Barbara wanted a new mobile phone! She’d been talking about getting a new phone for a while, but neither of us could justify buying new ones when we had perfectly workable phones.
Then case of her old Nokia had cracked at the back, which irritated her and was the catalyst for looking for a new phone “with a proper QWERTY keypad”.
So Sunday a week ago, we went around a major shopping centre so I could “do some research” and see what was available.
We’re both with Vodafone – and Barbara used a pre-paid, and I wanted to buy an unlocked phone and not lock into a contract.
Why? You might well laugh, but I wanted the option of using a Telstra Simcard in the phone for when we were travelling the Australian countryside and Vodafone didn’t have coverage!
Why not just move to Telstra? Well that’s a long story which I won’t bore you with. Suffice to say it has to do with feeding a near monopoly that provides lousy service.
Doing my “research”, I walked into a Dick Smith and found the sales people (while very nice), knew absolutely nothing about the phones. The local Vodafone stores didn’t seem that interested either when I told them what I wanted.
We were walking back to the car when Barbara noticed a Crazy John’s. “Let’s go in there!”
Somewhat reluctantly, I followed her in.
Lucy, an Asian girl, mid 20’s came up and asked what we were interested in. I pointed to Barbara and said, “Ask her…”.
And ask Lucy did. In fact she did such a great job that Barbara walked out with a brand spanking new phone on a 12 month contract!
Huh? “I thought you said you didn’t like contracts!!!”
Well, Lucy explained that with the new phone and its data capabilities, we’d need a data allowance and we’d pay twice as much if on a pre-paid system.
When Barbara asked there were shorter contracts, “Sure – you can have a 12 month contract”.
Then Lucy threw in a bunch of other stuff including 1GB of data and even a free case!
She then asked if I’d like a phone too? She could put it under the same name and I’d get a 20% discount.
Well, I wasn’t ready to buy a phone. I still had hidden objections running around my head. I wasn’t sure if the rates were better than what I was on and I still wanted an “unlocked” phone.
Remember, it’s the irrational stuff that can stymie a sale completely!
Barbara spent all of Sunday evening playing with her new toy. And truth be told, I had a good go at it myself!
But for some reason, while the Wi-Fi worked, it wouldn’t connect to the net when outside.
So last Sunday we walked back into Crazy John’s and got them to have a look.
And while they were figuring out the problem, Lucy, who’d recognised me, asked if I was ready to buy a phone.
“Not yet…”, I smiled.
Barbara is heading over to Switzerland for a couple of months and we wanted to make sure Global Roaming was turned on.
“Yes it would be – but it’ll cost you a fortune – about $5 a minute!”
So I suggested she do what she normally did, put a local sim card into a spare phone to get local rates.
And that’s when Lucy inadvertently answered my main hidden objection!
“The phone’s unlocked – you can put a different sim card in and use it.”
Bingo! That covered a major objection of mine – having the phone locked to Vodafone and not being able to switch sim cards.
While all this is going on, I noticed a very sleek Samsung phone and thought, “I wouldn’t mind that one!”
Well, just that weekend, they were running a special. I could have the phone for $0 and get the plan discount.
We could pool the calls and data, get a discount and I could have the phone I wanted. Bargain!
So you guessed it. I’m now the proud owner of a new Samsung Android phone.
Which brings me back to my original point.
When buying something expensive, we often have unvoiced, hidden objections that could scuttle the sale unless they’re brought out into the open and dealt with.
So what could Lucy have done differently?
She’d heard I didn’t like being on a contract – so could have asked why… Chances are I would have told her about my fear that the phone would be locked to the provider, and she could have dispelled the myth and got a faster sale.
Selling is both an art and a science. Mastery comes from learning what to do and then practicing to make it into an art form.
And on that note, ask us about conducting a Value’s Based Sales Workshop session for your business.
Over half a day, we’ll work with your sales and customer facing team to determine the age old customer question – “So what – and why should I care?” when it comes to your product, services and even your company.
These sessions will give you a whole new perspective on features and benefits and demonstrating value to buyers.
Interested? Call me on (02) 9499-7958 for a confidential discussion.
Rashid.
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