I picked a Saturday to take a mystery shopping tour of a major market to see how the stores might do business on the busiest day of the week. My goal was to hit four of the seven carriers selling service there. But I’m not going to tell you who is who. Instead, I’ll describe the situations, and let you guess.

Stop One
My first stop is at an agent’s store. The salesperson is dressed in a sports shirt and shorts, and hasn’t shaved in a while. He comes up to me and says, ‘May I help you?’
I say, ‘What’s the story on wireless?’
He says, ‘Well, what did you have in mind?’
I say, ‘I’m confused – there must be 100 companies selling wireless in this city.’
He says, ‘I’m confused, too.’
He then points to a phone near where I am standing, and says, ‘This one’s $120.’
He then asks, ‘How much are you going to use the phone?’
I say, ‘I don’t know.’
He says, ‘About an hour a month?’
I say, ‘OK.’
He hands me his price sheets showing me how many minutes a month I could get for $35 with a free phone. (The salesperson suggested that I might use the phone for 60 minutes a month. That’s two minutes a day. Why did he choose such a low estimate? How might he have helped me determine my real usage?)  On the back of the sheet I see that I can get more minutes for $25 if I get a phone and pay for it. I ask, ‘Isn’t this a better deal?’   He then brings me to a glass case. He points through the glass to two phones, and says, ‘This is the phone you get with the paid plan. It’s $99. This is the phone you get with the $35 plan. It’s free.’
I say, ‘Well, I’m just starting my search.’
He says, ‘Well, this is a good place to start.’
I leave.

Think about this buying experience: What did I learn about wireless? What’s the big picture? Why should I do business with this store? How did their service compare to the competition’s? Which service plan and product were right for me?

Stop Two
I whip around the corner and step into a carrier’s store. It’s busy and people are waiting for help. I can see this was going to take too long, so I browse around to see if their visual merchandising might give me the story on wireless.
On two of the three display walls in the store you find wireless phones and accessories. On one of these two walls 12 peg hooks hold accessories for sale. Four of these 12 peg hooks are empty. On this same wall the company built areas to display five different phones. Two of the five displays are empty.

Disturbing are the gaps in inventory. Absent is the story on wireless. I leave without notice.

(How might a store that is jammed acknowledge the presence of new customers? How might they reassure those who wait, that help is on the way?) 
 
Stop Three
I enter a giant electronics retailer. It takes me little time to find the wireless department. There the store offers four different service providers, with four different sets of phones, and four different sets of rate plans, in four presentations, on a four-sided display.
 
A salesperson approaches and asks me, ‘Do you have any questions?
I ask him, ‘What’s the story on wireless?’
He says, ‘That depends if you’re going to use your phone mostly around the city, or whether you want national coverage, or whether you want to mostly use it in other cities.’
He then explains, briefly, the packages from three of the four providers. I ask him about the fourth, and he doesn’t seem too interested in that one. I am on my own to figure out which of the three I want to pursue, because he asks no questions and offers no assistance in making the decision.
Another customer walks by and attracts my salesperson’s attention. He leaves me and asks the new customer, ‘Do you have any questions?’, while I slip out.

Stop Four
I walk into a beautiful store with light woods, bright fixtures, and friendly, colorful graphics. It’s also empty. I am the only one in the store.
A salesperson approaches and I ask him, ‘What’s the story on wireless?’ He reaches for a rate plan brochure, opens it, and pointing to the two sections inside says, ‘If you want a national plan choose this, if you want local choose one of these.’
I thank him for the education and exit with my glossy new brochure in hand. 
 
Think about the question I asked at each of the stops on the tour: What’s the story on wireless? That’s the big picture, and it’s missing. Since I began looking in 1991, not one store I have visited in all of these years, has told the wireless story well. (This is not exactly true. There has in fact been one, but that’s another story – one you’ll find in the book.)

What is the wireless story? It’s the big wireless picture: a higher organization of information composed of five components:
1 How to buy wireless – a q&a tour of wireless applications, devices,
data, and networks designed to help confused customers make good buying decisions
2 Wireless applications and services – what people can do with wire¬less; why they matter
3 Wireless devices – the equipment and accessories customers need to do what they want to do
4 Wireless data – the confluence of wireless and information tech¬nology
5 Wireless networks – the infrastructure that carries and processes wireless voice and data – includes coverage, pricing, and technology capabilities.   

Imagine this: Your customers enter your store. They see five key display areas. The first gives them the big picture. The next four expand on and complete the wireless story. What affect might this have on their ability to make good buying decisions? How might this set your store apart from the competition?
How might you design a store like this?

For more insight into "New Profits in Wireless Retailing" visit www.hownet.com
©2005 by The Edmond-Howard Network