So what you were selling is the idea of audio not the actual system itself. By telling some poor slob that did not know a tube from a diode that this is system is better is the oldest sales trick in the book. A good saleman always tries to upsell the client to something they maybe didn't want when they walked in the door but after the 'audtion' they believed they must have. This is not to mention the 'snob appeal' of having a Mark Levinson or a Krell or any other over priced piece of audio equipment.

I bought my first system in the U.K. while stationed at an Air Force base. The shop asked me what I wanted to spend and found me the components that fit my budget. We did several audtions with different speakers and amps and turntables until I found the combination that I liked. This shop had all the Hi-end brands like Niam, Quad, Linn, NAD and others, They did not try to sell me out of my comfort zone. They sold me what I could afford. Maybe this is why so many so-called Hi-end shops are no longer around.

I wonder how wealthy those guys are today as they are out of business?

Adding VALUE is sales. If a client has a $10,000 budget - you aren't trying if you don't show them something at both $8,000 and $12,000. Anybody who doesn't try the upsale might have worn his wife's panties to work that day. At Hansen's and Cello - the standard was higher than that. We taught. We pushed the envelope but NEVER took anyone out of their comfort zone.

I loved the article . The art of high end demo is actually just that. A display of art and education. A professional salesman does actually sell, he guides to to selling themselves on getting what they need instead what they want. Yet remaining with their comfort.

I have had the pleasure of a personal Mark Levison demo , Andy Singer and others of note and it was beautiful experience.

Circuit City & its breed deserve exactly what they deserved . Just being order taker selling price pointed equipment to Joe Pack is not worthy of worrying about.

Some people do not get it and they never will! The "lost art" is a true thing! One lower end producer is one of the best, for the masses, demo provider. Whether you are in their store or in a Costco or Sam's Club they have demos set up and that is Bose. When Joe six-pack walks into a Best Buy to buy a sound system for his flat screen TV he has no idea what his price range is as opposed to quality and he is unlikely to find out he is lucky if he gets waited on.

Jerry:

Well done. I'd like to add two short and supporting ideas. When I'm training (or selling) I try to use a simple strategy: Predict, Prove, Confirm. Predict what the customer will hear/experience; convincingly demonstrate the prediction, then close the loop by getting confirmation that the customer/trainee heard what you predicted. And...Sell Aspiration.

Jeff Hipps

Man, this brought back some memores for sure. You must sell value when you selling the best. That value word was huge for me in my 5 years at Xerox. Going up against the likes of Canon, Panasonic, Toshiiba, Mita, etc.But in todays marketplace, with high end audio salons dropping like flies, todays consumer probably does not know what a demo is!!!

And I don`t think products like surround bars help either.

We are custom AV company but have recently added 2 Channel Hifi into our showroom. We have a had a great response as many younger clients have never seen or experience big amps, big knobs, big speakers and awesome fidelity. Let not lose sight that it is the musical experience that sells the equipment or makes you crave it. ....

People forget that all human interactions are communication. What you are talking about here is communicating - the salesperson not only trying to push product and (in this case, educate), but also to listen to the buyer so that you not only show the possibilities, but also what is appropriate for the customer.

Unfortunately, most sales in today's consumer market have absolutely no communication. The manufacturers spend lots of money in advertising to build a market and then work with retail outlets to advertise in circulars in stores and provide dealer incentives. The customer does his/her research and comes in with a predisposition for what he/she wants The salesperson tries to jam down whatever product the store is currently pushing with salesperson extra incentives, or simply lays down to write up the order of what the consumer wants, based on the demand built by manufacturers marketing. Everyone is looking out for themselves and few are predisposed to listen to each other.

As a kid who sold mid-level audio gear in a small town, I miss the days when there was a dialog between manufacturers, retailiers, and customers.

I was fortunate to recently buy new speakers from a retailer of fine audio equipment. We spent most of the morning auditioning. I listened to my favorite pieces, in their entirety, not just 1:30. I also watched some home theater, since this is a dual-use system. In the end I bought speakers that I know are right for me. It was entirely enjoyable, and I have that retailer on my short list, now, for upgrade items that I might have bought on-line before.

Compare that to a big-box store experience, where you are lucky to even find a salesperson to show you where the pile of big boxes is located.

