More workplace ethics
My colleagues and I are in the throes of learning all about the digital revolution of the recorded music industry, part of which involves going through a training workbook, at the end of which are various scenarii to consider.
No. 1 involves making a recommendation for a fitness fanatic, nothing too difficult there. The second concerns someone wanting to buy a replacement iPod and trying to convince her to get one of our digital players, a concept I'm uncomfortable with as it implies a lack of respect for the customer's wishes. (The floor manager suggested was a matter of putting forward possibilities the customer may not have considered, to which I responded that the information given was so lacking in detail as to be very open-ended.) I made a point of noting, in my answer, that trying to influence a customer in this way could result in their not returning subsequently.
Unfortunately it got worse. Case no. 3 is centred around someone who has never downloaded any music nor bought any such equipment before, with only a limited budget at hand. I forget what the fourth and final situation was (encouraging someone to buy a superior model may have come into it), but by this stage I was too disillusioned with the pushy attitude which appears to be required of us. A novice such as that portrayed in case no. 3 struck me as someone jumping on the band-wagon; I think I would query their reasons for wanting to purchase one of these things in the first place and suggest they spend their money on something they really wanted.
I've got to change what I've written about my occupation in my profile on this site - my job is much less about sales than providing a service. To my mind, anyone can sell CDs; what I bring to it is the ability to recommend and guide customers towards an informed decision about the recordings they buy, a luxury I can afford as my department is not driven by profit. It goes against my principles to be pushy.
I've deliberately left questions 3 and 4 unanswered. Let's see what the bosses have to say ...
No. 1 involves making a recommendation for a fitness fanatic, nothing too difficult there. The second concerns someone wanting to buy a replacement iPod and trying to convince her to get one of our digital players, a concept I'm uncomfortable with as it implies a lack of respect for the customer's wishes. (The floor manager suggested was a matter of putting forward possibilities the customer may not have considered, to which I responded that the information given was so lacking in detail as to be very open-ended.) I made a point of noting, in my answer, that trying to influence a customer in this way could result in their not returning subsequently.
Unfortunately it got worse. Case no. 3 is centred around someone who has never downloaded any music nor bought any such equipment before, with only a limited budget at hand. I forget what the fourth and final situation was (encouraging someone to buy a superior model may have come into it), but by this stage I was too disillusioned with the pushy attitude which appears to be required of us. A novice such as that portrayed in case no. 3 struck me as someone jumping on the band-wagon; I think I would query their reasons for wanting to purchase one of these things in the first place and suggest they spend their money on something they really wanted.
I've got to change what I've written about my occupation in my profile on this site - my job is much less about sales than providing a service. To my mind, anyone can sell CDs; what I bring to it is the ability to recommend and guide customers towards an informed decision about the recordings they buy, a luxury I can afford as my department is not driven by profit. It goes against my principles to be pushy.
I've deliberately left questions 3 and 4 unanswered. Let's see what the bosses have to say ...
posted by Anthony at
23:33
2 Comments:
I absolutely love my iPod, but I would be open to hearing from a competent salesperson what advantages another product might have.
I see you also turned on word verification. Stupid spam.
By
Andy, at 2/9/05 18:09
There's a difference between someone approaching me with a genuine query as to which is better and trying to convert them to your company's way of thinking. That said, I don't consider myself sufficiently knowledgeable to be able to advise you, Andy, except to point out that other players are more versatile that iPods in terms of compatibility.
I was actually going to ask you about word verification until I saw it was a new feature. That spam was getting very irritating.
By
Anthony, at 2/9/05 18:15
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