vB Easy Archive - Selling the right phone

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Selling the right phone
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Posted by: Rcadden

I have a bone to pick, and I don't know who it is. I work at a Sam's Club, there are a few other agents in town, and one Corp. Store (a second opens on the 15th). I get so many people that come up to me and say, "I got this phone a little while ago, and it won't hold a signal worth a darn. It'll go up and down on the signal when I'm standing still!" (you get one guess what manufacturer. If you guessed Samsung, you're right.) The guy lives in some off-the-wall place where you need a good RF phone to get a signal. He says he told that to the other salesperson (he got it at the main store, we don't sell x427s) and they suggested this phone. I told him, no, sir, you need either a Nokia or if you really want a flip phone (which he doesn't, thank god) then a motorola. I pull out a business card and write down a few model numbers for him, tell him to take the phone back and see if they'll exchange it.

So my question is, regardless of the fact that you don't get paid based on what phone they buy, why would you not suggest a phone that the customer is going to keep? I know some people ignore suggestions and just want free-free-free (although at our corp store that s427 cost him $30) but many people out here especially will pay a little more if they know the phone will work. Can anyone explain to me why you wouldn't suggest a customer in that situation a phone that will actually work for them, rather than just the cheapest thing you've got?

Posted by: suicidal2af

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rcadden

I have a bone to pick, and I don't know who it is. I work at a Sam's Club, there are a few other agents in town, and one Corp. Store (a second opens on the 15th). I get so many people that come up to me and say, "I got this phone a little while ago, and it won't hold a signal worth a darn. It'll go up and down on the signal when I'm standing still!" (you get one guess what manufacturer. If you guessed Samsung, you're right.) The guy lives in some off-the-wall place where you need a good RF phone to get a signal. He says he told that to the other salesperson (he got it at the main store, we don't sell x427s) and they suggested this phone. I told him, no, sir, you need either a Nokia or if you really want a flip phone (which he doesn't, thank god) then a motorola. I pull out a business card and write down a few model numbers for him, tell him to take the phone back and see if they'll exchange it.

So my question is, regardless of the fact that you don't get paid based on what phone they buy, why would you not suggest a phone that the customer is going to keep? I know some people ignore suggestions and just want free-free-free (although at our corp store that s427 cost him $30) but many people out here especially will pay a little more if they know the phone will work. Can anyone explain to me why you wouldn't suggest a customer in that situation a phone that will actually work for them, rather than just the cheapest thing you've got?

It's more than that. I'll sell an x427m over a v180 any day. At least 6 months from now, the phone won't be falling apart. Or dropping calls left and right even with full service, ala v180.

Moto sucks.

Posted by: ODave

Personally speaking, I whore Nokias and the Razr out like they pay me 20 bucks extra per activation to do so. Not because RF is really a problem in my market (it's not), but on the off-chance that they -do- have a problem at their house getting signal, hopefully the phone will be up to task. Also, Nokia's reliability (except for a few issues with the new 6230b firmware freaking out and scrolling unstoppably every once in a while) is rock-solid, at least with the current lineup. I can't wait until we get the 6102 and the 6682.

If customers insist on getting a flip phone, that's cool - stop #1 is the Razr for no other reason than massive RF, then either the P207 or the V551, and if they're stingy, we'll work our way down to the bottom of the barrel with the detrius like the V180 or 1300i. I'd rather send a customer away with a phone I -know- is going to work, instead of one that I wouldn't wish on my own worst enemy.

However, if a customer -does- come in looking specifically for a X427 and adamantly want to buy one, I am more than happy to ring them up on one. Why? I like getting paid, and if the customer -really- wants to do unlimited media net and 2500 text messages with the new insurance, roadside assistance, voice connect, 7-7-7 and a 4000 minute rate plan on a crappy little samsung that their wife thought was 'cute', who the hell am I to argue?

Posted by: SuxBeingU

more than just the money. not everyone agrees that Nokia is the best or The razr is the way to go. Salespeople like anyone else have their own opinions on what really works well. You will find that stores sell in trends, when the Alpha salesperson gets hot on a particular model to trickles down to the others. Maybe he owns the 427/429 nad has had great success with his. Who know maybe thats all that was in stock at the time. many reasons why we sell what we sell. Contests, spiffs in stock. personal experience, read about it here or somewhere else.

Posted by: ivwshane

Most customers want a cool looking phone and choose to ignore which phones are good performers.

I've seen it so many times where customers ask what the best performing phone it and the salesman shows them and they end up going with either the free phone or a "cooler" looking phone.

It also doesn't help that cingular really doesn't have too many good performing phones in their line up right now.

Posted by: ODave

Yeah, lack of quality, especially on low-end flip phones, is definately hurting atm. The 3120 is still good, if somewhat dated and not flip, and the 6010 is a decent enough free phone (at least out of our location)... but the Samsung x427, the Moto v180 and the LG C1300/1300i are all varying degrees of garbage, at least in my personal experience. The 1300 especially, ugh.

