Anatomy of a failed sales pitch.

I walked into a retail store last week, the salesperson wandered up, big smile,  “How can I help you” he said. Good start, better than the usual “Can I help?” which has as a possible answer, “No thanks, just looking”.

I told him the product category I was looking for, and he then asked “how much do you want to spend?”

Perhaps a logical next question, but the wrong one.

Why should  I trust someone I do not know, whose job it is to sell me as much as possible for as much as possible, with the  boundaries of my budget?

Obviously, had I said $2000, he would have shown me items at $2100, just a touch over my budget, an easy step up of just 5%, and think of all that added functionality, instead of items at $1000 that may have suited my needs just as well.

What he should have done is ask questions about what job I needed done, which features I  needed, and which ones would be just nice to have, did I have brand preferences, and what about the aesthetics?

Had he done all that, he may very well have sold me the $2100 unit, and would almost certainly sold me something, and I have been pleased with the result, but as it was, I thanked him and went down the road.

And we wonder why retail sales are so flat!