What would you do?

[BuyOtherSoundEquipment]

So last week my local branch of everyone's favorite[6] electronics retailer (where I am employed) got a new store manager. He's nice enough, but he enlisted my assistance to help our struggling accessories "numbers" in the home theater department.

Now, anyone with half a brain knows that the reason people aren't buying the accessories is because no one wants to pay $129.99 for a Monster "Ultra 1000 series" HDMI cable (link: http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=8473546&st=monster+ultra+1000+hdmi&lp=1&type=product&cp=1&id=1188558642139 ) when there is no appreciable difference from that to a $20 wal-mart cable.

So long story short, the "new guy" tells me that the reason people aren't buying them is because they are not told about the
"benefits" of the cables. He further said that we need to educate the other home theater employees on the following, and I quote:

"Why you want a speaker cable with 'time-correct' windings"

"Why you need an HDMI cable that is nitrogen injected"

and "Why you need an HDMI cable that costs $150 vs $40"

I sort of stood there in slack-jawed awe for a moment, considering what my future held if they are really going to start pushing us to sell using such ridiculous claims...

What would you do??

[oldenough]

Have you had the opportunity to explain your dilemna to him??

[Daddy Dee]

Well, I'd sure like to have a nitrogen injected HDMI cable.

Seriously, you work for them bro. It's pretty tough when asked to do something you know is not a good deal, but it goes with the territory.

Truthfully, there are some folks out there who will be happy with the Monster. Sell it to them. It's a win-win for the customer and your employer.

You won't be forcing anyone to buy something they really don't want.

[BLSamuel]

Maybe you could sue them for something if they fire you for refusing to lie to the customer?

Explain to him it's a bunch of BS and that due to religious belief you cannot lie to your customers to sell product. If they then fire you, maybe you'd have grounds for a discrimation lawsuit?

I'd start by talking to him about the nonsense of such claims and make him provide valid scientific proof. And explain that maybe, just maybe they should start selling good quality equipment and not snake oil. Customers appreciate honesty. At least I do. I much prefer the salespeople who just say "I don't know" than trying bo BS me. And if I know they're selling snake oil and making outlandish claims, then I'd be likely to buy things elsewhere, maybe even if what I was buying cost more.

Ask him to demonstrate and explain how the above products work better. After all, it's kind of hard to sell snake oil unless you're a charlatan and doesn't your employer want a better image?

Hmmmm.... speaker cable with "time correct windings"? What the heck is that.... wouldn't extra windings add extra resistance?

Just my 0.02 db

[tommyboy]

In the military, I'm forced to do things I don't necessarily agree with on a daily basis. Of course, not doing them isn't an option for me. Like already said, you work for them, so i would do as your'e told to do.............. although that does suck! Sort of like false advertisement!

[toddvj]

Maybe you could sue them for something if they fire you for refusing to lie to the customer?

Explain to him it's a bunch of BS and that due to religious belief you cannot lie to your customers to sell product. If they then fire you, maybe you'd have grounds for a discrimation lawsuit?

I'd start by talking to him about the nonsense of such claims and make him provide valid scientific proof. And explain that maybe, just maybe they should start selling good quality equipment and not snake oil. Customers appreciate honesty. At least I do. I much prefer the salespeople who just say "I don't know" than trying bo BS me. And if I know they're selling snake oil and making outlandish claims, then I'd be likely to buy things elsewhere, maybe even if what I was buying cost more.

Ask him to demonstrate and explain how the above products work better. After all, it's kind of hard to sell snake oil unless you're a charlatan and doesn't your employer want a better image?

Hmmmm.... speaker cable with "time correct windings"? What the heck is that.... wouldn't extra windings add extra resistance?

Just my 0.02 db

C'mon, the managers don't care if there is scientific proof or
not. They want to sell product. You are going to have to play their
game if you want to stay employed.

My Advice:

Learn about the different
technologies and sell
the products based on that. Compare the cheaper monster cable to the more expensive, and explain why the more expensive cable costs more. It doesn't really matter whether you think they make a difference or not. Ultimately, it's the customer who decides
whether they want to spend the extra money or not.

