Originally posted by Fran Carango:
WOW Kingfrog, I understand the "not getting involved" attitude....mostly from unexperienced sales people....It sure looks like you put yourself in that category..
I think you do your customers an injustice, by being what appears to me a true "snob" to relatively new equipment...
I have been in the MI business longer than you, and I have seen these attitudes..they just don't work..Customer's want confidence in the sales person, and sharing your own opinion that is substantiated, not surmised..can go a long way..
To totally dismiss a product that other people have expressed is a very good product..people with more experience than you..is just as Goldie Hawn says is "dumb dumb dumb"..
This OFD company is selling products that compete and even surpass the name brand products...sure the price is low, they are a wholesaler that decided to sell direct instead of jobbers and dealers that share your way of thinking...The price point is also because they have to go head to head with name brands.....Let's see...maybe the name brands are grossly overpriced...You have a manufacturer, and then an importer, and than a jobber, sometimes more than one jobber, and then a dealer....Think there isn't a lot of mark up?
Guys that asked ..the 802's have enough power to play a 150 person room, with plenty of head room..
Are they better than the Bose L1?...Maybe for certain situations, they may just be better....Bang for the dollar, a no brain-er may be even considered..
I will say this the L1 without a sub...give "me" the 802's...and the rest of the money can buy a lot of waffles..:
Kingfrog, I would ask your boss to order a pair of 802's...just so you can compare the Mackie 350's and those Eons too...Heck the worst it can do is sell the Mackies for you..right. .....and than again, maybe you can be enlightened about your closed world...a product you know nothing about..but trashed..because you just know... ...Don't tell your boss , he can't sell them as a dealer..they don't want dealers..
I would say the BOSE without the sub is incomplete and my Klipsh would sound better....LOL They are DESIGNED WITH the sub.
You are right. I am not experienced in sales and you may have operated differently but I am consistently top in sales month after month. I'm the "new" old breed LOL
I don't tell or dictate to the customer what they need. this is not brain surgury. They have EARS, the know what THEY like.Al I do demo what THEY want. Not what I think they should want. Whether a PA or keyboard. I EMPOWER the less knowledgeable to use THEIR ears, fingers, not MY opinion. My opinion means nothing when they realize they CAN hear what they want and further has little merit to pros who already know what they want. If they want to know why there are Grover tuners on a $200 guitar, I tell them. Greg Bennett always wanted Grove tuners as a kid so his design has them at every price level. Is the guitar better because it has $50 tuners? That's where THEIR opinion means more than mine. I inform, they decide. I'm not selling cars. No pressure. No targets.
I can;t argue with the owners success. a two level piano/MI store in a MALL open 12 hours a day 364 days a year with no flooring plan is not cheap. My boss knows what empowerment means. I pass it on to the customer. Too many sales people want to tell us what we need. Want us to believe they know more than we do about our needs and wants. We are all dummys to them. My customers are not dummys.I just have to convince them of that.
I sell Behringer and the Yamaha BR series. AFTER they hear them and they understand the differences between them and the better brands and models,I know when they leave they have heard as much as I can demo and made their choice. THEY MADE THEIR CHOICE...NOT MINE.
I have sent people home without a sure purchase because I felt they were "settling" rather then getting what they want.When in another month or so they could afford what they want. Especially in guitars. I learned the hard way never to settle for something IF you know at some point in the near future you can get what your really want. Believe it or not customer appreciate that and always come back. If a guy wants the 8" $400 monitors speakers but can only afford the $300 5" ers I will tell them to wait and get what they want. Most do and are grateful.
I will absolutely dismiss a product based on the acceptance of like products a particular group uses. Call it snobbery if you like. I call it judicious choice based on my experience and what the group accepts as excellent. Its all relative. We buy the best we can afford for the clients who hire us.
Although your idea is a good one, I would not order any speaker and sell it for 30% MORE than someone can get one on the net. If someone wants a cheap powered speaker we don;t carry, there are places I can send them to read about them.; This site is one of them. I have no problem with sending people to read your posts or those here and let them make their own decisions.
The store owner trusts us to decide what to carry and what not to carry. He is a piano/organ guy not so much MI. We have our specialties and he takes advantage of that. He also knows I am a straight shooter and believe in relationship MORE than a quick sale TODAY. Sometimes he wishes I would just sell, LOL..in fact A lot... but at the end of the month he sees I do exactly that, more than most, so although he shakes his head at my methodology sometimes, he cannot argue with success If he told me HOW I had to sell, I would tell him to find an 18 year old GC reject. Im out.
Call me a snob but I will not endorse anything based on hearsay by people who use computer speakers as a professional PA System. I KNOW computer speakers, I have them, I build Computers, As good as the Klipsch are I would never consider using them in anything but a classroom.
Anymore than I would recommend my Monitor One Studio monitors because I use them or Joe Meek, or Rode in a professional recording forum or to anyone just starting out, who does not have the opportunity to try them.
There are a lot of electronic components that make claims to rival the best at ridiculously low prices....few live up to those claims. Yours indeed may. But I have every reason to be suspect and since am not in the market for $200 powered PA speakers nor do I have any great influence here, there is little reason to jump on the bandwagon.Please Don't take it personally.
You have plenty of people here who respect your opinion enough to make purchasing decisions based on it.
[This message has been edited by Kingfrog (edited 02-28-2009).]