Circuit City Fires 3400 Experienced Salespeople

I was reading PCWorld and came across this article by Yardena Arar.  She wrote that “recent developments…suggest that the informed, helpful sales rep may have become an endangered species.”  As an example she sited “Circuit City’s decision to fire 3400 of its most experienced (and highest-paid) salespeople and replace them with lower-paid, less experienced employers.”

Yardena writes the Consumer Watch column for the magazine yet, even from her perspective, she sees the problem with this trend.  She won’t shop at Circuit City because she can’t get the help she needs so she’ll shop at a store with knowledgable salespeople, like Fry’s Electronics.

Yardena wrote that the trends for stores to automate the buying process and replace/supplement sales reps with gadgets and computers makes little sense.  She said you can get that information off the internet but if you actually visit the store you want some help to make an informed buying decision.

This is such a breath of fresh air compared with the occasional articles forecasting the end of selling as we know it.  As I’ve said before, it takes real salespeople to differentiate your company, its products and the value you provide.  Take the salespeople out of the equation and you guarantee that yours will be a commodity, with price the only criteria.