boat show salespersons

[revs57]

Yeah Its tough...for us punters and the sales guys alike.

I did my share of time in the motor industry standing at the motor show stands, being lied to by the piunters...and I've done my share of time at the boat show as a punter being lied to or ignored by the sales guys...the balance is hard to achieve.

But there is always a story...I met a young sales bloke at the Sundown Marine stand last week...Jason Bird...I've got the first mate and our biker gear on, and a pocket full of dollars to prepared to spend $000's to fit out our new 6mt Rip Tide project. Jase doesn't know that...

Effectively we were all the wrong type of people...certainly not worth spending time with...not the blue canvas shoe types that's for sure. But Jason really did his job so well, He listened, asked the right questions without acting like the local jacks, my casual querie about a Garmin 172C (I'd been following the posts here about Blue chart etc, etc and figured that was the way to go) then moved to VHF/27Meg, then trim tabs and other stuff when Jason casually hit the trow away..."sounds like your setting up a boat load of stuff"...Any way, He made it possible for us to really enjoy the show without carting arms full of stuff around to fill the harley saddle bags...and has been an absolute fantastic bloke to deal with...he's given us a cracker of a deal and he gonna set up some marks south of the border on the GPS to boot. I'm sure he wouldn't mind the plug...there is always the exception either way

Rhys

[Bosunsmate]

It's not only the boat show, went to the last Townsville fishing & Liesure as well as recent home improvements shows up here and have had the same problem.

Unless you are wearing clothing made from $100 notes they won't even t talk to you half of the time. Even had one guy eat his lunch while I tried to get info on having an extension built for our house which could have been a 4 or 5K job.

I have found the same contempt is present in the boat shops here also, unless you are waving the cash they just ignore you.

What ever happened to the old days of "Good morning sir, how may I be of assistance" And thats not that long ago......

[Fitzy]

I dunno where alot of the Ausfish folks were at the show, but I spoke to hundreds & hundreds of ppl about Humminbird sounders (& no I didnt tell anyone they couldnt afford one > ) & Minn Kotas as well as stacks of other product there.

Generalisations in some ppls comments kinda leave a poor impression with those of us who worked 12 hour days there to help customers out.

fitzy..

[youngfisho]

I found the guys at stinger boats to be really helpful. took the time to listen and show me around but as for any other boat salespersons where were they.


andrew

[cabfisher]

Well I saved my cash I did not go to the boat show .
As I have been to so many In the past and been disapointed so I know better
and what do you get for wasting your cash and time walking around these Clatons shows better just going to a marine center or boat shop and do your barganing .
As no one get a better price at the boat shows than they would get in the shop as there is all the extra cost involed
It just a gimmic to con you in the gates
Have a nice day bye Harry

[Fitzy]

As no one get a better price at the boat shows than they would get in the shop as there is all the extra cost involed
It just a gimmic to con you in the gates
Have a nice day bye Harry

You couldnt be further from the truth. Were some ABSOLUTE CRACKER bargains there. Wont get the same prices elsewhere. I saw alot of very happy folks walking out, bargain in hand.

fitzy..

[PinHead]

It is amazing Fitzy how some sales people do judge "potential" customers on their looks...I even experienced it on 2 occassions when I was looking to buy a boat..went to a dealer on the Gold Coast..wanted to look at a 26' cruisers..he "spared" us a grand total of about 5 minutes of his oh so precious time then started herding us out the gate...the other dealer...they had some models on the water..asked if we could have a look..sure, he says...then he says "I will be back in 10 minutes"..30 minutes later..no him therefore no us..we left. The others we went to were all very good..answered any questions..very keen to show off their products and with a couple of them we made several visits which was never a problem. Oh...some dealers even wanted a deposit prior to a water test...I explained it was going to be a cash purchase...but a water test was required obviously..no deal without a deposit..they did not get the order either. It was an adeventure buying the boat with some of the attitudes ...I used to be the sales manager for a company in my industry and it is amazing...lots of times the people dressed like slobs have the available cash..easy to get on with etc..some of the "yuppy" types...had to arrange finance..absolute pests to deal with..never judge a book by its cover is so very true in sales.

