Selling Dreams
In my former career in computer software design the salesmen always wanted to take me on sales pitches to explain technicalities. I know marketing is not exactly the same as sales and I have training in neither. At first, the salesmen were horrified when I answered a question like 'Does the software do this?' with a candid 'No'. Then they realized, when I got to the end of a presentation or Q&A, that I would go back and address all the "No's" with a general 'but if you tell me exactly what you want I can get it bespoked'. And also told the prospective customer exactly how it could be done, and any additional things that could be added, or the way it could be used.
Boy did that go down a storm, both with the customer, and with the salesman when they realised that the £1m sale they were aiming at became a £2m sale when all the bespoke enhancements were added in.
Some salesmen subsequently employed truth and reality sales techniques.
The things that really get my goat are the manipulations of meaning such as the sales where the discount is 'up to' (usually written 'upto' - whatever the meaning of that word) x% off - come on guys, don't even think about trying to sell me something that at the maximum may have x% off, when, in fact, the actual discount is y% (significantly lower than x% every time).
My personal view - these tactics should be outlawed.
humagaia, Aug 29, 2012
