college to sell sleeping bags?

RETAIL COLLEGE: HOW TO SELL SLEEPING BAGS

I read this article and I am amazed at the chutzpah people in the outdoor industry have. I never went to college but somehow, I have managed to become not only the largest manufacturer of sleeping bags in the world but the only one. It seems to me the best way to sell sleeping bags or any product is to be completely truthful with the person interested in buying the product.

Now you can read what they say.

Mummy, rectangular, ultralight, synthetic, down, water-repellent down, full zip, no zip, and the list of sleeping bag options continues. It’s no wonder why customers’ heads spin when starting a sleeping bag search, which poses a substantial opportunity to connect with your shop.

From my experience visiting shops that sell sleeping bags I have found over the course of 40 years that the reason people get their heads spinning is because the person in the store charged with selling the bags does not know a thing about them. They only know what the marketing company has printed on the hang tag and if the information is wrong the salesperson does not know that.

With SNEWS’ Retail College: How to Sell Sleeping Bags online course, sales associates will dive into the sleeping bag styles, pros and cons of different insulations, decipher temperature ratings, and get tips on how to direct consumers to what they need. With this course you’ll learn the ins and outs of closing a sleeping bag sale.

Sleeping bag styles sounds like there are many right, but there are only two styles or shapes; mummy or rectangular. There is only one insulation which is available to any manufacturer, LAMILITE but they chose not to buy it. That means All of the other products they refer too as insulation aren’t. Temperature rating on ALL of these products that are “no sleep sleeping bags” are meaningless since the ratings are in the European system known as EN which is no different than our clo value ratings which again in both cases are meaningless. Of course the biggest tip they can give their customer is to send them to Wiggy’s. so Wiggy’s closes the sale.

To create this course, we partnered with Mike Grobicki of Alpenglow Sports. With his expert input, we’ve developed a course full of actionable tips and tricks that you can start implementing immediately in your store’s sleeping bag department.

I do not know this fellow grobicki but I know something about him. He is a charlatan because he apparently relies on “tricks” to sell sleeping bags. I also know he has not only no knowledge of shell and lining fabrics; HIS KNOWLEDGE OF INSULATION DOES NOT EXIST!!!

In a special video lesson, retail rock star Malcolm Daly drops some pro tips on how to help customers understand R-Values and the importance of matching your sleeping bag to your sleeping pad.

Since I am not into rock and roll, I do not know who this guy is but a do know he knows nothing about insulation because R-values are as meaningless as the en and clo values.

You'll also learn: How to Sell Insulation

This course is an absolute joke. Truly the blind leading the blind!!! Who are these people going to sell insulation too? How can they sell a product if they have no knowledge of the product?

So SNEWS a publication wants to make their presence known as a know it all when it come to the manufacture of products sold to consumers who venture into the out of doors. I do not know if CHUTZBAH is a strong enough word to describe what they are attempting to do.

Since there is not one person in the employ of snews that has any knowledge of what it takes to make a sleeping bag how the hell is it possible for them to pick and chose someone to develop a course that can/will teach someone about sleeping bags so that person is able to competently sell them?

Through out the outdoor industry there is no one or group or the entirety of the industry who has ANY KNOWLEDGE OF INSULATION!!! But as we see that is irrelevant because they think in their small minds that they have knowledge. And that certainly include grobicki and daly.

Of course the purpose of doing this is because retail stores all over the country big and small are not selling many of their “no sleep sleeping bags” they are hanging on the racks.

The industry is so hard-up to have people with knowledge on the store floors selling products they have gone to snews to create this “college” to dream up ways to educate the youth who are getting these jobs. The youth who are employed at these stores probably have never slept in a sleeping bag. From what I have seen here in Grand Junction and why should it be any different any place else, that they are not interested in what they are doing. The reality is very few of the youth in G.J. are campers. The hunters are campers and they are my customers I am happy to say.

All I can say is for those of you who read this you should go into your closest retail store that sells outdoor gear and go to the “no sleep sleeping bag” rack and ask the floor person about sleeping bags. Don’t forget get your chest waders and shovel.

Lying or giving misleading information in the outdoor industry is not new, the people as a group have been doing it for years, it is called praising goretex.