I just spent the last 2 months trying to audition speakers for my home theater, I say trying because even the high end custom install dealers in my area looked at me like I was crazy!
What...you mean you actually want to listen to speakers instead of just buying what I say is the best?!?!?!

Most of the dealers here are now just design firms, they work with builders that give them a budget & install what ever gear they want & the end user never has any contact with them!

Out of all the dealers in my area 3 had no equipment at all for me to listen to, 2 of them had their theater rooms disassembled & the gear was out on loan (to builders), 1 dealer didn't have a sub woofer to hook up in the theater causing the B&W speakers to have terrible distortion trying to play the LFE audio, 1 dealer had a set up with several brands of speakers but we kept putting his Anthem receiver in protect mode, one dealer asked me to come back in a couple of days because he needed to recalibrate his system since they had changed the speakers in there & one dealer had several brands & models of speakers running on the same receiver I have & spent several hours swapping speakers & watching all the Blu-Ray movies I had brought.
Needless to say I bought my speakers from this dealer (Audio Advice in Tulsa, Ok).

Most of these so called dealers were not interested at all with dealing with the end user, only the builders, others told me I was the first person in nearly a year that came in with my own material wanting to audition speakers.

So it's not just the big box stores that don't know how to audition gear, the custom install dealers are moving away from retail & are just dealing with the builders.

For the record, I picked up a pair of Paradigm Studio 60's for the L&R & the Paradigm Studio CC590 center channel.

Oh, the good old days when hifi was hifi...does anyone remember (and still have your copy) of Stan Adler's "The Magic Sell"? If I remember correctly, Denon put it back into print and passed them out to their dealers.

I still have my copy of the old Tech Hifi sales training manual from Jim Peak...those WERE the days.

I'm agreeing with Jerry on this...and I'll go one further. With the shotgun marriage of audio and video, many folks learned their 'Home Theater' demonstrations from the over-the-top deliveries at the Consumer Electronics and CEDIA Shows from companies who seemed trained by the Marquis de Sade...if their audience wasn't fazed beyond further comprehension, they didn't feel like they did a good job!

The art of the demo is NOT dead yet, as long as a few of us remember what it was like to meet, qualify, educate, and ENTERTAIN those daring folk who stepped into our intimidating stores. We remember how much money we made making people really happy, too...and for me that all happened in the middle of the 1980's recession in DETROIT!

I never noticed...

Cheers!
John

Oh, the good old days when hifi was hifi...does anyone remember (and still have your copy) of Stan Adler's "The Magic Sell"? If I remember correctly, Denon put it back into print and passed them out to their dealers.

I still have my copy of the old Tech Hifi sales training manual from Jim Peak...those WERE the days.

I'm agreeing with Jerry on this...and I'll go one further. With the shotgun marriage of audio and video, many folks learned their 'Home Theater' demonstrations from the over-the-top deliveries at the Consumer Electronics and CEDIA Shows from companies who seemed trained by the Marquis de Sade...if their audience wasn't fazed beyond further comprehension, they didn't feel like they did a good job!

The art of the demo is NOT dead yet, as long as a few of us remember what it was like to meet, qualify, educate, and ENTERTAIN those daring folk who stepped into our intimidating stores. We remember how much money we made making people really happy, too...and for me that all happened in the middle of the 1980's recession in DETROIT!

I never noticed...

Cheers!
John

Oh, the good old days when hifi was hifi...does anyone remember (and still have your copy) of Stan Adler's "The Magic Sell"? If I remember correctly, Denon put it back into print and passed them out to their dealers.

I still have my copy of the old Tech Hifi sales training manual from Jim Peak...those WERE the days.

I'm agreeing with Jerry on this...and I'll go one further. With the shotgun marriage of audio and video, many folks learned their 'Home Theater' demonstrations from the over-the-top deliveries at the Consumer Electronics and CEDIA Shows from companies who seemed trained by the Marquis de Sade...if their audience wasn't fazed beyond further comprehension, they didn't feel like they did a good job!

The art of the demo is NOT dead yet, as long as a few of us remember what it was like to meet, qualify, educate, and ENTERTAIN those daring folk who stepped into our intimidating stores. We remember how much money we made making people really happy, too...and for me that all happened in the middle of the 1980's recession in DETROIT!

I never noticed...

Cheers!
John

Would love to get a copy of Jim Peak's book, since I didn't get a copy when I worked for him.