I used to sell shoes at a snooty department store, and that sounds very similar to my experience. How to be a good shoe salesman? Present a bunch of options, see which one gets the best initial reaction, then snow them about how good their choice is for whatever purpose they said they want it for. Doesn’t matter if the shoe doesnt match their use case; people dont want to be informed or get the best product, they want to be told that their taste is good and they’ll pay a premium for that service
This is honestly why I hate most sales people. I wish they were actually knowledgeable about the products, listened to what I need, then gave recommendations that fit those needs.
That basically never happens outside of very niche products though. They either will just try to sell the most expensive thing that vaguely resembles something I want, or will know nothing and rely solely on what I choose. Basically makes most sales people detrimental instead of helpful.
Being honest and helping people doesnt pay the bills the way flattery does. I’m financially comfortable enough now that I can afford to have principles, but I sure as hell didn’t care about any of that when a missed sale might have meant a missed meal for myself or worse, for my younger brother. Imo it’s a “don’t hate the player, hate the game (capitalism)” situation
I used to work at Best Buy and it was heartbreaking seeing kids passionate about technology and really wanting to help people slowly realize that they were only there to drive profit to the company by selling plans and credit cards.
Edit: This is also relatively-new Best Buy. BB used to have specialized sales staff and cared about its relationship to its customers. Now its been progressively enshittified, raising stock prices, but it’s ultimately going to become a storefront on Amazon.
I was just watching SaTC and Charlotte hired a bridal consultant to help her shop for a wedding dress… and that’s exactly how he operated. He would just look to her and amplify her decision. If she was wishy-washy on a dress, he’d override the salesman’s arguments with a loud “NEXT!” When he saw she loved a dress, he couldn’t stop gushing about it. His job wasn’t really content-specific in this case, it was just emotional support. The comedy of the situation, from my perspective, is that he’s billed as an “expert” with intimate knowledge to bring, but obviously the job 100% relies on a making your clients happy so really the main thing you’re being hired for is reading people.
And the quicker your clients make a decision, the sooner you can go home or on to the next sale.
![Trader Joe's [Rae The Doe]](https://lemmus.org/pictrs/image/bc5314bb-da65-4065-bd3e-a2febbe9afe3.webp){kind=link}
I used to sell shoes at a snooty department store, and that sounds very similar to my experience. How to be a good shoe salesman? Present a bunch of options, see which one gets the best initial reaction, then snow them about how good their choice is for whatever purpose they said they want it for. Doesn’t matter if the shoe doesnt match their use case; people dont want to be informed or get the best product, they want to be told that their taste is good and they’ll pay a premium for that service
This is honestly why I hate most sales people. I wish they were actually knowledgeable about the products, listened to what I need, then gave recommendations that fit those needs.
That basically never happens outside of very niche products though. They either will just try to sell the most expensive thing that vaguely resembles something I want, or will know nothing and rely solely on what I choose. Basically makes most sales people detrimental instead of helpful.
Being honest and helping people doesnt pay the bills the way flattery does. I’m financially comfortable enough now that I can afford to have principles, but I sure as hell didn’t care about any of that when a missed sale might have meant a missed meal for myself or worse, for my younger brother. Imo it’s a “don’t hate the player, hate the game (capitalism)” situation
I know why it happens, but I still hate it.
I used to work at Best Buy and it was heartbreaking seeing kids passionate about technology and really wanting to help people slowly realize that they were only there to drive profit to the company by selling plans and credit cards.
Edit: This is also relatively-new Best Buy. BB used to have specialized sales staff and cared about its relationship to its customers. Now its been progressively enshittified, raising stock prices, but it’s ultimately going to become a storefront on Amazon.
I was just watching SaTC and Charlotte hired a bridal consultant to help her shop for a wedding dress… and that’s exactly how he operated. He would just look to her and amplify her decision. If she was wishy-washy on a dress, he’d override the salesman’s arguments with a loud “NEXT!” When he saw she loved a dress, he couldn’t stop gushing about it. His job wasn’t really content-specific in this case, it was just emotional support. The comedy of the situation, from my perspective, is that he’s billed as an “expert” with intimate knowledge to bring, but obviously the job 100% relies on a making your clients happy so really the main thing you’re being hired for is reading people.
And the quicker your clients make a decision, the sooner you can go home or on to the next sale.
I’m kinda on the spectrum.