Burned out hi fi salesman


Have any of you come across a burned out hi fi salesman? I was at my local dealer the other day and was talking to one of the sales guys. In my opinion he is damaged goods! According to him he has had all the equipment at different times one could imagine. He said that he came to the conclusion that all hi fi components are within 5 % of each other in terms of sound (All things being equal). The fact that he currently does not even OWN a stereo is not a good sign! How can you relate to your customers if you're not even into hi fi yourself? I would advise anyone to ask the sales person they are dealing with questions about his or her preference with repects to the equipment they themselves own. As I say, the gentleman I talked to was non caring, un-involved, bitter, etc... Don't make hi fi choices beased on the "Expert"advise of an individual such as this. The lesson for me? Ask questions about your sales person first........then ask about the various equipment! You'll have fun and make better choices! Cheers,

Nocaster.
nocaster
Cinematic_Systems: Perhaps, but the same can said for all consumer good durables markets. To expect the consumer not to be driven by pricing to a large degree is simply wishful thinking in never never land. For retailer margins: well that's just economics in the end: the audiophile market is basically saying to you that a) its a fragmented industry so competition among retailers are intense, thus leading to lower margins, as consumers have choice and b) the value add provided by such retailers are not high enough to warrant higher margins ON AVG. In the end, its up to the retailing ind to either consolidate or individual retailers to distinguish themselves in a competitive market via providing better service. The example provided above about a burnt out sales person is case in pt.
A purchase I made recently through a HighEnd web-tailer turned out to be everything BUT service, unless e-service is little more than a word without substance. I went into the purchase because the e-tailer genuinely seemed interested in offering strong service in addition to a good price. The ads are in TAS and Stereophile regularly, so I thought we were hitting a home run. NOT! Just didn't work out that way. Too bad, too.

After at least 25 very successful component purchases through web sites, I finally bumped into a real dud. All efforts to make contact have resulted in AN INDIFFERENT SILENCE.
I think the 5% is totally true, thoug it is just a small number...many search so hard for it that when they hear it it is a HUGE deal....that number is so small but so hard to find and as we listen to many systems and componets, that last 5% can jump right out at you. IMO
catch the same salesman after the holidays,maybe working long hours just answering phone calls..maybe he just found out boss is going to stiff him on christmas bonus,and wife left him and he needed to sale his stuff..maybe as a post said after listening to stuff all day, home isnt a option.go back and buy a pair of wilson watt from him he will perk up..retail salespeople have alot of energy ,but after 12.00 there tired of peep asking and not buying.go back in there and tell him your loan was aproved and you want to spend 10,000.00 dollars.a sale will cure burnout fast..i would rather deal with a burned out salesman that knows what he is talking about.than one who dont know or ever will go to best buy and ask questions you know the answer to. thats scary that the normal joe blow gets sold by one of those guys...so next time you run into a salesman cooked, take him out for a beer...i know ive been one for over 25 years.
Tpsonic,

At a time, I was a frequent visitor to Salon 1 Audio.
Thank to you and John (and Roger later), it was always a very pleasureable trip for me. However, I never knew how you felt.
Yes, Wisconsin Rapids was in the middle of nowhere. But so is Willmar, MN where I live now.
I purchased most of my equipment from Bruce and I am still keeping my Lectron, Klyne, Oracle... However, when it was time to replace speakers (Response 2 with 3.8), I gave up on Bruce.

Where are you now?

Rade