Unrealistic customer perception

[Marco]

Marco, I suspect that very few high-end audio salons are started with a business plan, but that most of them are started because their founders "believe in the worth of the product or service you are selling." I think the trouble begins when they find out that a bit less of the public than they hoped shares that belief.

Yep, but when that happens it's time for 'Plan B' - not taking it out on your customers because they don't share your enthusiasm for what you're selling! You have to supply the demand. And starting any business without a business plan and doing some market research is quite frankly ludicrous. You can't just wait for things to happen, you have to *make* them happen and set yourself appropriate goals.

This is all basic common sense stuff as far as I'm concerned.

Are the "high-end audio salons" where you are really so clueless?

Marco.

[tfarney]

Yep, but when that happens it's time for 'Plan B' - not taking it out on your customers because they don't share your enthusiasm for what you're selling! You have to supply the demand. And starting any business without a business plan and doing some market research is quite frankly ludicrous. You can't just wait for things to happen, you have to *make* them happen and set yourself appropriate goals.

This is all basic common sense stuff as far as I'm concerned.

Are the "high-end audio salons" where you are really so clueless?

Marco.

No, I don't think they're clueless. I think their business plans are intuitive, not the B-school stuff, but what the heck, that's the way it was done for a couple of hundred years before business schools were invented by academics looking for new sources of income. Even without the formal plan, I think most of them know who their market is, but many of them seem to have no real patience for anyone who is even a few degrees off target. And just below the surface, I think they have little patience for customers who are dead on target but just happen to prefer different choices. The vinyl guys dismiss cds. The tube guys dismiss solid state. The sales guys dismiss the brands, no matter how high end, that they don't have, and everyone dismisses pure digital, blissfully unaware that it is looming right over their shoulders, a breath away from eating their young and spitting glass. When I think about it, they're not much different than many of their customers !

But that picture was painted with a broad brush. There are plenty of exceptions.

Tim

[Marco]

I know where you're coming from, Tim, but such laid-back attitudes in business rarely succeed. Perhaps they did 20 or 30 years ago but not now. In today's highly competitive marketplace you have to plan to succeed or succeed to fail. Goals have to be set, and targets reached, otherwise a business will stagnate. Therefore you need a plan.

Like I said before, it's all about having the right attitude. A good businessman or salesman tailors his or her approach to suit the 'character type' of each customer - you have to relate to people on their level if they are to 'buy' you and then the product or service you are selling. You can't preach to people or tell them they are 'wrong' - even if they are!

I have no time whatsoever for know-it-all salespeople or business owners who try to dictate to their customers 'how it is'. In a sales situation, nine times out of ten when all the talking is being done by the salesman/boss of a business, and almost none from the customer, it results in no sale being made. The former is more interested in the 'pitch' (and the sound of their own voice) than understanding the needs of the customer.

Hey, isn’t this a fun topic for a hi-fi forum!

Marco.

[tfarney]

I know where you're coming from, Tim, but such laid-back attitudes in business rarely succeed. Perhaps they did 20 or 30 years ago but not now. In today's highly competitive marketplace you have to plan to succeed or succeed to fail. Goals have to be set, and targets reached, otherwise a business will stagnate. Therefore you need a plan.

Like I said before, it's all about having the right attitude. A good businessman or salesman tailors his or her approach to suit the 'character type' of each customer - you have to relate to people on their level if they are to 'buy' you and then the product or service you are selling. You can't preach to people or tell them they are 'wrong' - even if they are!

I have no time whatsoever for know-it-all salespeople or business owners who try to dictate to their customers 'how it is'. In a sales situation, nine times out of ten when all the talking is being done by the salesman/boss of a business, and almost none from the customer, it results in no sale being made. The former is more interested in the 'pitch' (and the sound of their own voice) than understanding the needs of the customer.

Hey, isn’t this a fun topic for a hi-fi forum!

Marco.

It is a fun topic, eh? And I essentially agree, Marco. I just think a lot of successful plans - both "then" and now - are done on the backs of napkins and by the seats of pants. If you have a product that is truly differentiated from the competition by something that appeals to a large enough target market, and you have enough sales/production capacity to serve that market when it finds you, that's a plan. Hell, show me that and I'll bring the market to your door. If I believe in it enough, I'll even take my payment based on results, as I'll make a lot more money that way. And there doesn't have to be a single MBA in the room.

Tim