On-line onslaught!

We are living in times when people wish to buy things at the click of a button.
That is fine. Convenient. And that is the outcome of advancement of technology.
At the same time there are certain goods which are at best bought after discussion
with an expert.
When a customer approaches me asking for an air-conditioner, I invariably ask
them two things: Which locality do you live and is it your own place?
Most people get irritated with these questions but see the logic once I explain
them the reason behind them.
Certain localities have poor to very poor voltage and I know which kind of
stabilizer will suit them. There are various stabilizers which boost from 10 to
50 volts. So if the customer takes a stabilizer which boosts 10 volts to an area
which requires upto 40 volts boosting then he will have to come back and get a
proper stabilizer (which could cost upto Rs.2000 more!).
Similarly a person buying a 1 ton unit may soon move to a place with a larger
room which requires 1.5 ton unit. He would do well to straight away buy a bigger
capacity unit.
But on the flip side I find that most sellers forget that they are in the service
business and say: Let them take what they want. If there is an issue they will
come back to us!!
That is not my cup of tea....

Digital India - Digital Sales!!

Whats up?  Digital India – Digital Sales!!

Around 4 p.m. yesterday as I was watching TV, I received a message from an unknown number.

A person had messaged me asking me if we sell water dispensers.

Yes, of course, we do.

He asked me the price (he was buying for his company) and negotiated the price.

He then asked me to send an image of the item referred to.

Once done, he gave his address and said payment will be COD.

I asked him how soon he wanted the item and he asked me if it is possible to send the

Unit at once since the morrow is election day and a holiday.

I said it is possible and the unit was delivered by 6 p.m.

You might ask what is great in this. Well all of the above happened in Whatsapp messaging

and we never spoke to each other!!! (Of course before sending the unit I phoned him and

after having some goody=goody talk told him that the unit will reach him within half-an-hour.)

Zeroing in!

Before you begin your sales talk you need to zero in.

Yesterday a customer rang me up:

Customer: Ji, muje ek ac chchahiye tha..

Me: Milagana... window ya split?

C: Split

M: Inverter ya non-inverter?

C: Ji Inverter....

M: 1 ton ya 1.5 ton?

C: Muje 1 ton ka ac chchahiye tha...

M: 3 star ya 5 star?

C: 3 star

Ha, ha. Now I have a fair idea of what is his requirement. I need to talk further to
find out if 1 ton would suffice for him....

Give me "College" air-conditioners.

A lady spoke from an Engineering college near Chennai the other day.

She said: Sir we want college air-conditioners. We are looking for ten college air-conditioners.
Give us the best price because we are buying ten units.....

I told her that there is no such thing as a college air-conditioner. What exactly is your requirement?

We want ten air-conditioners for our lab. Split units....

I told her that ten units of 1.5 ton split units will cost them approximately Rs.xxx and that
only if they are willing to pay upfront will we send our quotation. I asked her to send their
mail id by SMS.

She never came back!!

Truth - but not the whole truth!!

Yes. At times people tell you the truth. But not the whole truth.

A famous brand of appliance manufacturer had released advertisement in the print media that their appliances conform to the latest 2019 star norms. So people should not get fooled!

Ha ha. Yes Sir that is true.

But if one looks carefully at the star rating label displayed prominently in the very same ad. he will notice that the label period is from 1.1.2018 to 31.12.2019.

So much so an appliance made in early 2018 by another manufacturer also has a product which conforms to the 2019 norms!!

Having said that we see Kwality Walls ads. proclaiming "more CREAMIER". Agreed but theirs is not an ICE CREAM!!