It’s a perk of my line of work that I usually get given a new phone to try out every couple of months. But despite this (much appreciated) luxury, I still like to go into phone stores once in a while to get a feel for what shoppers are asking for and what they’re being sold.
That’s how I ended up at a central London branch of Carphone Warehouse just in time to receive a pitch from a very suave and eloquent salesman who was trying to sell me an iPhone 7. “Have you tried it yet?!” he asked, with apparently genuine excitement.
It was halfway through this conversation that a thought struck me: He hasn’t once asked me about my usage profile. Do I play games? Do I watch a lot of Netflix? Do I spend my evenings on social media? Am I an avid mobile photographer? Am I a pure business user, just checking emails and making calls? His sales patter made room for none of this.