May 30, 2007
007
Ok, I can't take this inactivity. Really. I'm not so good with it. ESPECIALLY when it's a flippin' oven in this place already at 8:30 in the morning.
So, I've devised a plan. I'm goin' under cover.
I figure I'll head out and hit some stores. Oh, not any of MY customers, the competition. The opportunities. Those poor unknowing victims......
I love this. I get dressed (always a good start), nothing fancy, just comfy. Then I get in the car and drive. Drive til I see a Mattress store, Furniture store, Appliance store. Any place that looks like it might sell my product. Then.....are you ready for this? It's pretty high tech espionage. Then, I shop. Period. I walk in, tell them I'm just looking and just devour the store.
Now, I can't take notes, that would be a dead give away. So I memorize everything I can. Then, as soon as I get to the car I write like a crazy woman. That way, I've covered three bases. I know my market - who the players are, who's at what price points, etc. I know the demographic - who shops where. AND I get leads.
I can only really do this when I'm new in a territory. Like I've said a few times, it's kinda hard to miss a 6'2" woman and people tend to remember my face. So.....while I'm still "fresh" I want to kick this out. Plus - honestly, I've not done a lot of "home" shopping since I've lived here so I have no idea what's out there.
But this should be kinda fun. In a twisted shopping-lover-salesperson kinda way.
Plus - it'll get me out of this damned heat!
Posted by Tammi at May 30, 2007 08:49 AM | TrackBack
Ever thought about getting a digital recorder? You could play it back later and analyze their sales pitches.
Posted by: Graumagus at May 30, 2007 01:26 PMhave you thought of leaving yourself detailed voice mail messages as if u were talking w/some one? or hav you thought of calling& having a casual conversation whereby you're dictsting to the stuff & they're typing what ur saying. or you can get a voice activated recorder & use it with a headset that has a microphone while the recorder is in ur purse & later type out the notes. saying stuff like hey ethel guess what brand x of mattresses has a really wonderfully soft satin finish but its a bit steep @$10K.
or hey ethel ur never gonna believe the kinds of new fangled things they're doing with mattresses these days. or pretend ur talking to hubby cause he's to busy to shop.
that way you never miss any details. that's just a few ideas at the top of my head.
Posted by: michele at May 30, 2007 05:39 PMGood suggestions. However, Michele, I don't have anyone to dictate too. (story of my life) I devised this system when I first hit the road selling steel. And I've found it forces me to focus on things and then by writing it down right away it sticks in my memory better.
The whole purpse, for me anyway, is to gain "expertise" to become the person that KNOWS what's going on in the market.
Yesterday I scored a homerun, but discovering one of our competition has a bed out SIMILAR to our new product that's launching next week. My boss didn't know about it. My reward? I get a free bed. WooHoo.
And I sounded like a real pro - like I knew what I was talking about. :-)
But I like the ideas. I just don't want to get thrown out of any stores for a while. ;-)
Posted by: Tammi at May 31, 2007 08:31 AM