In this age of instant information, the role of the sales person as a source of information is over. Dead, gone and buried.
Customers don’t need sales people for information any more. They have all the info they could ever want at their fingertips.
Competent sales people (ie with product knowledge and process competency) offer no real value to a client as everything they can offer is (mostly) commonly available via digital platforms.
Product info is available from the search engine as is process information.
For example,if I want to find out the specs on a vehicle , a basic price and the application process, I can do that long before I walk into a dealership.
The fact that after getting all that info, I then walk into a dealership- that is a very powerful buying indicator.
If I’ve spent time on the net looking at cars, specs, offers, prices and dealerships and then decide to go and physically see the car has some very definite inclination to buying it.
If I got in my car to drive to the dealership where the vehicle is , I am halfway to buying the car.
Considering the lives we have going to see a car (or anything else for that matter) takes a bit of trouble – much more than simply viewing the product online.
In fact, anyone that has gone to all that trouble has a significantly greater chance of purchasing than a ‘walk in.’
Although, I don’t believe that people ever simply walk in.
As Master Oogway (from Kung Fu Panda) so eloquently says, “There are no accidents.”
Any person that walks into a brick-and-mortar store is halfway to a purchase.
They key to the other 50% is proper engagement.