Steve Hoffacker's Sales Quips

With the cost of attending athletic contests rising all the time, I often wonder how the fans who attend the game in person must feel when their team puts on a really poor performance. It's one thing to watch it on TV or follow it online. It's another to invest money and time to attend a game and come away feeling disappointed or disgusted - after having paid for that experience.

Call it entertainment if you like, and certainly only one team can win. Few teams win all of their games so there are going to be some losses and disappointments along the way. But really poor performances where it looks like the team didn't come prepared to compete - that's what hurts.

Recently, the University of Western Kentucky was playing basketball at Vanderbilt University in Nashville. The coach, Ken McDonald, felt so badly about his team's poor performance that he decided to reimburse the diehard fans who had driven the 70 miles to the game.

He wrote $60 checks and mailed them to about 20 people. Some of the people returned the checks, but none of the checks have been cashed.

Here it was the gesture that was important. The fans didn't want or expect his payment, but I'm sure they appreciate that the coach gets it.

This is such a nice twist on customer satisfaction when we see the merchant (in this case the coach) connecting with and being concerned about the customers (loyal fans) in such a dramtic way.

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For more information on my coaching and educational programs and services, visit my website stevehoffacker.com, or go to my other blog homesalesinsights.com for additional sales tips, insights, and commentary. Listen to my free podcast messages at Steve Hoffacker's Happenings.

Steve Hoffacker - Consultant, Coach, Author, Blogger, Photographer, Motivator, Teacher, & Strategist - for Realtors, Real Estate Sales Professionals, Home Builders, New Home Salespeople, Entrepreneurs, Small Business Owners, and Independent Sales Representatives.

© Steve Hoffacker, 2010. All Rights Reserved.

If airlines are so unprofitable, it's time for a new business model. For openers, ditch the unions. There's the pilot's union, the flight attendant's union, the mechanic's union, the baggage handler's union, and who knows what else. There's most of your huge costs right there.

Then decide what your mission is. Is it to provide safe comfortable transportation by air from point to point - or is it to make the passengers sorry they ever booked your carrier but had no other choice, and they got nickled and dimed all the way? I'm thinking the latter is closer to the point.

Thursday, American Airlines announced that they are going to be charging $50 for anyone "wanting" to fly standby - regardless of whether you get to or not and another $8 for a pillow and blanket. That last one makes sense. The cabins are so comfortable anyway - why would you need them?

USAir tried charging $2.50 for a little glass of soda but soon found out that didn't work and went back to free.

Ask most anyone if they like to fly, and the answer will be "no." Factor in the TSA screening for an extra hour, being herded like cattle onto the plane, sitting elbow-to-elbow with someone you've never met before, paying $20 or more just to check a bag (what else are they going to do with the belly of the plane anyway?), paying $100 or more if you have to change your flight, sitting on the tarmac or taxiway for several hours, and on and on.

I'm all for free enterprise. Charging a captive audience for pillows, sodas, blankets, and luggage is not free enterprise. It is manipulation.

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For more information on my coaching and educational programs and services, visit my website stevehoffacker.com or go to my other blog homesalesinsights.com for additional sales tips, insights, and commentary. You can also listen to my free podcast messages at Steve Hoffacker's Happenings.

© Steve Hoffacker, 2010. All Rights Reserved.

There are warranties, and there are warranties.

I like the ones where if something breaks within the coverage period, the item is replaced. Just a simple exchange - no taking it to the shop for a repair or involved troubleshooting over the phone - just an exchange.

There also are ones like the the car warranties or tire warranties where the affected items or parts are replaced or repaired with a small deductible.

Then there are the warranties that are only good until you open the product.

Such is the warranties on battery backups for computers (UPS). The manufacturers go to great lengths to advertise all over the package how much money they will give you if your products fail while connected to their battery. There's only one problem. You can't prove their product failed - even when it does.

Saturday, I lost motherboard #2 to lightening. Lost the 1st one last fall. Neither was a direct lightening hit so there is no singed battery backup unit. It just simply failed to stop the static electricity surge. I'm discovering that this is common - that they really can't stop a lightening surge.

