[sidindica]

ART OF SELLING

Before I get kicked off for even thinking of writing a strange article given the absurd title, let me get you all to think behind the logic of writing this.

Vegetable sellers being compared to car dealerships?

Yes, of course. But lets look at the similarity.

First, Buying a vegetable is not as easy as it may sound, so does the car.
That's because the amount you spend on buying vegetables, no matter how small it may be, determines how intelligent are you at the time of buying by "sorting out" between the right quality and the poor quality (the one infected with pests etc...). Also, the best vegetables/ fruits you select, the better it is for you and your family's HEALTH. Any rotton veggies will make you all SICK. So, it consists of lot of brain usage, and a lot of permutations/ combinations in selecting the correct amount of veggies/ fruits based on their availability, price and diet requirements. After all, spending Rs. 250 per week (for a family of 3, on an average) determines how well you stay in the long run.

Similarly, purchasing a car involves all these decisions, I mean your family's requirements, budget, usage, comfort, safety, service, resale and other factors which collectively determine what car/MUV/SUV you end up buying. An intelligent buyer is obviously that who weighs all permutations and combinations and makes the right decision in favour of himself and his family. Of course, I need to stress the importance of safety factors like ABS and airbags to be considered because the car is not just a vehicle, it can also act as a life saving device, just like selecting the right quality vegetables/ fruits does so. Of course, one things common-premium price that is some extra amount that you pay for all these features.

Now comes the big difference: the buying experiance.

A TYPICAL open vegetable market, of course looks filthy, dirty, congested, out-of-sync as compared to a swanky car showroom but one thing that I really liked is the way the sabjiwallahs ability to convince a customer to buy the veggies, even if sometimes he/ she not requires or feels unnecessary. The average selling skills of these people is leagues ahead than the majority of our so-called "sales executives" at various dealerships, some of whom even do not know the ABC of the product and often end up in breaking deals.The result? the comedy of errors thread that is there on this forum elsewhere.
One thing common between the these 2 types of markets is the bargaining power of customer, and how salespersons/ sabjiwallahs try to do anything they can to win customers, but its ultimately the ART OF SELLING that matters and in this parameter, I have experienced that most of the sabjiwallahs perform far better than your average car salespersons.

After all, shopping can be made a whole lot of fun, isn't it? Its only the art of selling that counts. And still, most (not all) car dealer sales personnel lag behind in this regard.

What we need is quality people, which we still find alarmingly short of.
But how can we get it?
And despite of our best efforts, why can't we get them?
What can be done?
Any suggestions?

I don't know how I have written this, but please excuse me of any grammatical errors, if any!

(Disclaimer: This article is not meant to demoralize/ offend any aforementioned persons working in their respective fields, but its just my views based on my experience. Individual perceptions may vary. Mods, if you feel that this article has any relevance, its OK, or else you are free to edit/ delete it.)

[pranavt]

No comparison. Vegetable sellers are honest people and will take back rotten/spoilt stuff and exchange it for something else or refund your money.

[Alter_Ego]

Originally Posted by pranavt

No comparison. Vegetable sellers are honest people and will take back rotten/spoilt stuff and exchange it for something else or refund your money.

The ultimate truth

Makes us really think.The poorer the person the more honest he will be.The rich dealerships will rob any person of his sanity.

[greenhorn]

in the end, the vegetable vendor's existence depends on making you happy. He has complete ownership of the whole thing.

on the other hand, the average car salesman really doesnt have to worry about selling a lemon. Once he offloads it onto an unsuspecting sucker, its the service folk's problem.

Interestingly, someone selling vegetables at a large departmental store probably behaves the same way as the car salesman

[shishir_bn]

Atleast the vegetable vendor listens when you complain of some rotten things he has given but the car dealers smile only upto the time they sell the car and then they will ask "WHO ARE YOU BOSS" and when you give them the answer, they will R*** and F*** you with the A.S.S and shoddy work and things like that.
"SID" nice article

[sidindica]

Sunday is the day which I really hate, especially the 11 AM time, as I have to go alone and buy veggies and fruits for the entire family. But what I really got to learn is the level of honesty and the art of selling by these people, which prompted me to write this. You know, how some things can be connected to automobiles...

[anekho]

Things in common:

They both sell you lemons

[sidindica]

Originally Posted by anekho

Things in common:

They both sell you lemons

the difference: one= +, other= -.

[lsp]

I totally agree with the similarities and the dissimilarities between the two.

I think we are missing a point here that the frequency of buying/repeat business of a vegerable seller is far more than a car dealer.

How many times do you buy something from a car dealer a week? If we take a very conservative estimate that a guy buys a car every 3 years that would be approx .0064 times [1/(52X3)]. Compare this to buying vegetables which are bought almost every week. The point is that the frequency of buying vegetables is much much more. This leads to other observations that a vegetable seller cannot afford to loose his clientele owing to poor product (=rotten veggies). He knows that next week he wont see this customer again. short term danger looming at head. Whereas the car dealer knows that the guy who has bought the car wont be buying another one in recent future (Servicing etc notwithstanding).

[NutsNBolts]

Its not for nothing that dabba walas business model has become such a success. Any model of management that is successful at root level is worth emulating. Sabziwala has his livelihood tied to his daily customer, but for a car dealership, a customer is a once in a while visitor. So these guys try to run on corporate models and fall flat.

[McLaren Rulez]

I suppose all salesmen, irrespective of what they sell, are quite comparable in some sense.

[janitha]

@sidindica
Hope you will write the book " Zen and the art of selling Vegetables and Cars".

Quote
"poor quality (the one infected with pests")

Nowadays the wise ones prefer pest infected vegetables since they are supposed to be relatively free from deadly pesticides like 'Furadan'.

[phamilyman]

Originally Posted by pranavt

No comparison. Vegetable sellers are honest people and will take back rotten/spoilt stuff and exchange it for something else or refund your money.

Totally agree. Even among thieves, there is honor!

[sunil8089]

Hi Sid, I disagree with you. Buying a car is not as simple as buying veggies. Its a strategic decision (at least for me) which need lots of thought process.

Anything we buy in a market can be categorized into three groups.
a. Vital
b. Essential
c. Desirable

Most of the veggies comes under essential category, while cars (and all extra accessories) are under the desirable list. But once we buy a car, the A.S.S. is in essential category. Many car companies failed to realize that and thats where many car manufacturers are failing.

[jp2u]

Vegie Vendor's are anyday better than the car dealers, car dealers are like leaches - they will suck out the money from your pocket without your knowledge and keep a smiling face.

Vegie Dealers are way more better.