Joe Shmoe Posted January 5, 2013 Share Posted January 5, 2013 When I was in purchasing my TV today, the salesman (of course) is trying to sell me everything else under the sun. I can't blame him for doing his job, but it made me think of how many people actually do listen to the crap they try to push over on you. Today he tried to talk me out of buying the Emotiva seperates and going with a Denon reciever, telling me that "you probably are not going to notice the difference anyway". Ugh. Do you have a surge protector (Monster brand hanging on wall behind him)... What about a mount for $300? Ummm No.[] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jhoak Posted January 5, 2013 Share Posted January 5, 2013 The "add-on" sales are where the big box stores make most of their money. As a rule there's not much margin in a large electronics piece such as a receiver or a TV. But if they can tack on an expensive HDMI cable or overpriced mount it makes the overall sale much more profitable. The markup on accessories such as cables and mounts is usually pretty obscene. Years ago I worked as a Radio Shack store manager. There were special commissions paid to the sales drones for adding on to an electronics sale. A salesman that added on 4 or 5 accessories to a basic stereo sale could get $20 or $30 in extra commission on that sale over and above the normal % based commission. I try to support local stores and buy as much as I can locally. When I have to choose between $10 Monoprice HDMI cable and one from Best Buy at $60 or more I become a little less loyal to the local stores. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe Shmoe Posted January 5, 2013 Author Share Posted January 5, 2013 I agree! It just killed me to hear him tell me that the reciever was going to be a better choice than Emotiva seperates (only because he didn't sell seperates). And then the whole Monster issue. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mighty Favog Posted January 5, 2013 Share Posted January 5, 2013 My stepson used to work at BB and found out the store pays about $3 for a cable it sells for $60. Today we were looking at an HDMI to VGA cable on BB's web site and saw what we needed for between $7 and $9. Great, let's go to the store and get one. Of course the store only stocked ones for $30 to $70. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wuzzzer Posted January 5, 2013 Share Posted January 5, 2013 I work in retail sales and add-ons are the last thing I typically think of. I take a pretty passive approach to selling, I tell people the honest truth and it gets me great results. I've had a lot of transactions where I've sold multiple items but I never push add-ons. I've worked for the same company for 15 years and have a huge number of repeat customers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe Shmoe Posted January 6, 2013 Author Share Posted January 6, 2013 And that's the point! Kudos to you Wuzzer for being an honest salesman. I'm not against a slesman asking me about add ons etc. I realize they have to make money also, It's when he starts stretching the truth to make a sale that rubs me the wrong way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djk Posted January 7, 2013 Share Posted January 7, 2013 Back in the days of my selling hi-fi, some months I sold more than all six of the other salesmen combined. 85% of a good saleman's job is to quallify the customer's needs. 10% of his job is to demonstrate what he thinks will best suit those needs. 5% of his job is to ask for the sale. Everyone got a fair deal, and we made good money. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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