Today I attended a training session held at the head office of the Shaver Shop. Since I needed to be up at 6am to be ready by 7.30am so I could get there on time, I naturally stayed up until 5am and then got an hour of sleep. I can only assume that my sleep deprivation was the reason I learned ABSOLUTELY NOTHING from the session.

Oh wait, that’s not entirely true. I did learn that the corporate figures apparently don’t care if a customer only wants to spend $150.00, they want us to promote the $510.00 shaver ANYWAY. Does that sound like a good strategy to you?

Let’s say there are 15 shavers in the rotary section, and the customer says they don’t want to spend over $200.00 on one, for whatever reason they may have. If I start at the very top, then I have to go through about six shavers before I reach their price range. If I tell them all about six different shavers, what do you think will happen? Information overload, of course.

The customer will become confused, and they will leave. Then they will most likely go to K-mart and buy a shaver from there. K-mart won’t provide them with instructions on how to shave, or a protective spray for their blades. They won’t receive advice on the right shaver for them, and they will most likely end up unhappy with the product they bought. Also, they will probably tell people about the negative experience they had at the Shaver Shop.

I don’t care how the corporate knobs tell me to sell; I am going to sell the customer what the customer needs, even if that does mean only selling a $100.00 razor instead of a $510.00 razor. The other trainees were all for the ‘go for the best and most expensive always’ strategy, and I wonder how many of their customers will make use of the 60 day trial period because they weren’t given a product that actually suited them.

I enjoyed asking difficult questions and generally speaking up if I thought something was wrong today. The training I’ve received with the Shaver Shop has done wonders for my self-esteem, and I was even able to take part in the role-play sales without too much nervousness. In front of new people, even. Woo!

That is all. xox