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!!

Want good service? Choose your technician!!

I was talking to my neighbor yesterday.
He said that he called a technician to clean his split air-conditioner.
The technician came and asked for a whole lot of things, Ladder, soap powder, etc.
He just removed the filters and cleaned them with a tooth brush. He cleaned the front panel
of indoor unit with soap solution and demanded Rs.450. He left in about ten minutes.
My neighbor then called another technician who owns his shop nearby. He came and
for the same Rs.450 did a thorough job and left.
I told my friend: For all jobs you have to identify the right person. Hold on to him!

Test certificate....

A company in the power sector wanted to purchase a few air-conditioners.

This company has been asking me for quotes every now and then but till date they have
not purchased even one single unit.

While so, they again asked for two units and were in the verge of buying them. But then they
wanted to know if "Test certificates" can be furnished for the units!!

Test certificate? I know about these. As per BSS there are two types of tests: Type tests and routine
tests. Routine tests are fairly easy to conduct but type tests are cumbersome and expensive. In the past I have personally submitted motors (after rewinding) for routine tests in IIT Madras and Guindy Engineering College (Now Anna University).

Till now I have not seen a test certificate for a window or split air-conditioner.

Have you seen one?

Sorry, you lost your credibility!

Sorry, you lost your credibility!
Yesterday we went to a famous jewellery shop in Mylapore with whom we have been doing business (though small ticket) for over three and a half decades.
The business has grown but the owner and his kith and kin are no longer taking a personal interest in their business as they used to.
After exchanging old silver for some new silver items I swiped my card three times upon their insistence. Soon three times the amount to be paid by me was debited in my account and I showed them the balance confirmation on my mobile.
But they said that they had not received any credit and that my account would soon be re-credited with the amounts. I agreed and told them I would come back after an hour to collect the items.
Within a short time my account was credited twice leaving the balance one time amount.
After some time I went back to the shop but still they said they had not got the money. They said I could pay cash and in case the amount is credited they would refund the money to me!!
I pointed out that no ATM is working and money does not fall from the sky!! Can't they believe a regular customer who has proved the payment and also they are holding three times the amount in their chit scheme? I had to raise hue and cry before they parted with the items for which they took unduly long time to assess the old value, calculate the new value and so on.
The said business had just lost its credibility!!
I would hesitate, rather desist from doing business with them.Would you?