Hikvision Mass Calling Dealers For Flash Sale - Smart Or Not?

This is just sales.  Hik is looking for opportunities to touch their customer base.  Sure, it would be better if they could call and talk about an upgrade or an improvement, but at least they're not calling to tell their customers that Hik was central to a major data breech...

...Again.

I had a boss that would encourage the team to call everyone to tell them our booth number at ISC and ASIS.  Felt like a silly waste of time, but a lot of people I called showed up, and it seemed to create a more friendly meetup.

Sales tactic,  annoying?......yes.   Bad for business?.......no, it's called sales.  Someone's gonna buy based on the discount.

They need to make their money back on the ridiculous dancing theme that made no sense.  That must have been expensive.

Ya, that dancing theme was certainly interesting, not my cup of tea, but whatever....the party was a pretty good time.

Companies that I tend to get unsolicited calls from:

• Car warranty sellers, trying to sell me a warranty for a car I sold 3 months ago
• Shady outfits offering me a "free GE security system"
• SEO scammers offering to get my domain name ranked #1 in Google

While cold-calling can work, it takes a finely crafted message, IMO, to get someone's attention and not seem desperate. Pushing sales/discounts, short-term offers, and any call where the caller does not have good insight on the person/company they are calling and how they can help do not signal a company/offer that has the ability to truly help ME.

Trying to look at this in a non-biased way, it comes across that Hikvision's regular deep-discount sales are returning declining results and the company does not have a good Plan B, so they throw phone calls at integrators, hoping to squeeze some extra blood from that rock.

The next step may be guys in white vans...

I have never purchased based on flash sales.  Ever.  It is bad for my business.

Having said that I get about 15 of those per week.  I generally allow one per week to make their entire pitch.  They have to eat too.  It feels a little "used car" like to me and creates doubt in my head.  The ones I absolutely despise are the calls that are set up by appointment and we all get them.  Someone calls and asks for 15-30 minutes to "watch their demo through a webinar".  

The day comes and the person who made the appointment hands me off to another person who is supposedly better equipped to explain the company and all it has to offer.  Maybe they know it, maybe they don't, but I am a no-sale right that minute.  It is just a more polished version of the same old tired pitch.

I sat through one this morning and clearly the sales person did not know who we were, our market, our business model, nothing.  He had a few notes the initial person had jotted down for conversation.  No research at all.  He really did not know his own product that well either to be honest.  He did not even know who Avigilon was or how to pronounce it.  That is a "sales" person that will be selling something else next month.  I don't need it. 

There are two challenges regarding Flash Sale, For the Distributors that are in the need to purchase stock, they can benefit from the Flash Sales.

The Distributor who has just stocked up and bought equipment now sits with a warehouse full of expensive stock.

Flash Sales are not new to sales, the downfall is that distributors will not hold huge stock holdings because the price become volatile for them to decide when to and when not to purchase stock.

Hikvision is disrupting a very controlled industry and creating chaos. I do not think this is a good thing as it creates a bargain basement mentallity.

However much some despise Hik and their sales tactics, they're not going away. This move is neutral, not smart not dumb, just ordinary.

The race to the bottom is not productive. The market has limits: People do not continually replace cameras. Once those camera work they stay and for long, in the CCTV ( allow me that term ) industry reliability goes a long way and is an imperative and Hikvision had to become reliable to emerge. They will change, they have to. In the meantime they are growing, increasing brand awareness, mindshare.

In all that the quality of their products should not be dismissed. Their Smart series camera performance is up there with the best and at a consistently better, but not cheap price. Such Performance to Price Ratio sways everyone: dealers and end users at the end..

I received a call last week from a Hikvision representative that appeared to be based in California, from the caller ID info. She was pleasant and brief. I had not spoken to that representative prior to that call. I think it is a good idea for Hikvision to announce their sales as well as possible. You can still question the need for sales in general and still agree that announcing your sale is good for their business. 

Same here , got emails , calls, But they were not trying to sell direct , like some other company's have done in the past. 

At least they did not circumvent the distribution line like some others have done in the past. 

No names but they go directly to the purchasing dept's and offer Try & Buy promotions with out the dealers in the loop. 

? got to wonder 

Nothing wrong with promoting Products , Race to the bottom well that is another story. 

Support well that is another story

Know who buys security products based on a sale?

Trunk slammers.

Know who puts products on sale?

Manufacturers launching and promoting new products, or manufacturers with garbage products. 

U#5 you must not understand business. Buy quality products with excellent LOCAL support teams for best price and sell at a REASONABLE margin. I have never "slammed a Trunk" as a matter of fact I buy at every sale that HIKVISION provides, many of those 100K + so to accuse those who have decided to purchase product simply because it is on sale inferior is only due to your misfortune by not being a HIKVISION dealer.

NOTICE: This comment has been moved to its own discussion: I Buy At Every Sale That HIKVISION Provides, Many Of Those 100K +

Any Business no matter who has got to pay the overhead and keep a profit on hand for a rainy day or you wont be in business, some times Internet has the best quality and product selection and keeps the distributors from gouging you. 

Keeps Competition , and Checks in balances in Place.

Allows you to compare to see how extreme the markups are. and where to fine tune your pricing.  

Also allows you to compete with the trunk slammers and win the projects 

Many of the same products which are at lower prices around the world are sold in usa at a 500-1000 % mark up and that is ok because they have to pay the cost of doing business.

All the hands in the pot.