Just recently, a member (Thomas) of the LinkedIn group ‘Passion for Watches’ asked whether you – as a customer – know more about watches than the sales person behind the counter. The following boundary conditions were added: only consider the purchase of a new watch from a brick and mortar store. This can be either a flag ship store (brand boutique) or an authorized dealer.

Personally, I always try to do some research before I buy an expensive or durable product like a watch, camera or HiFi for example. Having so many blogs, forums, product review websites, it is quite easy to learn about the product you want to have. I assume that most people nowadays will do the same. It comes in handy when the sales staff knows what they are talking about, and are able to help you shifting the information you got from the internet.

Additionally, Thomas asked whether a certified (on product knowledge) sales?Ǭ�staff would influence your buying decision.

I do have to admit that I don’t have a sales background, and that I probably am not comparible to the average customer in a jewellery/watch store. However, I assume there is still a number of people that just want to have a nice watch and step into a store with 3K in their pockets to get themselves a good wrist watch. How else can these stores sell an Omega Planet Ocean James Bond edition or an IWC Spitfire.

Jokes aside, this type of?Ǭ�customer probably needs some guidance from sales staff, and then some product knowledge would be useful. One could ask himself,?Ǭ�for who? For the shop that needs to sell some watches that they can’t get rid off or for the customer who needs this kind of guidance? Since an authorized dealer needs to order a collection of watches from a brand, including models they really don’t want to have, how can we be certain that these models aren’t being pushed to the ignorant? We probably will never know

Anyhows, it would be nice of course to talk to (sales)?Ǭ�staff who know a lot about the watch you are interested in of course, and I definitely see the advance for the shop (and the buyer) when sales staff is trained well. However, I surely know when someone is JUST trained in being enthusiastic about a watch, or when a?Ǭ�sales?Ǭ�person?Ǭ�is passionate about a timepiece he or she?Ǭ�is selling. If it is a ‘trick’, then please spare me the fake enthusiasm because in a way, I feel that I am not being taken seriously. You can’t beat the passion if you don’t share it, as one of the LinkedIn group members wrote.

You will find some interesting write-ups at customercentric.org about customer service.

Steltman Watches is one of the most famous watch stores in The Hague (The Netherlands). Famous for their impressive list of brands which they represent, like Lange & Soehne, Patek Philippe, Cartier, Jaeger-LeCoultre, Blancpain, Officine Panerai and more. But also famous for their lack of customer friendliness. My watch friend Frank (from the superb monochrome.nl blog) visited Steltman Watches last saturday, and it is unbelievable what kind of attitude this salesclerk allowed himself to express. I even think this guy is the owner of the store, so complaining to the management probably won’t help. Luckily, we have forums and blogs to at least prepare people on what they can expect when visiting stores with this kind of ‘service’.

Please visit Monochrome to read the full story as a nice example on how to NOT treat a potential customer, but at least I want to quote some of it here at Fratello:

The core of the story is this:
“The salesman was Andrew Brom, the son of the owner of Steltman Watches. He told me he had seen me in the shop before and asked if i had bought a watch there before. I said i didn?��Ǩ�Ѣt. Than he asked me if he should invest his time in me, since I had never bought a watch there?��Ǩ��.”

Maybe it looks a bit dull/lame to post these kind of experiences, but I happen to know this store and its way of treating customers (since I reside near The Hague) and it is a very recognizable story. So, I hear you think, Steltman may have a point.. someone who visited the store a few times (but to a maximum of 2 times a year, as Frank wrote) and never bought anything. However, that’s something you need to accept as a storeowner. Anyway, in one of the comments to Frank’s blogpost, Edwin H. responded with a similar experience. I will quote some text from his repsonse too, but I suggest you read it all over at Monochrome:

“I was wearing my Datograph during this visit and Mr. Brom was aware of that (as I had the Datograph laying in front of me on the countertop for everyone to see ?��Ǩ��� he already made a remark as to which watch I was wearing) and I?��Ǩ�Ѣm 99.9% positive that Mr. Brom knew I owned 3 Lange & S?ɬ?hne watches at that time already.

