Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Piano Forum What a Steinway dealer says about his competition.

This seems silly, especially if the content is also that rigorously centralized. That kind of top down control may avoid little problems like a rogue dealer spouting nonsense (as his opinion, of course) that hurts the brand name, but it also throws away every dealer's local knowledge of his/her own market. There are sensible intermediate approaches between one-size-fits-all and complete dealer freedom.

absolutely.. most people are quick to notice negativity.. i hope at least. Steinways should not need to be built up in this way.. they are indeed fine pianos. I visit our dealership in town and invariably they have a new guy who pounces upon me (not literally) and gives me the rundown. Sometimes however, i get a really nice dealer with some time and he points out the wondrous octave in the rebuilt M.. or something else equally intriguing. They have a wonderful showroom.

This is an endless conversation. Even if the dealer simply states to the customer that his product is the best and then the customer comes to you and asks you, "Is it true that the other dealer is the best?" You will be forced to say that he is not. Of if you say that he is, you will be loosing a potential sale.

The only time when "bad mouthing" between dealers is going to stop, is when all the pianos are going to be standardized to be made the same. More than it, if all pianos are going to be the same, there will be no dealers. Everyone will be buying a piano online, or will not need anyone to explain why their product is better.

My opinion,

Educating and bad mouthing are not the same thing. Many times I have told someone that the piano they are considering elsewhere is comparable to what they are seeing at our place and if they bought that piano they would be happy.

Sometimes those people buy those pianos.

Other times I am able to direct them to a piano that I can show in concrete terms is a finer quality instrument. Sometimes those people buy our offering instead.

This is doing what is best for my customer. Full Disclosure - we are an unusual operation. We may have twenty or so brands on the showroom floor at any given time, and therefore more chance to have a competitive offering. But I know stores that carry only two lines that do the same thing.

Bottom Line - Owners and managers set the tone for how a particular business functions in every element of operations, including how they train their people to sell.

Badmouthing is the result of a deliberate decision.

I think there are plenty of answers between those two.

This is a question you pose to someone you trust.
. . . "Is it true that the other dealer is the best?"
I'd avoid asking any question of someone whose answer will be suspect.

This a loaded, and really unfair question to ask anyone IMO.

A question like this seems evident that they really don't trust that person, and are only trying to put them in a corner. Better to do your own homework, because you probably won't get a straight answer, even from an honest person. When I'm asked something like this, my reply is simply "I try to do my best."

Taking the time to do your own research is still the best way. Too few people do these days, and end up blaming everyone else when things go wrong.

Would you mind giving us few examples of possible answers?

I'd say...

"They are fine people at the other dealer but our goal is delighted customers."

It's a "Have you stopped beating your wife yet?" question.

"At this dealership we tell customers what's good about the pianos we sell. We don't feel bad mouthing the competition is appropriate."

I don't have any problems with people telling their honest opinions about their competitor's products.

How do you know they're honest? Because you want to believe?

An old aphorism seems to govern all too much sales behavior: A fool and his money .....

Neither do I - as long as those "honest opinions" aren't "lies."

A local dealer used to feed me the most incredible BS about a certain Tier One piano - but when he began to carry the brand a couple of years later his tune changed dramatically.

Curious what that could have been.

Willing to share? [don't need to mention name..]

Norbert

Like a lot of salesmen Greg seems to be full of complete BS ...... just my opinion of course

Since there are just a handful of dealers in the Phoenix area, I'd rather not be specific !!!!

Well, we all know there's only one Tier One piano--at least according to the website that started this thread--and the only reason people sell other pianos is because they can't get a St**nw*y dealership!

(Greetings from Hawaii! Here we are on our rented Segways at Diamond Head. It's the best way to spend Thanksgiving.)

When the client asks you about other dealer's credibility. You understand that this person "customer" is trying to find out the truth not only about the quality of the piano, but about the whole operation of the dealership. From my point of you, you have to release all information you know about the dealer to the client, if you are asked to do so. For instance if you are aware that this particular dealer claims that he has a restoration facility and you know for a fact that he doesn't. It would be best to tell the client that he was lied to, it would be ethical to do so.

If this dealer is selling lemons (pianos), and you know it. You have to disclose it to the client as well. This would not be considered as "bad mouthing", but more than that it will help your client not to be caught in a mousetrap.

Bewildered what any dealer could possibly B.S. about another tier one piano being in same group.

Incidentally someone in Phoenix is claiming on his website his..... tier 1 brand is "above Steinway".

Perhaps should read again here:

http://www.pianobuyer.com/fall11/44.html

Norbert

so why complain about piano dealerships if everybody lies and no one can tell if they're honest anyway?