For the last two days, I had made my way to a beauty expo held at KLCC to survey the market. Actually, it's my second day in a row to the Expo. Both times, it was a rushed job, as my staff & I barely had much hours to roam around the place.
On Monday, I headed with my staff to check out the place. The traffic wasn't that bad in Kuala Lumpur during that time (about 3.30pm ish), and I had dragged a friend, Asta along too as well. We managed to procure ourselves some Ayuverdic body skincare products, managed by a Chinese.
One Tuesday, I went with my cousin, Jane to the show. It was not initially in our books to head to the show, but as there were some products on showcase essential to a woman's youthfulness and upkeep, my cousin was all for it. She is about five years my senior, and has about 10 years of salesmanship experience under her belt. So of course, this was pretty much her forte. >.<
Since I was the person managing a new area of interest for our exhibition, and had to solicit new leads, you can imagine the difficulty of the situation for the freshman that I was. Thankfully, Jane was generous in heaping advice and tips in this area of Marketing & Selling.
Some Understanding & Learning to take away from the survey:
1) Companies that are new in the market, and are looking for dealers make good leads as they need to increase public awareness of their range of products. Their managers are and would be more open to the different avenues where they can create awareness for their merchandise, and hence their decision making process to close would be shorter.
2) Companies with established range of products no longer need an expo to create and raise awareness for their products. A range of products like SKII, Kanebo, etc have established their reputation in the skincare market. It would not be to their best interest to participate in an end-user expo, as this would not complement their reputation, and "devalue the image" of their products.
3) Always bring an ample supply of name cards to Expos. You never know when you may find a prospect lead. However, this can be done discreetly, as not to invoke the attention of the Organiser's staff who may not tolerate a competition's misdeameanor at their expense.
4) When giving the name card to the lead, also too telling them the location of a popular place which has good crowd traffic will surely perk up their interest. As the sales person to, say to the prospect that you will "contact them", and DO get in touch with them!!
5) Foreign companies may not bring much resources with them (meaning, a few products here & there, and some pamphlets, and brochures). However, do not think low of their potential, as should they be able to find a dealer, that will mean up to about half a million Dollars/Ringgit worth of merchandise being imported, as I was informed by my Manager during a discussion.
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Saturday, May 16, 2009
Malaysia: Hard-sellling Outlet Managers
The Bad Experience I had Today:
Today I had an experience with this Chinese manager, Christine who had replaced the current beauty salon manager of the Outlet that I am currently patronizing. It's the time of the month, where I presume that perhaps the HeadQuarters are pushing their outlet managers to reach their sales quota but this is no excuse for such behaviour from a Salon Manager.
Christine kept insisting that I convert my current service package that I am using to the one she had in mind., which was a "so-called" promotion by their company. Guess how much is that amount?
Amount To Convert:
RM3,000.00! WHAT? Does she think that money grows on trees?
She was hounding me from the second week I started with her (I've only done only 5 days out of the 25 days that I was eligible to). So I've got a total of 20 more days my treament credits to go. Plus two more facial credits.
Christine's Faux Paux:
Christine had the gall to say that whatever in "black & white" that Kelly (the previous manager who is a Chinese) has written for me will be the one that Christine will continue prescribing to me. Whereby, what Kelly had done was, that was for the recording purposes "in black & white" for the HeadQuarters to see, but she as Manager could do as she deemed fit to help me achieve my outcomes.
There are some key areas where she had done wrong whereby,
1) She critisized the past work of past staff when they had not done anything wrong, is just really wrong. It gives a bad impression to clients of her as a Manager.
2) Taking the reassurance out of customers for a past purchase will only deter them from patronizing the service provider in future. It makes them feel that they have made an unwise decision in making that transaction.
3) Not honouring the promises that were given by the previous Outlet Manager. Does that mean that your company's representatives can't deliver its promises?
Further, she stated that in order for "results to show" from the services that I had purchased, I will have to "top-up" on it, so that it will be GUARANTEED. RIGHT.
From previous experience, according to Kelly, she had said that the terms "Guaranteed Assurance" means that the client must be willing to "listen to the beauty consultant's recommendations", in which according to this blog author's translation means:
"to further invest financially" in paying more for "further expensive un-necessary so-called-complementary-merchandise-which-may-or-may-not work". Which could cost the customer a freaking few more Grand in Ringgit Malaysia.
