The title of this post is very apt because these were the parting words I gave to a Sales Manager and his Order Taker sales person the other day as I left a FORD car dealership!

We were looking for a new car for my wife so we chose a garage to take a few models out on the road.

Our objective was to test drive some models and not to buy today.

We were never asked what our objectives were as we met the “sales person”

Anyhow, we went out in 2 cars. Afterwards…

“So, which one are you going to buy today?” said the “sales person”

“None” I replied with

“What?” he said in complete surprise “You came in to the dealership today with no intention of buying?”

“Correct” I added

“So all you wanted to do was test drive some models?”

“Yup” I replied

“Could you just wait here one moment please….” he then went into his Sales Manager’s office

10 minutes later both the “sales person” and his sales manager came out to see us

“Why aren’t you buying today?” said the Sales Manager in a very hard selling, forceful manner

“Because we don’t want to” I replied

What occured then was about 5 minutes of the most out dated, hard selling tactics I’ve seen in a long time.

Statements like this were commonplace ”It’s the best month to buy so I’d purchase today if I were you” and “The cars you drove will be sold this time next week, which one would you like to buy?”

Yawn, Yawn, Yawn

The approach had so much cheese that it was embarrassing!

Yes, these old outdated methods are still being used.

It’s a shame because my wife loved the Kuga that she test drove and would have purchased a model this time next month so the sales person actually lost a £22k sale simply because they wanted the sale THAT DAY.

Lesson – ask questions about what the objectives are of your buyer, how they buy and when they want to buy. Not today does not mean NOT EVER!

It really makes me angry because dinosaurs like that give proper sales professionals a bad name.

Sean

Sean McPheat

Sales Expert - Marketing Consultant - Motivational Speaker

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If you’re a business owner, currently use FLASH and want your sites to have full functionality on Apples iPad, iPhone et al then listen up!

You see, the fight continues and it will affect you in the end!

The constant battle between Adobe and Apple went to new heights earlier this year when Apple announced that the iPad would not support Flash and instead would look to HTML 5.

This is another kick in the “you know where” for Adobe.

Back in 2008 when the iPhone was launched it was rumoured that Adobe would produce an “enhanced flash application” that would support all of Apples innovations but Adobe could never reach Apples high standards of technology.

I think the time has past and the opportunity is now gone forever for Adobe to be partners with Apple and in a straight fight between the two, my money would be on Apple!

So bear this in mind if you are producing videos and applications in flash. If you want them to show up and play on the iPad, iPhone etc then you need to change to something like HTML5.

Happy marketing!

Sean

Sean McPheat

Marketing Consultant – Sales Expert – Motivational Speaker

Just last week, Google launched their newest tool – Google Buzz.

Now you may be wondering why we need another social media tool to latch on to. And yes, that’s exactly what it is – a social media/networking tool. We’ve got Twitter, we’ve got Facebook, and now we’ve got Google Buzz. So what of it?

I find Google Buzz advantageous for one reason over all others -

I’m already logged into Google Gmail every day.

I use it. I’m there. Google Buzz comes to me.

I don’t have to search the entire Internet to find friends and contacts. Google Buzz finds them for me based on what’s in my address book.

I don’t have to learn a new software platform. I don’t have to read every Buzz that comes through, and I don’t have to move from website to website in order to communicate when I do want to talk. I can stay within my web browser and simply move from one application (within Gmail) to the next.

Cool.

Google Buzz isn’t without it’s problems. I can’t customize a profile with my business information. I can’t make my Buzz account completely private (so I will still get requests and followers I don’t even know – like on all the other networks). I can’t use Buzz if I’m not in Gmail.

These are all bugs, though. Bugs I’m sure Google will eventually work out.

So I’d really like to know what you think about Google Buzz. Are you using it yet? Have you found it advantageous, disappointing, or annoying? Let me know what you think. I’d love to know what you plan on doing with it!

Sean

Sean McPheat

Marketing Consultant – Motivational Speaker – Sales Expert

There’s a change brewing in the world of the internet!

I’ve taken this posting straight from http://www.britishinformation.com

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) is to set to approve the introduction of generic domain names written in non-Latin script for the first time. It is expected that the body will approve this change at its conference in Seoul later this week, with ICANN describing the move as the biggest technical change to the internet in its 40-year history. Should the plans go ahead, it will mean that web addresses will be able to be written in scripts such as Arabic, Cyrillic, Hindi and Japanese.

Rod Beckstrom, ICANN’s president and chief executive officer, stated that this change is being initiated due to the increasingly widespread use of the internet in countries which do not use Latin script. He said: “This change is very much necessary for not only half the world’s internet users today but more than half, probably, of the future users as the internet continues to spread.” The move was endorsed earlier this month by internet registry operator Nominet, which described the need to meet the demand for foreign language domain names as a “priority”.

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Should be interesting how this pans out!

Sean

Sean McPheat

Marketing Consultant

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