SAN FRANCISCO - DECEMBER 16: The Best Buy log...
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The Story

For months I had been champing at the bit to upgrade from my BlackBerry Pearl to the BlackBerry Curve. When the day arrived, I hustled over to the neighborhood AT&T store and had a really pitiful customer experience.

The sales rep told me the Curve was $250. My jaw dropped – the online research I’d done indicated $150 was the right price. She went on to explain that their store had dropped rebates because customers didn’t like them. That was it – no credible explanation, no alternative. Stunned, I asked if I could buy the phone for less on line. She said, “Probably.” So I said that’s what I’d do. As I was walking out the door, she lamely asked, “Are you sure?”

I went home and attempted to shop on the AT&T website. But I didn’t have my login password, and prior experience with the byzantine and bureaucratic AT&T site made me reluctant to even get involved in a shopping expedition that would no doubt entail 20 or 30 clicks to get to the pricing page … assuming I could log in.

Then I got the idea to visit the Best Buy website. I quickly found the phone I was looking for, but no prices. There was, however, a chat line, and within seconds, I was talking to Jose, who quickly informed me Best Buy offered the phone – same exact model as I priced at AT&T – for $79. I asked Jose if I could buy the phone for that price at my local Best Buy. He said, “Sure.”

I went there and the sales rep who helped me was knowledgeable and bent over backwards to help me. In less than half an hour, he had switched over my phone data, set up all my apps (I’m a cell phone Neanderthal), and sent me happily on my way.

Best Buy vs. AT&T – A No Contest Sales Contest

Don’t you love happy endings? Let’s take a quick look at what happened. Are there any lessons in all of this for your sales organization?

Sales Communication. Pretty important, wouldn’t you say? If you have bad news to deliver, or a customer-unfriendly policy to explain, are you doing it like AT&T, driving customers – quite literally in my case – out the door? Do your sales people know what they are talking about and how to get things done? If not, they are subtracting, not adding, value to your organization.

Pricing Strategy. If AT&T had a pricing strategy to be $170 high on a $80 item against a store directly across the street, it’s either the most brilliant or most ridiculous strategy I’ve come across in decades. When is the last time you surveyed the market to validate your pricing? If you are high priced – how well are you justifying your premium?

Are You Web Friendly? Like most people, my stomach begins to churn when I contemplate the necessity of visiting the website of an airline or a phone company. Excessive layers of navigation, complex login routines, and inability to get help, drive people away in droves. Best Buy makes it easy. I really enjoyed talking to Jose. He was responsive, knowledgeable, and nice. The fact that he saved me almost $100 didn’t hurt, either.

Is Your Website Integrated or Stovepiped? Notice that my experience on the Best Buy website led me into the store. Does your website lead customers to you in the same way? Too many companies set up their website as a separate marketing “initiative” instead of trying to blend it in with their overall sales and marketing strategy. In terms of content strategy, this is a defect I continually counsel clients to fix. A website can take a company very far. But if your business model is like Best Buy’s, where you have all kinds of products and services to sell, you want customers talking to you. The more they learn, the more they’re likely to buy.

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