A great buying experience

I hate shopping, but I had an amazing shopping experience yesterday. I bought an IPhone. Well, not the new IPhone 4 but the prior version. I bought the phone at the Crocker Park Apple store.

Two things made the experience amazing, and both are lessons for any retailer of technical or high-end goods.

First, the sales associate was friendly, knew his product and, most importantly, listened to my needs and wants. Understanding what I wanted he gently steered me to the right products. Did he try to upsell to maximize the sale for Apple? Absolutely! But he did so by educating and not by “selling” or pressure.

Second, the point-of-sale technology was amazing. Advanced technology is no surprise in an Apple store! There is no check-out counter or line. There is no cash register. Each sales associate has a hand-held wireless device similar to an IPhone which scans the product bar-code and in which the associate enters all needed information. To complete the sale, the device has a slot for reading a credit card. If desired, a receipt can be printed in a back room and retrieved by the associate, or simply sent to the customer’s e-mail address.

Both the sales techniques and the point-of-sale technology should be studied by any high-end durable goods retailer. Both make the customer feel important. Both enable the sales to be transacted to the satisfaction of the customer and the retailer in the best possible way.

If you are such a retailer and in need of an Apple product, go to your nearest Apple store and see what you can learn from the experience.

Will Limkemann