Good vs Pushy salesmen, and Things I Can't Control

When I applied to this job, I was asked what I thought the difference was between a good salesman and a pushy one. I answered that a good salesman finds out what a customer needs and works to fill those needs, while a pushy salesman tries to sell as much as possible without any regards to the customer’s needs or decision-making abilities. I was told this was a “Good answer!”. However – and I don’t know why I was surprised to find this out – I am apparently expected to be a “pushy salesman” a lot of the time.

For example, I am expected to sell about $150 worth of accessories with every digital camera. Now, with one-Gig cards costing less than a hundred bucks, most camera bags going for 10 or 20, and most cameras’ rechargeable batteries costing for $30-70 (except for rechargeable AAs, which are about $15), you can see I’d have to sell pretty much EVERYTHING in order to make that mark. We also sell membership cards and damage-protection warranties, which I guess would also help me reach that mark. But the fact is, not everyone needs $140 worth of crap with their camera. Most people today are buying their SECOND digital camera (I’m looking at my 5th, myself), so they already have a memory card and a bag. If the camera is AA powered, people will probably not want extra batteries then and there, and if it’s powered by one of those little Lithium-Ion rechargeable blocks, not every customer will decide it’s worthwhile buying an extra one for $70. Not every customer will want a damage-protection warranty, which is kinda expensive (cheaper than getting the camera fixed if it breaks, especially if it breaks multiple times, but still more than you’d like to spend). Some customers DO want it all, but most will take just one or two of these extra items. If I’m looking to fulfill my customers’ needs, how can I be expected to sell them $140 worth of crap with every camera? Given their picture-taking habits, and stuff they already own, it would make no sense for most of them to spend that much. But I am still told I should sell more add-ons. More add-ons. Gotta have those add-ons, baby. Guys, guess what, I got a FEVER, and the only PE’SCRIPTION, is MORE ADD-ONS. Yeah, I WISH Christopher Walken were my manager. Oh, wait, no, I don’t.

My performance is also monitored by what fraction of my camera sales also had damage-protection warranties, what fraction of my photo-finishing sales (developing film) had film sold along with the pictures, what fraction of my photo-finishing sales had a membership card sold along with the pictures, etc. Now, what if my customers don’t WANT film? Most of them buy film at Costco, where it’s cheaper. Many of them already have membership cards (which cost $16 but get them big savings on photo-finishing – It pays for itself if you get double-prints 3x a year or more), or have decided they don’t take enough pictures for the card to pay for itself. Why should my performance as a salesman be judged on what fraction of the population needs or doesn’t need this or that? Because rating my performance through how well I fulfill people’s needs is much harder, and because the bottom line is how much money I bring into the store, not how well I fulfill customers’ needs. Ideally, a salesman’s duty is to his customer, but in practice, it’s to his employer. So I guess it’s “Now that we see you know What a good salesman is vs What a pushy salesman is… be as pushy as you need to be to make us as much money as you can".

I make everyone aware of all the options that they could possibly want (no one buys ANYTHING without being offered a membership card and told what it gets you, and NO ONE buys a camera without having our optional damage-protection warranty explained to them), and people buy what they think they need. If they think they need very little, I remind them of the benefits, and of how easy it is for this or that to pay for itself. But if they don’t want it, they don’t want it. I’m doing my best, and just how good that ends up being (sales-wise) is determined by what people want/need, which is NOT something I can control. My manager tells me, “You should try to sell more damage protection warranties”, or, “Last week your percentage of film-per-photofinishing-order was low, you should sell more film”, and I say “Ok, I’ll try harder”, and I think “I’m already trying as hard as I can”. Of course, when I say “Ok, I’ll try harder”, I have to ACT as though I really want to try harder, as if what customers have been getting were determined not by what they need but by what I Jedi-mind-trick them into wanting. I can’t just say “I’m trying my best already, you stupid manager”, I have to sound convincing in saying “The fact few people this week needed film was actually MY fault”.

And while we’re on “things I can’t control but am told I should improve”… Our DISTRICT manager sometimes reminds us how sales are going down, the store made more money in photo-finishing on October last year than it did on October THIS year, etc… First of all, how many photo-finishing orders we do depends on how many customers walk in the door with film (or memory cards). It’s up to THEM. We’re not supposed to go knocking on doors, asking “You got any pictures you need developed/printed/enlarged/scanned?”. So what are WE supposed to do about this? Secondly, WELCOME TO THE DIGITAL AGE. Why do you think I bought a digital camera? Because taking pictures, and developing only the ones I like (if any), is MUCH CHEAPER than dropping off rolls of film (and then buying more film).

My manager, and my district manager, clearly feel like they have to put pressure on me to sell more. I wonder whether they realize I am not actually compelled by this pressure at all, and that I just ACT like I'm worried about my clearly not trying hard enough. I do my best all the time, and each week’s results are pretty much a product of chance, of who walks in the store and what they need.

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