OP
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Was it perhaps the loudspeakers that had a thin tonal balance, just as a cartridge with droopy HF sounded preferable to a perceptually thin sounding CD.
Keith
Keith
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Is it possible to be honest and a successful Hi-Fi salesperson?
- Thread starter Purité Audio
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If one equates "honest" with "in line with the objective audio-science type of consensus" that we have here, the answer is a clear no I think.
That being said I know some Hi-Fi salespersons who are completely and sincerely in the highly subjective category.
One of them even "reinvests" (wastes?) the profits of his business into outlandishly exotic stuff for his own use. Depending on one's point of view, one might call him "misguided", but not dishonest.
The other one is more rational. But from, what I have seen and heard, his customers are good enough at self-inflicted wallet pain.
Worth remembering: any salesperson who tells you that you look wonderful in that suit or dress is probably lying to you.
That being said I know some Hi-Fi salespersons who are completely and sincerely in the highly subjective category.
One of them even "reinvests" (wastes?) the profits of his business into outlandishly exotic stuff for his own use. Depending on one's point of view, one might call him "misguided", but not dishonest.
The other one is more rational. But from, what I have seen and heard, his customers are good enough at self-inflicted wallet pain.
Worth remembering: any salesperson who tells you that you look wonderful in that suit or dress is probably lying to you.
fpitas
Master Contributor
Our trolls do that, too. I guess it's something that works on the rubes.
I was thankfully too poor to get exposed to the full force of UK hifi sales in the 70s when I made my first purchases - but I could easily imagine that sketch being close to the truth. In those days, specialist shops seemed to mostly exist for the convenience of the staff, not the customer. They had "early closing" on Wednesdays for reasons that I could never fully comprehend. Except that computers didn't exist at all outside large companies and universities (and not much at that!), so everything had to be done by hand.
DSJR
Master Contributor
You've got it in one... Many speakers then had a lifted upper mid, followed by a crossover suckout and an hf peak (think variations of the once hugely popular in the UK Heybrook HB1 for those that remember it). Neutral to warm balanced boxes like KEF Coda II and so on didn't stand a chance until CD grew in popularity.
Apologies to readers outside the UK who haven't an effin' clue what I'm going on about
dasdoing
Major Contributor
honesty is realitve impov when it comes to selling.
the client comes in and you sell him the best sytem for his money. honest, right?
but what if the second best, costing half the price, was allready more than good enough for him?
as a salesman you don't care, because you can't care....you need to make money
the client comes in and you sell him the best sytem for his money. honest, right?
but what if the second best, costing half the price, was allready more than good enough for him?
as a salesman you don't care, because you can't care....you need to make money
its called a conflict of interest
Early closing day was the day before the local workers got paid (in cash, weekly). There was little point in being open that afternoon since the workers would not have any money to spend until the next day.
It was common when I was very young but had mostly died out by the 1980s. Although at least one town local to me still held to the practice as late as 2006 - something I discovered to my astonishment when I started work at a local firm.
Thanks! Never having had an honest job in those days, I'd never have guessed.
Sorta... I would never try to guess "what is good enough for him."
When I was selling if I was faced with this situation, I would present both options and explain the difference between the best he could afford and the second best. If the case was between amp A costing $3K and amp B costing $1500 and both offered the features and power he needed, amp A wouldn't be presented.
You would be surprised how often the more costly system would be picked even if the difference in cost was 10-20% and the delta in performance was fairly small.
The 'buy right buy once' principle at play, maybe?
People that buy the wrong thing in the end need to assume responsibility and stop blaming companies or sales people. If you are spending money - inform yourself when making key purchases. Like every professional, sales people will stick to patterns that make them successful (until they don't work).
I personally find the assumption that an unethical salesperson can force any buying decision upon me downright offensive.
I personally find the assumption that an unethical salesperson can force any buying decision upon me downright offensive.
I bought a TV from a UK chain that sells audio and video with pretty much a 50-50 split on the showroom floor.
