Genuine Gwyn

Here are a couple of exercises I completed to analyze previous sales experiences to see what works and what doesn’t.

Positive Encounter With Sales

• What is the best sales experience you’ve ever had? 

The best sales experience I ever had was when I bought a book on quantum physics.

• Why? How did it make you feel? 

I bought it at this quaint little bookstore in Colorado, and I suppose it made me nostalgic in a good way. The atmosphere of the store was nice. 

• What was the problem you were hoping to solve?

My thirst for knowledge regarding quantum physics.

• What was the product or service you purchased to solve your problem?

The book Quantum Supremacy 

• Were there other products or services you considered to solve your problem that you ended up not choosing to purchase?

Not for that particular want of knowledge

• Where did you start your search for solving your problem?

At that bookstore

• Did you complete the purchase? 

Yes

• Did you feel better off, worse off, or neutral after this interaction / after your purchase? 

Better

• Is there anything that could have been done differently to make your experience better?

I’m pretty satisfied with it

• How did your impression of the sales process impact your opinion about the company, product, or service?

I would love to go back and buy more books from them.

Negative Encounter With Sales

• What is the worst sales experience you’ve ever had? 

When I was eight years old I bought a worm on a string

• Why? How did it make you feel? 

My expectations were not properly met. I was expecting some kind of electronic-type pet worm, not one that the only way it could interact with was my influence.

• Were you actively shopping for a solution to a problem or were you a victim of poor sales? 

I don’t think I was looking for it, but as a kid, I was obsessed with different pets, so it’s possible. 

• What was the product or service being sold? 

It was a Magic Twisty Worm a small, worm-like toy with eyes, a furry body, and a hidden string used to imitate a live worm. I was convinced, by the word magic, and by videos playing by the display showing the worms “moving”, that this toy had some capability to move on its own.

• Did you complete the purchase? 

Yes.

• Why did the sales process go poorly?

My expectations were not met and I was disappointed in the product.

• Were there any specific tactics that made this go poorly?

The video skewed my expectations. Even ten years later I distinctly remember watching them and seeing the worms move on their own.

• Did you feel better off, worse off, or neutral after this interaction / after your purchase? 

Worse, I was disappointed.

• Is there anything that could have been done differently to make your experience better?

Maybe during the video, it could have been made clear that the worms were more like puppets.

• How did your impression of the sales process impact your opinion about the company, product, or service?

I was upset with the product, and would not buy it again.

Expectations v Reality

Prompt 1: Describe a time when you purchased a product or service and it exceeded your expectations.

All of the devices I have bought over the years have far surpassed my expectations, but none more than the iPhone I bought a few years back. Compared to my previous phone, the photo quality was insane, there was no home button, and it could use your face to unlock it! As Apple comes out with a new phone nearly every year, it can be easy to take their features for granted, but that was the first time I was truly blown away by the new features they had added.

Prompt 2: Describe a time when you purchased a product or service and your expectations were not met.

Purple hair dye. Emphasis on the purple. I was young, and I wanted to do something cool, so I bought a box dye to dye my hair. I took all the proper precautionary steps, I used Vaseline to protect my skin from turning purple and wore a plastic bag around my shoulders too. The overall effect at first was great! I had purple hair.

But as time went on and I continued to wash it I expected it to fade naturally, back to my normal hair color. It did not.​​ The once dark purple changed to a muted green, a strange color for anyone’s hair. While I realize this was a problem caused partly by me, I think it was simply strange the color shift that happened and it didn’t meet my expectations.