In my previous post, Thoughts on Consumer 2.0, I gave you the five bullet points taken from a study on the new consumer by Mr.Youth and RepNation. Let's examine #4, Personal Utility Drives Adoption, by retracing my adventure into a local jewelry store yesterday. First, I'm not a big shopper, and I'm definitely not a jewelry shopper. But I thought, Mother's day is this weekend, need to get my wife something, why not some jewelry, she'll be impressed that I remembered her talking about not having any earrings, etc., etc. So I walked into a local jewelry store (which will remain nameless) and I asked about earrings. She pointed me to the section and I began an unimpressive display of ignorance, not only about earrings but my knowledge on my wife's taste when it comes to earrings. I settled on a pair but there were other items caught my attention. Namely, picture engravings/transfers on everything from keychains to coasters. I inquired about costs. Now follow me here, this is the marketing lesson for the day, everytime I asked the customer service person about each item, she had to yell across the store and repeat my question to a gentleman in the back of the store. When I asked how long it would take to get one of these done...she turned her head and yelled my question. When I asked what size picture do you need...again she repeated my question to the man in the back. Here's my thought...if you're suppose to be selling something to the consumer, and your most important, if not critical, person in the process is your salesperson/store clerk, than you may want to make sure she knows everything about your products. Eventually, I began speaking to the man directly and all but ignored the salesperson. I really felt confused as to whom I was to deal with...on one hand the clerk...on the other the man in the back. I guess what really bothered me the most, is that I had a genuine need/interest in their products but not their competency to handle my needs. Is that odd? Or does that happen all the time? You like the product but not the salespeople. You like the work you do but not for whom you do the work. The bad thing about this particular store, is that they could have had me as a customer, not just for the earrings but for future purchases. If only they would have taken the time, learned my needs, have been prepared to answer questions, etc. I still don't know who the man in the back was or his relationship to the store. He never introduced himself. And you'll love this, when I picked up the business card to check for a website/email, I noticed it said xxxx@netscape.net. I asked, does not netscape still exist? He told me that was the wrong email and should have been changed. Changed? How long ago was that? This business definitely did not meet the "Personal Utility" litmus test but it did teach me that sometimes a marketing gem is hard to find, even in a jewelry store.

Note to Businesses: Before you put your sales reps on the frontline, make sure they're loaded with information ammo on all your products and when you're displaying business cards, make sure they're not duds.

p.s. I did buy the earrings, they're not exactly like the picture you see but pretty close however you'll probably never see me in that store again.