If a customer asks you if you think it makes a difference, just say, I haven't done a comparison on my system at home, but I plan to try some day. I've had friends/other customers tell me that it made a big difference, though. You aren't lying to them by saying that, and they will probably be satisfied with the answer.

[Groomlakearea51]

You could always start shopping for a new job and when the obvioulsy happy day arrives advise the gentleman that a nitrogen injection in the right place may solve his confusion over marketing strategy....

Serioulsy, take Ben's advice and try to tell him that repeat customers will be based upon the BS-O-Meter that could be peaking out shortly under his "command"....

[BLSamuel]

I agree with the comments to explain the differences. Why this costs more.

But should avoid the "ridiculous claims" to maintain one's integrity.

A good idea to explain why the more expensive cable costs more or letting them buy the most expensive cable if that's what they want but put it like Toddvj said, explain to them why it costs more and what others think of it if you've no experience with it or can't tell the difference.

But BuyOtherSoundEquipment's orginal post struck me as they're telling him to tell the customer things he doesn't believe to be true - and that to me is just not acceptable. A bit different than being asked to do things you don't agree with as long as the salesperson doesn't lie to the customer.

[Groomlakearea51]

Ben's right. It's an ethical "thing".

[dtel]

You could always look for another job where you don't have to stretch the truth like for the government or finance or even a politician. [+o(]

[Groomlakearea51]

You could always look for another job where you don't have to stretch the truth like for the government or finance or even a politician.

Well said, well said. [Y]

[Daddy Dee]

bose,

One more thing. I'm glad you've posted on this. It's refreshing to know someone who has some energy about integrity and ethical behavior.

[toddvj]

You could always look for another job where you don't have to stretch the truth like for the government or finance or even a politician.

Call me a cynic, but I doubt you are going to find a job where you aren't asked to maximize revenue. It's just that in another position, it may not be something that you feel so passionate about.

Like I said before, learn about the time correct windings, the nitrogen injected cables, whatever, and tell your customers about those things. It's not as if those things don't exist, whether you believe they make a difference or not.

Sorry, but in the real world, you don't get to pick and choose which job requirements you want to follow. If the company wants you to sell expensive cables, you are required to sell them.

Another thing that might help, learn to hate your customers []-- if you deal with the public long enough, it's very easy to do. Once you hate them enough, you'll be happy to rip them off as much as possible [][] Actually, I'm just kidding about the last one. Or am I??...

Oh and BOSE, I know I'm going to sound just like your new manager, but your comment:

Now, anyone with half a brain knows that the reason people aren't
buying the accessories is because no one wants to pay $129.99 for a
Monster "Ultra 1000 series" HDMI cable ... when there is no appreciable difference from that to a $20 wal-mart
cable.

isn't really true. They aren't buying the accesories because nobody is selling it to them. People will buy what you tell them to buy.

I bet 50% or more of your customers aren't even using HDMI, not even the $20 version. They probably have this new receiver that can handle Dolby TrueHD and dts-HD Master Audio, and they have their Blu-Ray hooked up with RCA's Hell, some of them probably are using composite, and think they are getting HD. So even if you aren't selling everybody the most expensive cables, you should at least bring it up. You're kind-of doing them a disservice if you don't.

One other question, I'm sure they have you selling warranties to people, right? Are you comfortable doing that? If so, you have to ask yourself, what is the difference. Both are things you sell to maximize profit, and in the case of a warranty, you are essentially selling them NOTHING. The majority of the time, the customer will not use the warranty, but most of the time they will use the cable.

And in case you think otherwise, I don't really care that strongly either way, just trying to help you see it from a business standpoint, which for now anyway, is really the only way you should be looking at it.

[greg928gts]

The integrity issue is something you have to deal with personally. You can't take it to work - not even a slack jaw expression. If it were me I might be looking for another job, maybe, depends on other factors.

