The good, the bad and the ugly – sales lessons of a sofa search binge

 

[sofa*]

Many years ago, à l’époque as the French say, I worked in sales for a variety of products and services. I cannot say that I was greatly successful but the experience prepared me for my current occupations, translation and teaching. Thus, I am familiar with and appreciate the art of selling. Last week, my wife and I went to Check Post, a commercial area on the edge of Haifa in northern Israel, to find a new sofa that would be compatible with our sensitive lower backs. We entered and surveyed at least ten stores. While the results are inconclusive at this point and it was an exhausting experience, the day was interesting in terms of observing the various techniques and levels of skills of the salespeople working in these stores. The range reflected the title of the Sergio Leone classic, the Good, the Bad and the Ugly. Actually, any entrepreneur selling services or good can benefit from the lessons derived from such an experience.

On the bright side, two of the salespeople were artists in terms of approach and touch. They greeted us quietly at the door but waited a few minutes before asking us if we needed any help. They then asked us questions about our actual needs and directed us to the relevant sofas. After ascertaining the negative issues, they proposed solutions, whether an alternative sofa or an adjustment that could be made to improve the comfort of that item. They gave us time to reflect on the matter and gave us their card when we left. They recognized that buying furniture is too expensive and important a matter to be decided impulsively. In short, they understood the buying process and facilitated it. If we don’t find anything else, we may go back to them and purchase from one of them.

Alas, far too many salespeople simply had no idea how to sell. They not only ignored our presence at the door but afterwards also. Their only help was to tell us to sit down on the sofas. Often, they did not even ask us what our requirements were. They made no effort to identify the issues or try to solve them. Our departure was as unimportant to them as our arrival. In short, it was almost online shopping but without the convenience.

A few salespeople employed anti-selling techniques in terms of aggressiveness, insensitivity to others and hypersensitivity to themselves. They attacked us at the door, not allowing us to get an impression of the place. They then asked us a pro forma question about what type of sofa we wanted, neither listening to our answer nor even considering that a patient may have different priorities. Having failed to identity our needs, they insisted that we try every sofa, taking offense when we said that we know that which would be uncomfortable. (Believe me after a few stores, you have a strong idea of what does not work.). They almost tried to prevent us from leaving and acted insulted when we failed to buy anything.  It was ugly.

These lessons are relevant regardless of what a person sells or in which framework. Measured attention and careful identification of customer needs are vital to success as they allow the seller to tailor the solution to the customer. Impersonal, poor or mechanical service make the customer work too hard, which is not conductive for closing. Aggressive, one-sided and rude service causes customers to walk or log out even if they want to purchase a product. In the world of sales, Clint Eastwood finds the treasure, not Lee Van Cleef.

[Clint Eastwood]

* Pictures captions help the blind fully access the Internet.

Picture credit - Pixabay

Foreign teaching

 

[Inca king and queen*]

As Susan Dray wrote in one of her recent posts, going on vacation is a great opportunity to observe and learn not only ways of conducting life but also conducting business. On my just completed family visit to Los Angeles, I visited many commercial establishments, not always by choice, and gained valuable insight how to attain high prices and create a distinctive brand as well as a negative lesson on how to lose potential customers, which is no less important.

[clothes rack]

One business lesson reinforced by this trip was the vital connection between high prices and personal service. I took my 95-year mother to an upscale clothes boutique and watched for an hour and a half how the staff of three women made each of the customers feel like a queen. They greeted them by the first name, carefully choose their clothing, brought it to them in the dressing room, complimented them when appropriate and let me them choose at their speed. When it came to pay the bill, they gave each a discount, more symbolic than anything else given the income status of these women, thus providing each of the customers the feeling that not only had they bought beautiful clothing but paid less for it. It was clear that these women would return when they again needed an outfit for a special event. The store was able to sell at high-end prices because it had sufficient help, treated their customers professionally and friendly and created the image of a good value in terms of quality and price.

[donut assortment]

On the other economic scale, I stopped for a snack at one of the umpteen small donut shops in Los Angeles. Their names, physical layout and menu are essentially identical. However, one distinguished itself enough to lead me to return with its spirit of its service, quality of its food and unique atmosphere. The woman at the cash register had a huge smile (despite opening the shop at 05:00) and exuded genuine warmness. The bagel sandwich I ordered was both tasty and far less expensive than its Starbucks cousin. What really sold me was the classical music in the background, a Chopin concerto if I identified it correctly, which made my breakfast even more pleasant. I certainly did not expect that atmosphere at a donut shop. I then noticed that most of the customers were regulars that ate their donuts and sandwiches in the shop, attesting to the hominess of the place. Despite being at a first view a carbon copy of countless other similar business, this donut shop was special and personal, an ideal for all business in competitive fields.

[newpaper ads]

As a reminder of how not to run a business. I picked up a local weekly newspaper whose target audience would be quite relevant to me. Unfortunately, their lack of urgency and interest made sure that I would never spend any money on advertising in it. I called the advertising manager in the morning but was told that she was on the other line and would get back to me shortly. Shortly never arrived but I called back again that morning. She answered and provided me with several pricing options. I asked her to send the specifics to my email, whose spelling was confirmed over the phone. She then told me that she would send me the proposal “that afternoon”. I failed to understand why such a 5-minute task would need to be postponed to the afternoon but was still willing to be tolerant. More than a week later, I had yet to receive any proposal. As my late father would say, that is no way to run a railroad. Customers appreciate promptness and urgency. If they are not important at the sales stage, they will most probably not exist after the sale.