[Brett_Hoskin]

The problem is that too many sales people cannot sell they can only take orders.

[Brett_Hoskin]

SS what you said makes a lot of sense. Just imagine how boring it must be to hear no just looking continuously. Good point.

A good salesman will not bother about the no's . Remember that is his job to try and sell. It is not his job to get sick and tired of listening to no's.

A good salesperson will turn a "just looking" into an enquiry without placing pressure sales tehniques into the equation. The nature of many people is to not want to burdon others with silly questions. The skillfull sales person should be able to recognise body language etc etc to help him recognise a potential customer. Often all it takes is a probing second question to get the customer to open up and tell you what they are really looking for instead of "just looking"

The boat dealers would probably get more sales success if they sent their people off to structured sales courses and placed them on sales targets and monitored their lead following up rather than being professional chatters.

[gogecko]

Gotta agree with you brett. Ive run plenty of training courses for big companies. Good salespeople know how to turn 'just looking' into an enquiry. It starts with an 'open ended question' like 'what have you been catchin latley' instead of a 'closed' question like 'can I help you'.

As well as training, the other problem is with motivation, which comes back to the pay system. A lot of these boat companies must be paying generous salaries plus low bonuses. Anyone who cant earn a living on commission only, shouldnt be in sales.

[kitty_cat]

gecko and brett,
well were do i start , it sounds like yous guys have had bad experiences and certainly dont work as salesman today, iam currently a working salesman with a family and a morgage and a commision only job would be ludicrest besides i like being married, i work in the marine industry because i have a passion for boating and love working with boats and being on the water, yous guys talk about being proffesional salesman with training most marine companies spent plenty of time and money on training and most of us work long hours and do our best to serve punters with the best sevrice possible .

ps the bargains at the show were big bargains

wayne

[Dingas49]

Hello All, being new to Boat fishing (was confirmed Beach fisher) I found some of the salesmen and women at the Boat show were as you say not interested in helping me.

I wandered around looking at what i was interested in and finally had to approach someone to answer my questions.

Then i came to Northside marine where the one of the salesman went out of his way to explain things to a novice. I went back on the sunday to clear up a few things i wanted to know, and the same salesman assisted me.

After walking around some more and not getting any assistance i returned to Northside marine and put a deposit on my first boat. Which is now sitting in my backyard.

[BigE]

stuff a sock in ur wallet ...... that usaully gets the sales staff attention

[SIGNS2503]

I am a used car sales manager with about 6 sales staff who are all on an average retainer with good commissions, they are taught from day one never to ask can I help you. The only thing I ask of them is to say hello and how are you! After that it is purely conversational about the weather, footy, fishing whatever. If you are friendly they will open up to you and tell you what they want.

It is true that salespeople get alot of knocks but that is part of there job! That is what they are paid for!

Whenever I get a customer that gives me the "just looking" after I have said hello, I turn to them and say "oh sorry I wasnt asking you what you were doing here, I was just being polite" (allways smiling of course) This can in my experience start a conversation.

To get back to the question at hand though about being helped at various shows and shops, never hold that against the manufacture as it isnt there fault, and you could end up buying something that doesnt suit you purely because he was a good salesperson and took the time to talk to you.

Always do your research when buying wether it be in shows, shops, talking with other customers waiting to be served or on the internet, you will always get the right product if you do this.

[gogecko]

Hi Kitti Kat.
yes Im a salesman now, and doing well on commission only, no retainer. Ive also trained salespeople for several public companies like Raptis Group, timeshare and even (yuk) call centres. I do know what Im talking about, but I agree that you are entitled to your own opinion.

I wasnt even at the boat show, so dont take much notice of me. I was only generalising.There are good salespoeple and bad in the boating industry, just like any other.

I do agree there are always great bargains at boat shows.

My only point is that poor salesman are usually the result of poor training and poor motivation pay packages (read- paid to bludge). I did not mean to cast aspersions on the very good salespeople that are out there. Perhaps a lot of companies had last minute staff problems and got fillins.
This often happens at expos.

Peace love flowers weed.