More power to the sales staff

The importance of floor staff being able to articulate brand attributes and difference has been underlined following a marked upturn in recommendations for Samsung CE products in the US.

Samsung has made tremendous gains in the on-floor recommendations of retail sales associates in the last 12 months, according to a recently released joint J.D. Power and Associates and Market Force Information mystery shoppers survey.

The study compiled the findings of more than 1500 mystery shoppers who shopped at more than 1200 major electronics retail locations during the first six months of 2009.

The research investigated sales people's product knowledge and the types of recommendations they make to customers.

Among the findings of the report was that Samsung LCD TVs are winning the recommendations of sales people with increasing frequency at major electronics retailers.

?In addition to recommending Samsung more frequently, sales people focused recommendations of the brand on its core attributes such as processor speed,

In contrast, the report said, Sony LCD sets, once a category leader, have steadily declined in retail sales associates' recommendations during the past 18 months.

"It is critical for manufacturers to maximise their recommendation rates," added Market Force CEO Karl Maier.

"They may do this either through direct incentives or by increasing 'share of mind' through education and training. The latter is especially important because our mystery shoppers report far too often that sales people had difficulty articulating brand attributes and differences. No manufacturer can expect a sales person to effectively push their brand until that sales person is armed with one to three differentiating brand attributes that they can easily communicate to customers."