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

[Mart68]

I think if you have a physical shop then you have to be doing e-sales as well. That way you capture both types of customer.

There's always been stores that did this even before the internet, they'd take out six or eight page ads in the magazines and you called them and paid over the phone, or filled in the coupon and posted it to them along with a cheque.

Really no different from the situation we have now except it's a slightly simpler process to buy remotely.

Back when I was at university I called up a place to order some speakers. A young lad answered the phone and he seemed very confused and right away I thought it might not go well. I told him what product I wanted. He didn't understand and it took some time to explain to him and even then I wasn't sure he'd got it. He asked for the delivery address. I told him and he says 'Err...how do you spell 'university'?'

You know when you have the feeling that this isn't going well at all?

Next thing I hear a voice in the background 'What the f..k are you doing? What have I told you about answering the 'phone?' The youth vanished and some older bloke came on who then took the order.

 

[Mnyb]

Some products in the website for my favorite store are delivered straight from supplier , hopefully they automated parts of their e-commerce so that a minimum works is required to handle those orders . You making money in the background while talking to the usual tire kickers that frequent HiFi shops

 

[Mart68]

Some products in the website for my favorite store are delivered straight from supplier , hopefully they automated parts of their e-commerce so that a minimum works is required to handle those orders . You making money in the background while talking to the usual tire kickers that frequent HiFi shops

A really good salesman can make sales to the tyre kickers.

 

[RexrothPigeon]

I think if you have a physical shop then you have to be doing e-sales as well. That way you capture both types of customer.

Except a physical shop with e-sales has more overhead than a purely e-sales shop and will inevitably be undercut. We live in an economic system that is inherently predatory and zero-sum.

 

[kidprofessor]

Hmm, it just dawned on me that anyone who answers "no" is saying that @amirm's own new business (importing and selling hifi equipment, starting with ascilabs speakers) is:

• dishonest

or

• destined to fail

the vast majority of businesses are destined to fail

 

[Mart68]

Except a physical shop with e-sales has more overhead than a purely e-sales shop and will inevitably be undercut. We live in an economic system that is inherently predatory and zero-sum.

Not sure it's quite that simple. I bought my CD transport remotely but from a physical shop. It wasn't cheaper anywhere else.

I think it's dependant on the market segment. If your physical shop is only selling low price equipment I agree you've probably got no chance in the long run.

Higher end there's more control on price from the manufacturer and distributor. Undercut the other authorised dealers and you don't get supplied with any more product.

Added to which when the product is more expensive, more customers want to see it, touch it and, god forbid, listen to it before buying.

In other words, I think there's a market segment where the physical shop can still work. If it's done properly.

 

[CuteStudio]

the perspective of the wealthy customer and what they want and expect. They are who keep the dealership open.

I can't argue, I'm sure you are right.

I think the problem is that now we are in this situation - I hesitate to go into hi-fi stores as everything is very expensive, a simple amplifier can be £1500, and that's not even a tube amp, but some third rate transistor amp that's bested by a £100 Douk A5.

In the 1980s, I could walk in and see affordable stuff - shelves of it. So I'd go in, and browse, and often - buy.
In England Richer Sounds still does this to an extent.

Others, well they have listening rooms with Magico speakers and hosepipe size wires: it's ridiculous.

So my approach would be to only stock the best sounding lower end stuff, and get as much sound for the buck as I could for people. I'm not sure if it's a viable business - more like 'taking one for the team', but the public now need educating that decent HiFi is affordable from local shops.

Instead of today's situation - where even I laugh at the cable prices and car priced speakers etc, and walk on past.
In the meantime department stores and record shops are filling the gap with cheap record players and bluetooth speakers, not really an ideal situation IMO.

 

[Mnyb]

Not sure it's quite that simple. I bought my CD transport remotely but from a physical shop. It wasn't cheaper anywhere else.

I think it's dependant on the market segment. If your physical shop is only selling low price equipment I agree you've probably got no chance in the long run.

Higher end there's more control on price from the manufacturer and distributor. Undercut the other authorised dealers and you don't get supplied with any more product.

Added to which when the product is more expensive, more customers want to see it, touch it and, god forbid, listen to it before buying.

In other words, I think there's a market segment where the physical shop can still work. If it's done properly.

Some internet stores and big box stores get gredy , the shop i refer has very competitive pricing on WiiM for example

 

[Mart68]

In the 1980s, I could walk in and see affordable stuff - shelves of it. So I'd go in, and browse, and often - buy.
In England Richer Sounds still does this to an extent.

When I went to buy my first hi-fi I had £170 to spend which was three weeks wages. Went in a proper hi fi shop and their cheapest amp was £120. Not going to happen.

Ended up in Richer Sounds where I got a TT, amp and speakers for £120

Proper shop is long gone, Richer Sounds is still there albeit in a different location.

These days their stores are much bigger since about half the show space is taken up with televisions, and I suspect (don't know) that is now their main revenue earner.

So my approach would be to only stock the best sounding lower end stuff, and get as much sound for the buck as I could for people. I'm not sure if it's a viable business - more like 'taking one for the team', but the public now need educating that decent HiFi is affordable from local shops.

