"How to Sell a $35,000 Watch in a Recession"

[walkuere]

The Wall Street Journal

Nothing new for us of course, but entertaining ;)

Frank

[mark996]

Very interesting!

I'd be deeply (and unreasonably, I admit) irritated if I asked the price of a watch and was told "The value is £x."

[M4tt]

It is that sort of self conscious manipulation that puts me right off the idea of even entering a watch store.

Not least because it is so damn effective.

[Rizzio]

"Flattery sells, so to further those positive emotions, he insists that sales associates compliment the customer’s own watch, even if it’s from a competitor."

Yikes. This sounds eerily familiar...

[Jay]

I witnessed this first hand at the new flagship IWC boutique in HK, an absolutely fantastic place. The saleswoman had me sat down in an extremely comfortable leather chair with offers of coffee and champagne and before i even knew it had the watch off my wrist and onto on a nice leather tray, only not between two watches, but the entire new aquatimer range including the Galapagos and the Big and normal Ingenieurs. Mine however didn't exactly look a bit old, had the brand shiny new Grand Seiko i'd picked up a few minutes earlier :D I have to say that it was quite an experience and i very nearly was tempted into buying. In the end i didn't, but i did walk out with a gift. :D

A great place, wonderful knowledgeable service (about discontinued IWC's as well as current), and by the looks of it pretty much every current IWC. The whole experience was a real pleasure and the like i've not found before.

[benrapp]

Clearly the author found the whole thing as repellent as I do. Personally, I think the best way to sell watches is to people the store with enthusiasts who know watches in general, have a good line in friendly chat, make no effort to sell to you at all and are ready to do a sensible deal if you decide to buy.

Whenever I've bought new (about one third of the time, I think) it's been this way - often in Europe rather than the UK or US. There's a chap in Italy where we have a ski flat from whom I've bought a couple of watches who gets this completely - no oleaginous pretence that I am somehow a superior being, and no absurd insistence that he cannot discount. By the same token, no pointless 'gifts' and no crass manipulation of my wife (who was present for both purchases). Above all, no transparently exploitative attempt to guilt-trip me into buying something for her (or indeed to encourage me to buy something for myself if we were there for her in the first place).

[TheFlyingBanana]

I can honestly say, and often tell sales people within the first few seconds of encountering them, that no sales "techniques" work on me.

I was taught most of them many years ago (in a different professional life) by a guru in the field. If I detect that any sales person is trying to use such ploys on me I tend give them one warning and if they don't heed it I walk away immediately.

I manage large spending budgets in my current position, which are entirely at my discretion for spending, and I adopt the same approach there too.

I just want the facts, straight, and I'll make up my own mind.

[andrew]

Oh FFS :evil:

"Would "sir" like to place his battered old Air-King between these two shiny and huge penile substitutions whose value to you has been predetermined by some twentysomething economist on the East Coast whilst "sir" chooses a blend from George Clooney's (tm) Choice (R) of Nespresso (tm) caffay? Would sir please hold momentarily whilst I put on my white gloves and take another spritz of fragrance."

Give me strength. I guess some people get off on this unctuousness, though.

[jonny]

Oh FFS :evil:

"Would "sir" like to place his battered old Air-King between these two shiny and huge penile substitutions whose value to you has been predetermined by some twentysomething economist on the East Coast whilst "sir" chooses a blend from George Clooney's (tm) Choice (R) of Nespresso (tm) caffay? Would sir please hold momentarily whilst I put on my white gloves and take another spritz of fragrance."

Give me strength. I guess some people get off on this unctuousness, though.

Rememeber people love to feel important & athe centre of attention even if they are trying to make you part with 3 grand !

[markedwards146]

A little of topic but I used to live in canada, and my girlfriend at the time was buying a laptop from a store, (futureshop)

She made up her mind with the sales lady and agreed a price, in the time it took to get to the checkout the lady had asked her 3 times if she wanted to buy the extended warranty, on the 4 time she was declined more forcibly by her, on the 5th time she was told that if she asks her on more time the deal was off.

It went ok for about 4 minutes why the lady inputted the details for sale, where upon as she has the credit card in hand, above the swipy thing she states

"This is the last chance for the extended warranty we offer"

At which point the girlfriend grabs the card and storms off leaving me to smile and point out politly she was warned.

Its the hard sell like that, that really puts me off buying, in an ideal world I would like to see a price, if I think its fair I will pay it, but alas, we do not live in this world!

:salute:

[alanski]

A little of topic but I used to live in canada, and my girlfriend at the time was buying a laptop from a store, (futureshop)

She made up her mind with the sales lady and agreed a price, in the time it took to get to the checkout the lady had asked her 3 times if she wanted to buy the extended warranty, on the 4 time she was declined more forcibly by her, on the 5th time she was told that if she asks her on more time the deal was off.