Posted by: panrispter

yeah i refuse to sell the LG 1300, and any customers that come in with it, i ask how long ago they bought it and tell them to exchange it for another model if they are under 30 days. id say more v180s go out of my store than x427s, but theres still some people that buy the x427 because of its shape and it being silver compared to the black faceplate on the v180

Posted by: .7

For every phone that is available, I could tell you at least 2-3 customer's that think its the greatest thing in the world, and 2-3 customers that think its the the worst phone they've ever owned.

Like ivwshane said, when it comes right down to it, even when they ask you what you think, very rarely does it even matter in the end. Personally, when someone comes over from another service provider, I feel comfortable in getting them into a Nokia, as I feel they make a great product. However, as many times as the customer tells me that reception is the number one thing in their eyes, they'll always want that "flip phones" and go with the V180 (which I despise for the return ratio Ive experienced with it).

Then, the next customer will be coming over from Verizon and want nothing to do with their Motorola's and want Nokia's.

It take all kinds I guess.

Posted by: strickzilla

ill go ne step furthur and if somones gonna activate and they tell you they want a basic flip phone theyve automatically ruled out nokia, so its the lesser of the evils. most people like the look of teh samsung and the LG and if they ask whats "better" ill sell em a samsung before the LG and cross my fingers im not gonna lose a slae cuase nokia dont make a flip.

in the same token ill "try" to nudge them towards the nokias but if they dont bite im not gonna force anyone

Posted by: Alfred_Neuman

sure, once the SE contests begins ill whore the z500 out like nothing.

in fact, ill whore 40 of them in a month. i promise.

(so i can get my w600 SE phone wooo!)

Posted by: Alfred_Neuman

my rule of thumb is this:

get v180, you need insurance.

get x427, you'll need insurance.

honestly if i can boil it down, id only sell z500's, 6010's, 3120's and v3's. only phones worth it.

Posted by: Telegraph

guys guys.... this really is a moot point.

There IS no perfect or "right" phone to sell. The fact is that ALL phones have defects and ALL phones have their problems. ALL phones will not be liked by everyone. Its true that some phones perform better than other phones, but then again, why would they produce a phone in the first place if it was meant to fail? It'd look bad to the manufacturer and bad to the wireless provider.

Until technology gets better, continue selling to what the customer's needs are and base your recommendations on that. Simple as that.

Posted by: ivwshane

Untill the technology gets better? GSM has been around for about 10-15 years, the manufactures have been releasing shoddy products in the US for some time and the reason for that is because they can!

Untill carriers stop selling phones I guarantee that manufactures will continue to cut corners by using sub par components. There is no reason for the level of defects in phones cingular has.

Posted by: ieregional

It may take most of you a few years in wireless to really understand what is behind Cingular's logic in choosing to carry certain brands and models. Just take comfort in the mere fact that your employer "Cingular Wireless" would not carry a product that would be in any way harmful to it's growth or success as a wireless provider. True, some of the phones that we carry aren't the very best in certain areas. It's hard to judge a phone based on reception, especially since our "allover Network" is not even close to where it is supposed to be. You all learn to be more of "consultative" salespeople. If you're not sure what that means let me explain.

Question: Does a customer really know what he or she really wants?
Answer: No, most of our customers can't even figure out how to power their phones off and on much less really know what they want.

Therefore, it is our jobs to ask the appropriate questions to find out what they really need. Each phone is geared towards a specific user. Z500a for example to geared towards younger users below ages 18. While the Nokia 6010 is more for minimal users between the ages of 40-60. The ket is to set expectations based on the information you gather from your customers. But remember.... Take a few minutes to truely build rapport. This is what is going to really set you apart from those other sales reps. Once you've built rapport you should be able to guide your customer in any direction you with and they'll usually go that way, because they now trust your judgement and expierence.

So, Never down talk your companies decision to carry certain models or manufacturers. Most of all Choose the difficult right over the easy wrong.

For Consultative sales help you may want to look a few of these authors:

Tom Hopkins
Brian Tracy
Zig Ziggler

Posted by: Rcadden

I guess there are different points of view. I personally have never had someone walk up praising their phone and then pull out the x427. It's usually the one that people walk up and say "this phone blows." Also someone mentioned that they hate the v180. I would say we probably send more of those out our door than anything else, including v551s and RAZRs. The first few batches were bad, had tremendous problems with the outer lcd, but lately they rarely come back. In fact I have one that I keep just for kicks, sometimes I get in a weird flip-phone mode. Anyways, I know all the consutative selling stuff, and I use it. I'm in my last semester of a double major in Marketing and Management. It's all about asking the customer questions that they can answer, and then using their answers to point them in the right direction. And you NEVER insult a customer's previous decisions, cause that puts you two at odds. Find something positive.

Posted by: JDScott302

I used to push nothing but motorola and nokia. Mobile Solutions in a town near mine, and the store down the street used to push that stupid LG C1300 and people would come into my store and complain about that phone all the time. I tell them that most places that sell these phones are just looking for the easy sale and that i work harder to put people in a better phone that they will be happier with. People see "Free Flip Phone" and just freak out and buy it. Everyone knows the C1300 sucks. I hate it even more when people buy a phone online and then complain about it. Well duh, you know absolutely nothign about picking out a cell phone but you did it anyways. You wouldnt buy a car over the internet without actually seeing it or knowing everything about it would you?

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