WatchSales

Hurting Luxury Watch Companies Finally Discover Their Sales People Stink

You might have heard the saying "a sales person is born, not made." There is a lot of truth to that. Good sales techniques often don't rely on too many particular skills or knowledge of a product. Hell, sometimes they don't even rely on there being a good product. If you are an honest and straightforward person who is interested in really helping out the consumer - you'll make a terrible sales person.

Finding a good sales person is tough, because they are either in high demand, or often times their personalities makes them... less than reliable. A good sales person can effectively help erode logic and focus from an unwilling consumer and get them to purchase not on principle, but on emotion. And there are people out there who train others on how to do this. Only the most manipulative and shiestiest survive. You are good if the consumer doesn't even know they are being sold.

It is no secret that luxury watches have been hurting, bad. Estimates say that luxury watch sales in the US are down at staggering 42% or more from when times were "good" a few years ago. A recent story in the Wall Street Journal discusses how Richemont Group brand IWC hired sales consultant Jean-Marie Brücker for their Beverly Hills boutique store. His role is to train the sales people on proper selling techniques for items whose values aren't always on par with their price. Being a watch fan, I am not saying that watches are necessarily overpriced given their complex construction and typically low volume, but the price of entry for most luxury watches is intense to heart-stopping. Plus, if you are of the "I am so rich I don't care segment of the population" the sales people only need to be good enough to keep you in the store while you are looking around - so they don't have to play the "let's evade the matter of price" game.

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Tags: boutique, iwc, luxury, watch sales, WatchSales