Well ?��Ǩ�� here I was standing next to the counter holding the ros?ɬ� gold Lange-1 in my hands and telling the salesclerk how much I admired that piece. Mr. Brom walked by and heard me say something about the Lange and he replied ?��Ǩ?�?��Ǩ��Well Mr. H., don?��Ǩ�Ѣt you think it is time that we [Steltman Watches] are going to benefit from your love for Lange Uhren?��Ǩ��?��Ǩ�� ?��Ǩ�� I shook my head in disbelieve and he continued with ?��Ǩ?�?��Ǩ��you have visited us 6 times now and never ever purchased something from us?��Ǩ��.”

I do not want to curse on this blog, but WTF? What kind of books did he read? Let me be so free to offer a few solutions for this problem (because there obviously is one). My first solution is quite simple, just type in www.amazon.com in your favorite webbrowser (or click the hyperlink for that matter) and select the ‘Killer Customer Care’ book. For only 16,95 USD you can make a big difference for your customers.

My other suggestion is a bit more expensive, but I strongly believe in ‘?�?�bung macht den Meister’ which is a German saying which I will freely translate in “Mastering by doing” or “Mastering by practicing”. Therefore, I suggest that the sales guy takes a course in becoming customer friendly. I found this training over at Infopeople.org. Go there, and select the course “Customer-Friendly Is More Than an Attitude“.

I wonder however, if this isn’t a bit too advanced, reading the introduction page. It mentions that being customer-friendly requires more than a smile and a pleasant manner. The latter seems to be regarded as one of the basics, so probably a tailor made ‘fixing the basics’-course might be required before enrolling into this course. Perhaps that the brands that they sell can offer such a training, providing their own Mr.Miyagi kind of tutor, to fix the whole thing, because I assume that brands like Patek Philippe, Lange & Soehne and Blancpain expects the best from their dealers.

Dutch/Belgian readers who might want to read some more about the Steltman experience, can click here. This Dutch forum has enough examples since 2006.

As I wrote in a post on the 29th of November 2004, involvement of a brand’s CEO is a mighty marketing weapon. Not only Angelo Bonati (CEO Panerai) got the hang of it, also Jean Claude Biver of Hublot seem to know how it works. Hublot, which is present on the TZ forum since may 2005, is responding to a long winded post by a dissappointed customer of the All-Chocolate Hublot Big Bang watch. Forum moderator Mike Margolis (also Sales Director of Hublot for North-America) and Jean Claude Biver (CEO Hublot) give a fair response to fellow TZ visitor and Hublot-fan Ron (a.k.a. WatchRon). The full post by Ron can be read here: http://forums.timezone.com/index.php?t=msg&goto=3867474&rid=37687#msg_3867474.

In short, Ron ordered an ‘All-Chocolate’ Hublot Big Bang wrist watch, as pictured below. This watch was introduced during the Basel 2008 expo in Switzerland. As you can see, it is an all-brown Hublot Big Bang (44mm). At least, that’s how it was presented during the Basel fair. On the TZ forum, Ron complains that the watch he got delivered turns out to be not so all-brown.. The chronograph second hand is red and the date disc is white. Both should be brown, according to the prototype that was demonstrated to him. Ron had sent this watch back to Hublot to get the correct brown second hand and date disc wheel. Free of charge.

Both Mike Margolis and Jean Claude Biver react on the message posted by Ron, saying that they are terribly sorry and that it was purely a business decision to send out these not-so-brown watches, because not all parts came in on time at Hublot. Dealers wanted it now, they didn’t care about these details. Right or wrong, up to you… It is clear that JC Biver and his Sales Director of the USA create a lot of respect and goodwill amongst Hublot (Big Bang) adepts by participating actively on TZ.

Note: Mike Margolis used to be the Hublot Forum moderator, this task is now done by AMR_KSA. Thanks for the info Ron.