Burned out hi fi salesman

Evita,
I've been thinking the same thing but could not figure out how to say it so nicely. Bravo.

Evita

Yes, very well and elegantly stated - the "routine" is ultimately deceitful and manipulative itself. It is sad that people would feel the need to employ that behaviour themselves, and I also appreciate your response.

But on some level, I have to say that I have more empathy and side more with the chippy Porsche buyer, than the hi fi salesman who feels his rarified expertise is wasted when someone innocently asks for their cheap speakers to be repaired.

Because in my experience, there are far more chippy, patronizing, lazy "if you have to ask you can't afford it" salespeople then there are customers wearing disguises. Isnt that why we started this thread?

And those so called salespeople somehow graviate to high end audio stores in higher percentages than other industries which, in my opionion, is one of the reasons that our hobby is hopelessly stuck in a contracting, cottage industry, nobody gives a damn about it mode.

I can see how urban myth stories like this would get started, but your post also prompts a memory of a fellow banker who went into Bergdorf Goodman in midtown NYC with his slinky new younger girlfriend and was treated badly by the salesperson, he thought because he was wearing torn jeans. (Now this guy was not in "disguise", simply badly dressed and a bit of a slob. )

Well, his chippy reaction was to plunk down the Amex Card and buy a $100,000 sable coat for the babe. And in this instance I suppose the salesperson is rewarded despite being a jerk, and the customer is happy because he got to act like a bigshot?

But in the end, what high end audio needs is neither disguised, nor macho big spenders.

What the purveyors of our hobby need to do is a better job educating and delighting paying customers, a better job differentiating, branding, packaging and promoting their products, a better job bring the beauty of music and art into more peoples' lives, and to do all of this with a level of professionalism, charm, charisma, integrity and VIP red carpet service that justifies higher margins which will enable them to have a successful business.

but your post also prompts a memory of a fellow banker who went into Bergdorf Goodman in midtown NYC with his slinky new younger girlfriend and was treated badly by the salesperson, he thought because he was wearing torn jeans.

Slinky new young girlfriends on the arm of a banker carry no less social stigma than does a pitbull on the opposite end of the leash from a skinhead. We're designed to size people up at the surface, so rare is the occasion you will find someone willing to look beyond it. The truth is that unless your friend asks why he got lousy service, he can only presume the reason. If without asking he believes it's because of the torn jeans and slinky babe, then he's already atuned to the image he's presenting, don't you think? You've just described the game, as his disguise belies his ability to plunk down $100K on the Amex.

I agree with what you're saying. There are some woefully inadequate salespeople in this industry, and unfortunately so given the pristine nature of the product they sell. In the end, however, I think it just comes down to communicating what you want. And no, not everyone is selling on your terms. But if you want to cut through the BS, just don't bring it to the table in the first place.

Another issue that compromises this industry is the objective of lowest possible price. As a salesman I was approached fairly often by people who seemed more concerned about the size of the discount than the actual object about which they were asking. I don't know how or why it started but I do not see it going away. Do you?

Excellent question, Macrojack. I do see it going away, actually. When this latest version of the Roarin' 20s comes to a hammering halt, service will again usurp price as the most important selling tool. Until then, we'll continue beating up a salesperson on price in order to feed our sense of entitlement, a prevalent exercise in our superpower culture, and a practice that has little to do with money itself. Just my opinion, naturally.