I asked if they sold optical cables since I wanted to hook up the TV to the DAC in an integrated amp.
'Yes we do', says the young salesman. 'We have this one for £12.99. There's no point spending more since all optical cables sound the same.'
Wow. Not only an honest salesman but knows his stuff too. Then it occurred to me -
'Do you sell a more expensive optical cable?'
'No. This is the only one we sell.'
I asked if they sold optical cables since I wanted to hook up the TV to the DAC in an integrated amp.
'Yes we do', says the young salesman. 'We have this one for £12.99. There's no point spending more since all optical cables sound the same.'
Wow. Not only an honest salesman but knows his stuff too. Then it occurred to me -
'Do you sell a more expensive optical cable?'
'No. This is the only one we sell.'
absolutely. You can't blame the salesman for doing what he's paid to do. He's not being paid to offer impartial consumer advice.
You go tiger hunting without a rifle you will end up being eaten alive. That's not the tiger's fault.
I guess it depends on what your boss wants you to sell and in general on what the business is about. The alternative is being an ignorant and then you can be completely honest.
I guess it depends on what your boss wants you to sell and in general on what the business is about. The alternative is being an ignorant and then you can be completely honest.
Honest yet incompetent... not sure that's a sales best practice.
Of course consumer sales are very different from business-to-business sales. I don't work in sales, but inevitably have to support sales. Our company has a "consultative" sales model, meaning that you listen to customers, leverage experts to give them sound advice, and do your utmost to establish a longer term, trusted relationship. The business principle we sell customers what they need, and hence they keep coming back.
It's tragic that in many areas in consumer sales there are incompetent or unscrupulous salespeople or business owners that simply want to get $ out of people and then run away. But we also know what we as consumers do when we encounter that: we would never ever buy from them again, and these days we can give them horrible reviews online when warranted, which eventually can put them out of business.
Specifically, when it comes to a hobby as emotionally loaded as audio... is it wrong for a salesperson selling high end audio gear to cater to the ego of a customer that walks in with a big checkbook and struts around saying they want the best of the best (which they emphasize can't be cheap?)... I have a friend that hit it huge with his startup, and bought a huge house in the ZIP code in the Bay Area, and then proceeded to buy B&W Nautilus and the lot. Honestly it sounded like crap - wrong room setup, etc. But it did achieve the effect of being a brag piece as well as a conversational subject (one that got tiring soon). The fault most certainly wasn't the salesperson's. They sold the guy what he wanted. Many years later, he never goes to the listening room and it's still the 25 year old Bang and Olufsen little wall system he uses every day in the living room. That poor system is always driven to distortion in the large room. Oh well. Again - the poor buying decision has zero to do with the sales person being dishonest - they sold the customer what they wanted. If the sales person had been "You know, yeah these are top of the line - but are you sure you want these? They are rather finnicky when it comes to room response. Look at these, they are 10% the price and far more versatile and..." they would have lost the sale. All 400k of it.
Yeah... honesty doesn't lead to truth...
mmm are you sure? I mean, would he have bought the same equipment if he were told that it was going to sound bad or far from what that money could buy? A genelec reference system for a big room can cost a fortune too.
This is a bit political but the concept of a salesperson is very often just wrong. A salesperson should be a consultant, someone that helps you, but many times they just have a sales goal, not a truth goal. The guy keeps coming at the store to buy equipment that does nothing to the system, so it's a great salesperson. Who cares about his/her personal growth and learning.
A constant or at least intermittent flow of new sales skills and training is beneficial. People that stagnate in sales sometimes becomes worn out and they lack the sales numbers or they simply lack the social skills to cope and need primer courses.
dasdoing
Major Contributor
that's great, basicly the strategy here is the costumor coming back, but how many shops can do this nowadays? was that during hifi-boom?
I remember a salesman of a hi-fi shop trying to sell me a ridiculously expensive mains conditioner, to trash another amplifier brand sold by a rival store in the town and claiming that all German speakers sound excessively bright (except Audio Physics that they were selling at the time).
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