better than a button, but it makes the outfit.

And leave it up to them. Customers appreciate service and honesty.

Businesses have to make plans based on margins generated by items they can sell consistently. Everything else is gravy.

If the dealer agreements aren't carefully balanced against the local market potential, there will be stress...

Dealers have to diversify - take trades, have a pre-owned room, offer service drop-off for local techs, be approachable to all income levels.

 

[Palmer]

It has gotten tough to be in business, and be honest. I believe we are living in the Perception Age, now - two plus two is two, three, four, five - whatever someone feels like.
Or what day it is. People perceive, and people do make others perceive - whatever works. As a result it is hard to figure out intentions, and agenda(s) of clients, and exactly what their perception is of you. Hardly anybody now is actually honest, to be honest. One has to have a solid foundation to make an honest living, these days.

 

[pablolie]

It has gotten tough to be in business, and be honest. I believe we are living in the Perception Age, now - two plus two is two, three, four, five - whatever someone feels like.
Or what day it is. People perceive, and people do make others perceive - whatever works. As a result it is hard to figure out intentions, and agenda(s) of clients, and exactly what their perception is of you. Hardly anybody now is actually honest, to be honest. One has to have a solid foundation to make an honest living, these days.

I know many, many people who have never ever have had to cheat anyone else out of their money. Clearly selfishness these days is (tragically) often labelled "business savvy", but that's idiotic, in my opinion (just look at how often advocates of such business practices have filed for bankrupcy). Many businesses are fundamentally built on building a trust base with customers (or their financers). I never have and never will lie to a customer, exisiting or potential. It never ever pays off even short term - it's poison for both the business I work for, and for my personal professional reputation. In fact, we have bi-yearly "business conduct" mandatory training. I have spent many sleepless nights helping customers when they have problems, and it was and is expected of me - and doesn't make me an extra cent (but I have done OK).

Lying as a business practice is not and will never be a recipe for even short term success. Look at Ebay or Amazn sellers that get rated negatively - they are done, over, finito quite quickly. I once destroyed a seller on Audiogon, they lost all credibility after I exposed their lies with pictures and videos and the email exchange. They closed shop, and I am not the least sorry for them.

 

[antcollinet]

Yup that is now the norm, not just hi-fi, we had a fantastic shoe repair shop near us which had been on the same site 49 years but no longer.
The owner told me years ago how customers would try on a particular pair of shoes, scan the product code and then ,while they were still in the shop search for the best online price.
Personally I find that disgraceful.

Keith

I agree. Though I buy most stuff online anyway, part of my personal ethics is if I use a store to go and try a product, I will not then buy that item online.

However, mostly now I find that stores are not able to demo stuff anyway. So often I go to a store, get less information than I can get online - so buy online.

I've also gone into a big electrical shed (most recently to buy a TV). Spent 1/2 an hour with a sales guy - then try to place the order with him (assuming he is on commission) only to have him advise me to order it myself on their website.

 

[TTT15]

The fact that "audio" is not a huge priority in the USA is distorting the discussion some. If you open a "HiFi" shop in the USA, it'll have little foot traffic. When you walk(ed) into BestBuy+Magnolia, the TV showroom would be always packed, the "stereo" part of the business would have hardly anyone ever there.

In other countries the situation is very different. Every pedestrian zone in Germany has at least one HiFi shop, often far more in larger cities. And they are packed on weekends.

I am someone that tends to buy from shops I have made a good experience with. And I also could not care less if I save 5% by buying from some anonymous and potentially risky shop. Then again, I also don't stand in line at Costco to save 5c per gallon of gas or $10 per tire - my time is way more valuable than that.

Sorry Germany still seems to have plenty of HiFi specialist stores and not saying wrong but I’ve never seen a Hi-Fi Shop in the pedestrian zone in Germany and the stores I go in have never been packed whenever I go in at the weekend so I’m just a bit surprised.

 

[Snarfie]

I would really like to hear your experiences with buying Hi-Fi, probably best not to name names but just the overall experience.
I haven’t been into a Hi-Fi shop for thirty years, my dealer when I was a young man was Howard Popeck who sadly just recently passed away.
He was always I recollect pretty straight up with me but then I purchased an active Meridian system and really only sought his advice when I needed a new cartridge for the turntable, this was early 1980’s probably before the Tsunami of ‘everything matters’ hit.
Keith

Talking about being honest…

I visited an audio show a few years ago and asked the salesman who actually buys his 40,000 euro carefully crafted audio gear setup which was being demonstrated in a truly horrible sounding room.
He told me: “Lots of my customers buy because they need to get rid of their let say unreported money before year end for tax reasons.”

Now that was an honest answer.

 

[dasdoing]

Perfect information would lead to perfect competition. In a perfectly competitive market, there is no long-term profit possible.
Therefore, you have to "scam" people to profit. "My product cleans whiter than white."

 

[ahofer]

Perfect information would lead to perfect competition. In a perfectly competitive market, there is no long-term profit possible.
Therefore, you have to "scam" people to profit. "My product cleans whiter than white."

Ronald Coase would like a word.

“Scam” is not the only possible outlet for market friction.