I don't know your age, but if you're older like me (45), new tricks are hard to learn. But for younger guys, learning to do what your manager is asking you to do builds valuable skills that you will be able to use or recognize down the road. I don't necessarily mean selling something you don't believe in, that's pretty narrow, I'm talking about the communication skills, the creative thinking, the business aspects, etc...

BTW - I'm one of those people who bought one of those expensive wires because the salesman said my new T.V. wouldn't look the same with a cheaper one. Now that I know the truth about those wires, yes I'm pissed about it, but I'll get over it. I should have done my research before I went there.

Greg

[Doc Robin]

Just my 2 cents worth: I know a guy that when he is shopping he wants the saleperson to tell him what is the top of line, best of the best, nothing sub standard will do. He has a lot of good stuff and a lot of money invested in it. He uses it and enjoys it; when he replaces something its the best on the market at that time.

The customers know what they can afford to buy and will make the choice for themselves. Just show and tell them what is the best and let them take it from there. Do not feel guilty about what the customer buys it is their choice.

I do not buy top of the line myself; I can wait for the new and improved edition to come out and then buy the marked down item. Later Bill

[fini]

Well, that's why they call it selling. I'm horrible at it. I'd only be good at selling things that I like. Now, a good salesperson (my wife, if anyone is looking for a west coast sales manager...HINT!) gets inspiration from looking at how a particular product will help the customer. So maybe the lower priced cable IS the right one for a particular customer (bargain-minded, on a tight budget), but as some have pointed out here, the same could be true of the expensive cable, and a different customer (only the best for him!).

Plus, you have a pretty liberal return policy, don't you?

[Marvel]

One time, while traveling through Kentucky, I stopped in at a small country store. I picked up a nice cold Coke, one of those 6 oz. glass bottles, in one of those ice chest coolers. Sooooo good.

There were some old guys in there playing checkers, talking with the owner. I noticed he would often quote Scripture when he rang up the tab on the register. For instance, a young boy came in and purchased a candy bar, and as the owner rang up the amount he said "Blessed are the children..." Everyone listened to hear what he would say.

A truck pulled in, with nice, really nice horse trailer behind. Guy came in and looked around, and told the store owner he thought it was a nice looking little place. Pleasantries were exchanged.

He asked about a blanker for his horse, and the store owner turned around and pulled one off the shelf behind him. It was a nice enough blanket. "This one's 15 dollars." The owner of the horse looked a little irate and told him that that wasn't nearly nice enough for his horse. The store owner kept going higher on the shelf, but the blankets never seemed good enough.

The horse owner finally exploded, explaing that he had a $75,000 horse in the trailer and he wasn't going to put what was now an $85 blanket on him. The store owner looked at him and said, "I think I have just the blanket you want."

He went into the back of the store, grabbed one of the same blankets he had been showing the man, and brought it out to him. "This one is $250, and my best one."

"Excellent! I'll take it."

As the store owner rang it up, he said, "He was a stranger and I took him in..."

[oldenough]

Good one Bruce...LOL.

[BuyOtherSoundEquipment]

Wow, thanks for all the responses there, gents.

I agree with the general consensus that we've achieved here, i.e. customers will buy based upon what they feel comfortable spending. My biggest problem is that the emphasis is really being put on selling them the more expensive cables "because they need them."

I definitely agree that it comes with the territory, and that "packing the deal" is a way of life in big-box electronics retailers.

All I can really do is roll with the punches, or look for a new job.

Tommorow morning at 9 am we are having a meeting to learn new selling strategies for offering accessories[+o(]... That should be interesting.

[BigStewMan]

i don't know if there is a such thing as an unfair deal...the seller is willing to part with an item for the price, and the buyer is willing to pay for that item for that price. The buyer may be able to get a like item from someone willing to accept less money for it; but, if one is willing to pay the seller for whatever the asking price is--then there is nothing for either of them to complain about.

Now, i would have a problem if you were telling the customer that they must use monster cable or lying to them if they asked if they could use other cables. can you tell them that they need cables and show them the cables that your store sells, then answer their questions honestly if they ask if they can use cheaper cables from store x.