The Masters Of Phone Selling
July 25th 2011 11:06
There’s no doubt that it is becoming more and more difficult to find a simple, classic style phone that doesn’t cost a lot of money. The reality is that if mobile phone retailers were to sell the old Nokia 3310s – which were really all that people needed if they don’t want to do anything but the basics – then they would be selling them for such a small price it would be difficult to make any money.
Even so, I think that it’s not great that people who don’t want a high quality smart phone with a touch screen that it’s so difficult to find one. There is such a price disparity between the old phones and what the new phone should be priced at for people who just want the basics that it seems very unfair. Mobile phone sales people are also masters of increasing the amount of money that people are willing to pay.
For example, if you go into a shop and ask for a simple phone that costs less than £10 a month then the attendant will be very understanding. He or she will start to show you phones in this price range but then slowly move on to slightly more expensive phones saying that “for just a few pounds more a month you could get something like this...”. Naturally this gets the persons interest – if I only have to pay a few pounds a month more then what’s the problem – and this continues until the phone is now in the price range of around £18 a month. Once the person decides on a phone they are then told that for an extra £2 a month they can double the amount of minutes they have. Who wouldn’t want this deal?
The problem is that this is usually on a 24 month contract. In effect, the person has gone from a £240 deal to a £480 deal – watch out for this because the shops are masters!
Even so, I think that it’s not great that people who don’t want a high quality smart phone with a touch screen that it’s so difficult to find one. There is such a price disparity between the old phones and what the new phone should be priced at for people who just want the basics that it seems very unfair. Mobile phone sales people are also masters of increasing the amount of money that people are willing to pay.
For example, if you go into a shop and ask for a simple phone that costs less than £10 a month then the attendant will be very understanding. He or she will start to show you phones in this price range but then slowly move on to slightly more expensive phones saying that “for just a few pounds more a month you could get something like this...”. Naturally this gets the persons interest – if I only have to pay a few pounds a month more then what’s the problem – and this continues until the phone is now in the price range of around £18 a month. Once the person decides on a phone they are then told that for an extra £2 a month they can double the amount of minutes they have. Who wouldn’t want this deal?
The problem is that this is usually on a 24 month contract. In effect, the person has gone from a £240 deal to a £480 deal – watch out for this because the shops are masters!
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