What Christine Should Have Done:
The biblical words of " A House that is Divided Will Not Stand" comes to mind.
1) Christine should have been more FLEXIBLE & "looked further to the BIG PICTURE", by playing along with what Kelly had done, stating that what Kelly had decided was the best option during that time, but they had come up with a better alternative scheme "along the way" to help the customers.
2) She should have taken the path of converting my "unused credits" to more "viable options" that would help me achieve what I had set out to do sooner, rather than "threatening" the client. By doing so, it would have left the client with a more satisfying solution.
As they say, a "satisfied customer" will bring in more leads (which will translate to more sales).
My Best Solution to Manage this Scenario:
I had a good mind to report her to the HeadQuarters. But what did I finally do?
I wanted to see what she will do next. So, I just IGNORED her and told her she can do whatever she wants to do, gave her a nice smile, & walked out of the salon.
In future, I will just ignore her suggestions, since Christine has just lost my trust as a "trustworthy Manager". Yes, and I might drop a word with the HQ after all. I want to see what else the company would do from now.
Today I had an experience with this Chinese manager, Christine who had replaced the current beauty salon manager of the Outlet that I am currently patronizing. It's the time of the month, where I presume that perhaps the HeadQuarters are pushing their outlet managers to reach their sales quota but this is no excuse for such behaviour from a Salon Manager.
Christine kept insisting that I convert my current service package that I am using to the one she had in mind., which was a "so-called" promotion by their company. Guess how much is that amount?
Amount To Convert:
RM3,000.00! WHAT? Does she think that money grows on trees?
She was hounding me from the second week I started with her (I've only done only 5 days out of the 25 days that I was eligible to). So I've got a total of 20 more days my treament credits to go. Plus two more facial credits.
Christine's Faux Paux:
Christine had the gall to say that whatever in "black & white" that Kelly (the previous manager who is a Chinese) has written for me will be the one that Christine will continue prescribing to me. Whereby, what Kelly had done was, that was for the recording purposes "in black & white" for the HeadQuarters to see, but she as Manager could do as she deemed fit to help me achieve my outcomes.
There are some key areas where she had done wrong whereby,
1) She critisized the past work of past staff when they had not done anything wrong, is just really wrong. It gives a bad impression to clients of her as a Manager.
2) Taking the reassurance out of customers for a past purchase will only deter them from patronizing the service provider in future. It makes them feel that they have made an unwise decision in making that transaction.
3) Not honouring the promises that were given by the previous Outlet Manager. Does that mean that your company's representatives can't deliver its promises?
Further, she stated that in order for "results to show" from the services that I had purchased, I will have to "top-up" on it, so that it will be GUARANTEED. RIGHT.
From previous experience, according to Kelly, she had said that the terms "Guaranteed Assurance" means that the client must be willing to "listen to the beauty consultant's recommendations", in which according to this blog author's translation means:
"to further invest financially" in paying more for "further expensive un-necessary so-called-complementary-merchandise-which-may-or-may-not work". Which could cost the customer a freaking few more Grand in Ringgit Malaysia.
What Christine Should Have Done:
The biblical words of " A House that is Divided Will Not Stand" comes to mind.
1) Christine should have been more FLEXIBLE & "looked further to the BIG PICTURE", by playing along with what Kelly had done, stating that what Kelly had decided was the best option during that time, but they had come up with a better alternative scheme "along the way" to help the customers.
2) She should have taken the path of converting my "unused credits" to more "viable options" that would help me achieve what I had set out to do sooner, rather than "threatening" the client. By doing so, it would have left the client with a more satisfying solution.
As they say, a "satisfied customer" will bring in more leads (which will translate to more sales).
My Best Solution to Manage this Scenario:
I had a good mind to report her to the HeadQuarters. But what did I finally do?
I wanted to see what she will do next. So, I just IGNORED her and told her she can do whatever she wants to do, gave her a nice smile, & walked out of the salon.
In future, I will just ignore her suggestions, since Christine has just lost my trust as a "trustworthy Manager". Yes, and I might drop a word with the HQ after all. I want to see what else the company would do from now.
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