[coffee and patisserie]

As a side note, company names are important even if ignorance can be excused. I stopped at a cozy little expresso shop, filled with couches and cushions, and ordered a coffee and a pain au chocolat. (I can highly recommend the latter). The name of the café is La Laiderie, which had bothered me every time passed it previously. The reason finally clicked: laid means ugly in French; To be fair,  the name is actually composed of the various first names of the owners’ children. While appropriate in LA, the name faces some issues in other places. I suppose many other establishmen names do not travel well.

As the expression goes, a word to the wise is sufficient. Even experienced entrepreneurs need occasional reminders of correct business practice and the importance of making customers feel like kings and queens. It is far less expensive to do this by observing others than making your own errors. As the essential rules of business are essentially identical worldwide, a perspective person can even learn when touring abroad. Now, I am happily back home and back to work and just a little wiser from my trip.

Picture captions help the blind fully access the Internet.

All pictures via Pixibay.

On advertising, marketing and freelancers

 

[Store marketing flow*]

Most freelancers find advertising and marketing a bit mysterious, confusing and/or disturbing in some way. For this reason, among others, they try to avoid investing in them on a regular basis. In practice, advertising and marketing are two different activities in terms of goal, method and measurement with marketing being a much more practical, effective and affordable for most entrepreneurs.

To explain, advertising is promoting short term sales. It involves exposing a product or service to a specific audience and encouraging immediate action. The customer motivation to buy may be limited time or supply or a notably low price. The promotion, whether in audio or visual form, emphasizes the product and the reason it is advisable to purchase now. Advertising generally involves a short-term, often high, cost. The business owner measures the results by comparing the estimated profit without advertising to the estimated profit attained through promotion, deducting the advertising expense. For example, if a new business advertises a grand opening, a successful advertising campaign would lead to a much larger showup to the event and an increased volume of sales on and around the opening. Likewise, if an established business advertises a product whose inventory it wishes to reduce or eliminate, it is possible to compare volume and profit before and during the campaign. Once the promotion is over, the seller returns to business as usual.

By contrast, marketing emphasizes brand over item. Specifically, it aims to create an identification between a service or product and the provider. As extreme examples, Google, McDonalds and Pampers each invest great effort in creating link between their name and their product, search engine, fast food and diapers, respectively. Marketing campaigns generally lack short term incentives to purchase, including low prices, but instead focus on a positive attribute of the product or company. A name-recognition effort can take on a variety of forms, including media adverts, sponsorship, signing, conferences and talking to your neighbors. The sky is the limit but many forms of marketing only involve investing time, not money. However, successful marketing does involve consistent effort as the fruits of marketing are invisible and slow and require multiple exposure. Simply put, it may take makes months or even years to financially profit from the effort even though the name recognition campaign is actually effective. Large companies can afford to conduct measuring surveys to ascertain the actual effectiveness. Most freelancers must have faith, a necessary attribute in all respects for a freelancer. Successful marketing requires long-term, directed action.

Advertising may be appropriate for some freelancers. For example, an accountant or translator specializing in tax form preparation and translation may try to reach companies and individuals in the first quarter of the year as the tax filing deadline creates a time incentive to purchase their service. Likewise, a recently established site designer or immigration document specialist may be willing to sacrifice short-term profit in order to build a portfolio and reputation. Service providers can reasonably provide large discounts if they are especially efficient in their work. Of course, those entrepreneurs finding themselves with no customers can choose to offer especially low prices choosing to prefer low profit to no income. The issue is trying to raise the prices to normal levels later but that is a long-term problem, a luxury for some people. Thus, for entrepreneurs with short-term goals, an advertising campaign may be worthwhile.

However, for most freelancers, including translators, marketing is the better option in terms of effectiveness and cost. Since most independent business people offer a product or service that is generally only occasionally required, the best method for incoming business is the create a connection between that service or product and the potential provider. To give an example, a customer contacted me this week for a French to English translation after her Masters advisor read a previous post of mine and labeled me as a potential provider of translation should occasion arise. Even more, marketing does not necessarily involve significant financial outlays. For example, business group zoom meetups and telling your hairdresser what your profession are free of charge as are posts in Facebook and other social media. One graphologist posted a simple business sign in her garden and regularly profited from opportunity clients. Marketing does require time to think, create and act. For better or worse, many freelancers had and have far too much free time in the last two years. Marketing is a way of converting that surplus into a future financial profit.

As a trigger to thinking about marketing, I would suggest considering the following questions:

1.       Do people in my local community know what I do?

2.      When I enter my name in Google search, do my profession and contact details appear?

3.      Have other people in my profession in my country and abroad, if relevant, heard of me?

4.      Have my potential customers ever heard of me?

If the answer to any of the questions is negative, it is time to actively think about marketing and then begin an ongoing effort to change the answer to positive. The results probably will not occur immediately. However, in an especially volatile market, all entrepreneurs must consider the question of where they want to be two years from now, keeping in mind that the failure to act is an action in itself. Despite their connotations and the lack of comfort they create for independents, advertising and, even more so, marketing are important options for all freelancers building a long-term future in their business.

* Picture captions open up the Internet to the blind.

Picture credit: Image by <a href="https://pixabay.com/users/megan_rexazin-6742250/?utm_source=link-attribution&amp;utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_campaign=image&amp;utm_content=4156934">Megan Rexazin</a> from <a href="https://pixabay.com/?utm_source=link-attribution&amp;utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_campaign=image&amp;utm_content=4156934">Pixabay</a>