That said, battery backups are a good idea for normal power outages, but when it comes to lightening they are no match - and neither is their warranty.

Just how do you go about "proving" that their product actually failed? You can't. Nice warranty.

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For more information on my coaching and educational programs and services, visit my website stevehoffacker.com or go to my other blog homesalesinsights.com for additional sales tips, insights, and commentary. You can also listen to my free podcast messages at Steve Hoffacker's Happenings.

© Steve Hoffacker, 2009. All Rights Reserved.

Remember how we used to enjoy shopping with the entrepreneurial shopkeeper because their business literally was in helping us? They had to build a loyal following, and they had to be helpful. Maybe they were the lowest priced on a certain item, maybe they weren't. Service and relationships were more important that price. We knew that we could get good advice and that we would be counseled on the best product or solution for our needs. We wouldn't even think of shopping around for a better price.

Then we came into the world of modern retailing where so often inexperienced clerks are just there to earn a paycheck and make sure no one walks off with the store. Product knowledge is secondary, and building loyalty and relationships are way down on the list - not in every case but quite often.

There are a few companies that I'd rather not do business with because they just don't seem to care.

Staples is a different kind of company. I don't know anything about their business model or corporate philosphy, but I continue to have great experiences when I shop there. So far, at least one person in each store I've been to knows their products well enought to be able to help me evaluate what will work the best given my needs and budget, and they don't seem to mind helping.

I have seen this with other companies as well - this type of treatment certianly is not unique, but it's not near as prevalent as it used to be and it sure is refreshing to experience it today in light of the indifference we so often get.

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For more information on my coaching and educational programs and services, visit my website stevehoffacker.com or go to my other blog homesalesinsights.com for additional sales tips, insights, and commentary. © Steve Hoffacker, 2009. All Rights Reserved.

Three weeks ago I wrote a post about my very pleasant shopping experiences at Staples that I called "Kudos to Staples" and I concluded my post with the observation "I sure hope this continues because it’s been a pleasure to shop at Staples."

Well, yesterday, the pleasant experience continued. I had bought a digital voice recorder a few days ago from them and then noticed the exact same model priced lower somewhere else. I had no idea if they price matched or not - turns out they do. I called the store manager to ask, and I was blown away by the way he answered the phone.

Get this. He answered my call with, "How can I make your day?" This was not a sarcastic, Dirty Harry-type "make my day" but a genuine expression of wanting to help me. Wow.

Guess who's getting my office supply business?

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For more information on my coaching services or sales tips visit my website stevehoffacker.com or my blog homesalesinsights.com.

I love the ongoing saga of how the airlines are so put upon that they have trouble surviving. Well, if they delivered a good product at a reasonable price, they may not have these issues. I doubt they'll ever learn though.

This morning, I took my wife to the airport. There was no one there. I remember lines to get through the TSA that would take over a half hour. I think there were 3 people ahead of her.

For the most part, the TSA and especially the airlines employees act like they're doing you a big favor by even accommodating you. Hey, it's their choice to work there, and it's our choice to fly - a choice that I'm less and less inclined to make.

We have started using a discount ticket broker - and why not? The regular fares are so much higher by comparison - and you obviously don't need to deal directly with them. The only disadvantage is that you don't always get to select a seat, or the one you would prefer, in advance. Today United wanted $49 to change to seats on check-in - and they didn't even tell us which one we would be changing from - maybe it was already a good seat and the $49 would be wasted. Needless to say we didn't go that route.

Airlines now charge or have talked about charging for luggage, pillows, blankets, water, frequent flyer mileage redemptions, meals, and seat selections. I know they'd like to nickel and dime us for more but they're running out of items to tack on. Maybe they could charge us for use of the jetway or the restrooms. That's it, bring back the pay toilet.

It's time for someone - anyone - to bring some sanity back to flying. I personally enjoy flying - it we could just do it without using the airlines.

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For more information on my coaching services or sales tips visit my website stevehoffacker.com or my blog homesalesinsights.com.