I like the idea but cheap products have low margins so work out the volume you'd need to shift to cover the overheads of a shop, which are substantial, especially in the UK. You won't be open for ten minutes before the council come round to collect their extortionate business rates. In the town I live in there are literally dozens of empty shops, shops that have been empty for years. Overheads mean they are just not viable, no-one is even attempting to open one up any more.

So I suspect it wouldn't be viable. I'd love you to prove me wrong

 

[Mart68]

Some internet stores and big box stores get gredy , the shop i refer has very competitive pricing on WiiM for example

Wiim is at the bottom end of the market though. My CD transport was £2K. Just a different segment entirely.

 

[RexrothPigeon]

Not sure it's quite that simple. I bought my CD transport remotely but from a physical shop. It wasn't cheaper anywhere else.

That's cool and def good for you, but it really is pretty simple: rent costs money / the lower your costs, the less margin you need on your sales / no rent = lower requisite margins = lower potential price

 

[Mnyb]

Wiim is at the bottom end of the market though. My CD transport was £2K. Just a different segment entirely.

This shop have used gear WiiM and Elac and KEF and Accuphase in the same shop and more

 

[Mart68]

That's cool and def good for you, but it really is pretty simple: rent costs money / the lower your costs, the less margin you need on your sales / no rent = lower requisite margins = lower potential price

Yes, but then you lose all the customers who want to look, touch and listen before they buy, and they tend to be the big spenders.

Isn't this why the surviving hi-fi shops are mostly selling high end products? Many will sell remotely too but that's not their main customer base. I have had people ask me what the CD transport 'sounds like.' Ofc you and I know it doesn't 'sound' like anything but they still want to listen to one before they buy one. They aren't concerned about the cost, they have plenty of money, they don't need to chase the best deal, but they do want to try before they buy.

Added to which a lot of them actively enjoy the experience of demoing equipment, talking to the salesman, being brought cups of tea or coffee, and snacks sometimes, and generally being 'pampered.'

 

[Mart68]

This shop have used gear WiiM and Elac and KEF and Accuphase in the same shop and more

Sounds wonderful but then I note you live in a civilised country

 

[RexrothPigeon]

Yes, but then you lose all the customers who want to look, touch and listen before they buy, and they tend to be the big spenders.

No, you missed my earlier posts: These days, people go to stores to do the looking/touching/listening, then they go online to do the buying.

Not everyone, for sure, but everyone who wants to get the best possible price. And that's most people.

 

[RexrothPigeon]

Isn't this why the surviving hi-fi shops

The fact that you had to say "surviving" says it all: there are fewer and fewer, and the ones surviving today are probably the ones we can only remember nostalgically tomorrow.

 

[Mart68]

No, you missed my earlier posts: These days, people go to stores to do the looking/touching/listening, then they go online to do the buying.

Not everyone, for sure, but everyone who wants to get the best possible price. And that's most people.

I agree, that does happen.

Not every product is available cheaper on line though. Especially high end priced kit. You'd have to be careful about what you stocked in that respect.

 

[CuteStudio]

You won't be open for ten minutes before the council come round to collect their extortionate business rates.

My theory is that Business rates - a tax not based upon any profit - like property tax, but instead of being unenforced (the UK's 1992 council tax act only allows them to demand, and for persons to be liable - after which the establishment's lawlessness begins) - the Company Act 2006 nails down an regis.tered company (all property of the Crown BTW, ref the DS01 form) to pay it.

So in england now basically everyone works for the crown, and a Ltd company merely allows you to take some of the profits, of a crown corporation owned company. Then in the 'Rona years bills shot up, while at the same time the police forced one to remain closed to the public.

I'm not sure the true aim of the crown/govern mentals, but their actions have resulted in empyyish clone towns.

The EU, despite it's aggressive, unelected leader, has - perhaps simply because Europe has more inertia - managed to reduce the fixed costs impact on little shops, in France, Spain, Germany etc I do see small shops survive - I can even by a 2nd hand model train in major german towns (and park for free - or at least get there on the train for peanuts) - but overhead costs in the UK Corporation are prohibitive.

I would actually have liked to open a publicly open HiFi factory for turntables, amplifiers and speakers, but in England one doesn't dare because personal bankruptcy would soon follow, as the system intends. I.e. Factory + listening rooms + cafe + shop + car park. I still like the idea, maybe something for Spain - where everything is cheaper and easier.

Thinking back, all my hifi shop purchases pre-date the Uniform Business Rate (1990), aka the Small Shop Killer.
Selling overpriced cables started around then too, and mobile phone shops - high margin shops that could afford the huge taxes.

I suppose the only way around the UK's system is to start it as a charity, i.e. a business that pays less tax - maybe there's an angle there. Music for healing perhaps, a good HiFi with classical music for PTSD sufferers - something like that.

 

[Philbo King]

Hmm, it just dawned on me that anyone who answers "no" is saying that @amirm's own new business (importing and selling hifi equipment, starting with ascilabs speakers) is:

• dishonest

or

• destined to fail

I'm fairly sure that Amirm does not do any of the these:
- Work on comission
- Steer people into buying stuff more expensive than needed (e.g., bait & switch)
- Operate a storefront
- Wear a plaid suit like a used car dealer

Just because some one sells stuff does not indicate dishonesty, it is HOW one does so.

 

[pablolie]

The fact that you had to say "surviving" says it all: there are fewer and fewer, and the ones surviving today are probably the ones we can only remember nostalgically tomorrow.

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.