It went ok for about 4 minutes why the lady inputted the details for sale, where upon as she has the credit card in hand, above the swipy thing she states

"This is the last chance for the extended warranty we offer"

At which point the girlfriend grabs the card and storms off leaving me to smile and point out politly she was warned.

Its the hard sell like that, that really puts me off buying, in an ideal world I would like to see a price, if I think its fair I will pay it, but alas, we do not live in this world!

:salute:

nice , me and your ex gf will get on well :) i give them a price if they can't get near it im outta there if they are semi reasonable i will give them the time and listen to see what they have to say :)

[walkerwek1958]

Interesting article,

I`m too old, cynical and streetwise to fall for any of the sales speil. As soon as the sales staff realise that I know plenty about watches, they seem to turn off. They are obviously trained to sell to less discerning customers and to champion the emotive aspects of owning the watch in question by trying to justify the price.

Here's an example: I recently looked at a bicolour Rolex Datejust at a local AD. When I commented on the high price I was reminded that 'gold has increased in value over the last 2 years'. If I weighed the gold content of the watch and did the maths the price increase over the last 2 years wouldn`t be justified; we all know that yet sales staff are trained to come out with such silly comments that don`t stand up to searching scrutiny. The customer is buying perceived value; I just wish the sales staff would stop trying to justify the prices on a spurious 'pseudo-objective ' basis.

Paul

[ralphy]

Very interesting!

I'd be deeply (and unreasonably, I admit) irritated if I asked the price of a watch and was told "The value is £x."

I'd prefer to make up my own mind as to the 'value' of the item. :wink:

R

[shadowninja]

Evil stuff... preying on the weak-minded. I love to confuse salesmen by letting them do their best, going along with it, then saying, "Actually, no." and offering nothing to work with. But, then, I am an arsehole. And an arsehole who knows about psychology, using it in my daily business. :twisted:

[Dibetu]

Selling is very much a cultural thing. Across the Atlantic customers are used to and actually like these hard sales techniques and plots while Europeans in general prefere a honest less pressurised soft sell approach. It also very much depends on the location of the outlet, whether they deal with loyal repeat customers or like in an airport terminal where its hard sell all the way. Offering a coffee mug instead of a discount will not work in the Far East where haggling hard for cash is part of the fun and culture.

[docrwm]

Selling is very much a cultural thing. Across the Atlantic customers are used to and actually like these hard sales techniques and plots while Europeans in general prefere a honest less pressurised soft sell approach. It also very much depends on the location of the outlet, whether they deal with loyal repeat customers or like in an airport terminal where its hard sell all the way. Offering a coffee mug instead of a discount will not work in the Far East where haggling hard for cash is part of the fun and culture.

Really. Like to tell me about my culture? When someone pulled that "Value" BS on me I said "Really, let's see the appraisal then?!" Blank stare, stutter, err......

Many of us "Across the Altantic" find such blatant BS to be a real turn off. I have done precisely what another posters ex-Girlfriend did - state once CLEARLY that no more BS was to be tolerated and when it came - left with my money in hand.

[Ivan Melbourne]

In the watch and jewellery business the average cost of raw materials is roughly 10-15% of the retails price.

Anybody who can persuade me to pay the full retails price has got to be good and no amount of clever sales pitches would ever persuade me - not yet anyway.

Good Hunting out there

Ivan
iwcforme

I was in Jura Watches trying on Sinns yesterday - the 356 is absolutely lovely but that's another story.

I was struck by the fact that nobody tried to sell me anything while I was there. They were very happy to let me try on a few watches, chat about Sinn and how the new line is selling, give me a card and let me walk out the door. There was no push at all to buy anything, let alone to do it that day.

I have no connection with Jura at all but the laid back approach makes me more likely to go back there in future.

[b11ocx]

Can't see the problem really.

Every professional sales organisation employs sales techniques which are fundamentally similar and work on a basic principle.

Now (What is the current situation)
Ideal (What would the customers "utopia" be
Change (What change can we bring to the customer)
Effect (What is the effect of that change)

There are a hundred variants of the above, but they all do pretty much the same thing. Put the IWC pitch into that context.

[jonny]

I was in Jura Watches trying on Sinns yesterday - the 356 is absolutely lovely but that's another story.

I was struck by the fact that nobody tried to sell me anything while I was there. They were very happy to let me try on a few watches, chat about Sinn and how the new line is selling, give me a card and let me walk out the door. There was no push at all to buy anything, let alone to do it that day.

I have no connection with Jura at all but the laid back approach makes me more likely to go back there in future.

I find this the best approach! I know what im looking for so dont need the salesman approach!