Knowledge Is Power.

This is a continuation of the previous entry, discussing the need for information to do my job and how I have to get it on my own because the company won't provide it.

One particular a day guest asked me what brand of LCD TV I recommended. The first rule in sales is "pitch the high ball first." So I showed my guest some models by OLEVIA, which is a premiere brand of TV's. Olevia is a fairly new entry into the consumer electronics business, and my customer was an older gentleman from the country who hadn't heard of them before.

"What the hell kind of nonsense brand is that? I never heard of them. I don't want that garbage."

The customer expressed displeasure that he didn't want anything to do with some new fangled unknown brand. I spent some time explaining how they were fairly new in the industry, their products were quality, top of the line items. I explained to him how industry journalists had given them good reviews, and that they were ranked very well in the customer satisfaction surveys. The customer left in a huff, insisting I was trying to push something on him. He said he would go over to [Big Blue] where they had "real" TV's and brands.

A couple of days later he came back, somewhat repentant and more interested in my help. He told me that [Big Blue] had the exact same brands we did, and they charged far more for them than we did. He said that his friends told him about Olevia, and the model I showed him was a reasonably good buy for the price.

So, he asked more questions about the product and the model, I helped him see how it worked, and he purchased it. Several hundred dollars later, the guest was happy and the company had a little more to add to the bottom line.

Now, if it had been some average schmoe working the department that day, like many I have seen work in our store, they would have basically given a response somewhat like "hell if I know, I just work here. I have no idea who Olevia is either. It's just a TV. Either buy it or not, I don't care, I'm just holding the keys until someone else comes to get me outta here." Most likely we would have lost that sale.

Because I had taken the time to learn information the company won't give me, I saved a sale for them anyway. Fairly soon I may just take my knowledge to a competitor who will value what I've learned.