Convergence of Communication and Information Technology with Electronics is opening up the gate to an amazing world, where stand-alone devices are going to serve the purpose of all the three different instruments for work, communication and entertainment.
As far as mobile users convenience is concerned, three major determining factors influence the choice of the buyers price, size and weight. Besides there are factors like look, memory capacity, power of the cells and many others.
If a mobile device is not very handy then, especially the city users who need to travel in crowded trains or buses, most likely will not pick up the set. Amit Kumar, a bank employee in Mumbai, who uses his mobile handset for keeping track of share prices, likes to listen to songs during travel of more or less four hours (up and down together), emphasises on the size of the mobile set. He says, “When I approached my local shop, the shop-boys tried to convince me with a number of sets, where memory sizes were bigger, functionalities were more, looks were catchy, however, I had my limitation for the size of the handset as my purpose was quite limited and defined. I rejected all the sets and came out of the shop. ” Later he purchased a set of his choice from a Mumbai shop.
What is the bottom line? Today requirements of many customers are specific. They do not want to see many pieces, because the information on the sets is available through media and other sources. Once the sets addressing a particular set of selection criteria, are not available in stock, the shop-attendants are supposed to clearly speak out. There is no point in showing this set and that set.
Understanding the customer s actual need, and finding out the factors that lead to that type of selection criteria, always help a reseller close the sell. The data obtained through the process, if carefully noted, help the reseller get ready for addressing the demand for the next such customer.
Yet in another incident, real estate agent Inder Singh from Palghar was looking for a dual sim mobile with camera. He had no limitation for budget. However, his local reseller showed him a piece at a very cheap price. Inder picked up the handset, but when it got damaged in a few days, he could not get the spare parts to repair the product. Inder says, “It was a great mistake. I should henceforth go for branded handsets only, and buy from a renowned shop.”
Isn’t it an eye-opener for the resellers who are selling cheap or unbranded products? Especially, in semi-urban or rural areas where the business volume is less, once the name is gone, business is greatly affected.
Thus, as the cost factor does not always allow the resellers (especially the small resellers) to maintain a huge inventory, they need to work based on local demand data. However, preparation for odd demands is also very important. Small resellers should have information brochures (at least Xerox copies, if not original) for different sets of choices of the customers. At the same time, they need to maintain good relationship with nearest big resellers for fast collection and delivery of the selected models.
Once the customer is convinced that he/she is going to get the right price and desired sets of choices in the proposed product, he/she is generally agrees to wait for a reasonable period of time, within which the delivery has to be made.
Customer is the king; align your business as per his /her line of demands