My Selling Style

My Selling Style

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Not Always Politically Correct
Ed Roman
10/12/96

 

People have called me a good salesman,  I don't think that I am, A good salesperson can sell anything, I can only sell what I truly believe in.  So in effect I am telling you that a 17 year old kid who works in a Guitar Center or Sam Ash is actually a better salesperson than me. 

They sell Fender Squires & Ibanez $140.00 guitars all day. I simply could never do that. I am totally incapable of Bullshitting someone for that small amount of money.  OK, OK,  I can Bullshit with the best of them but certainly not for cheapo guitars.

My selling style has always been to analyze a product and all the competitive or like products. Then I make a decision on which one to sell. I then approach the company that I have decided to promote & apply for a dealership.  When a company that I have chosen changes their product or makes a number of cost cuts.  I tend to change my recommendations.  In fact I get downright upset, You might even say I take it personally.

Just because I recommend something in 1998 doesn't mean I am still going to recommend it in 2007

Some Guitars that I have strongly recommended and then I rescinded completely. Taylor, Mermer, PRS, Heritage, McNaught, G&L, Kramer, and I am sure there will be more.

If you follow my Worlds Best Page you will notice very few companies that consistently are listed year after year.  I think the only two are Duesenberg & JET. 

Currently Turner is under a lot of scrutiny and might be taken off the list soon.  I have been incredibly unhappy with Turner guitars for the past several years.

My practice of product comparisons has not made me the most popular salesperson on the Internet,  but I'm not running for public office so I simply don't care. I have been in business all my life and  I am quite comfortable with my real estate investments.  I can afford to say what I want to on my web site.

Yes I am motivated by money but my real motivation is to bring new and exciting things to this dead & dismal boring music market.

As most of my readers know I'm usually pretty busy and I do sell plenty of product. So I guess in the long run being straight up and outspoken can be a good thing for business. More politicians ought to try and be straight with their constituents.  I'll bet they would be more successful in the long run. However they might suffer a little in the short run, until people started to trust them. 

Many times a company manufactures a number of great products but also manufactures a number of not so great products. I tend to try to cherry pick the great products and try to stay away from the other ones. Today it is becoming increasingly harder to do this.

Computers are aiding companies by reporting "what dealers" are selling "what products."

A computer could very easily report to a sales manager that XYZ dealer is not selling a particular model. Typically when this happens I will get a call from the sales manager (Usually a new hotshot). He will invariably push me to buy some of the products that I don't want to carry.

When I wrote this article I was still a Gibson Dealer.  Gibson is trying to force me to buy their lower cost Epiphone products. They also want me to carry their line of Banjos & Dumbros, Yeeehaw!!! they say that if I don't buy these products and their line of Dobros and Acoustic Guitars that my prices on Electrics will go up as much as 10 percent. This new policy of theirs will probably cause a serious train wreck between our two companies.  They have a bigger train than I do but as Kevin Meany says and sings "I don't care,   I don't care,   I just don't caaaaaaaaaare"

NEW GIBSON GUITARS NOT SOLD HERE AS I WILL NOT BE TOLD WHAT I HAVE TO BUY !!!!!       FUCK THAT
I get several Gibsons traded in per week so I can make you a great deal on a used Gibson.

I still will take them in on trade and I always have a decent stock at lower prices than most dealers.

This started out as a simple article but it has become a full fledged rant,  So for all of the callers who have been requesting some new rants.

I hope you are happy.

I have been selling guitars for 24 years at this writing in 1996, this unique selling style has made me successful, and has gained me many loyal customers.  It's just good business to recommend a product that a customer will be happy with, it breeds return customers and good will.  This selling style has served to piss off some people who feel that certain products are sacred and shouldn't be compared with.

I was recommending PRS guitars 10 years before the general public finally caught on.  Generally by the time the public does catch on to a good thing it forces the quality down. The public demand forces mass production and cost cutting, so the quality suffers when the volume goes up.  It's just simple economics.  It has happened with almost every guitar company. And the ones it hasn't happened to are generally the new kids on the block.  Just give them a little time, they will probably all make the same mistakes.

Ed Roman
10/12/96

 

 

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