What makes a good presenter?

[Miss Ellie]

A good presenter to me is one who gives out the sizes at the beginning of an item and not at the end when it's too late any your size has gone.

Many's a time I've gone online to see what the sizing is whilst the item is being aired, rather than wait for the presenter to tell me.

 

[Evie]

My perfect presenter would be very much like my perfect sales assistant in a store. No shouting, no instructing me or pleading with me to buy. I would expect to be guided through and assisted with my proposed purchase with my requirements in mind. They certainly should not see it as an opportunity to self promote or make the purchase all about them. My perfect presenter? Kathy Taylor

 

[boffy]

My perfect presenter would be very much like my perfect sales assistant in a store. No shouting, no instructing me or pleading with me to buy. I would expect to be guided through and assisted with my proposed purchase with my requirements in mind. They certainly should not see it as an opportunity to self promote or make the purchase all about them. My perfect presenter? Kathy Taylor

the calm outsider thats now in the premier league

 

[Laura L'occitane Earle]

On the whole I can watch most of the presenters, and like a previous poster, do not hate any of them, but that could be because I only ever watch a couple of minutes at a time. I used to find myself laughing aloud at Dale's banter. I think Julia is very professional but seems to change completely when with Simon Wilson. Ali Keenan talks way too much and too fast and leaves me feeling exhausted. Ali Young can be quite entertaining when she's not in Beauty Expert For You mode.

The only one I really don't like is Sara Griffiths - there is something very hard about her and she also talks too much. The sad thing is I remember when she was previously on QVC and I always found her very calm with a nice soothing voice. Maybe she was trained in the hard sell technique on her return.

 

[boffy]

sara g has always been the same...when she went i was relieved

 

[Anna]

sara g has always been the same...when she went i was relieved

I was happy to see her leave last time and very disappointed to see her return.

 

[maymorganlondon]

It's definitely the case that watching without having internet access at the same time can be a disadvantage. If you want to see the options available, measurements and more specific details (such as fabric composition) the live shows are now increasingly useless. The rotating section on the screen for the name and all the option details is a disaster, then the measurements are missed out completely by some presenters (ring Liverpool being the usual cop-out). On many levels watching the live shows is increasingly challenging, sadly.

I don't know how QVC's sales figures compare with past years, but I wouldn't be surprised if they are struggling by their own standards. The business model they operate is not very flexible to adapt to the kinds of competition out there. Their only significant point of difference is the 30 day money back guarantee, and some of the infommercials offer a variety of MBGs for the one product they are selling.

There are now other routes to market for new companies, so I dare say there are companies now who say thanks but no thanks, despite the potential of shifting massive volumes on QVC.

I do therefore think that a lot of the presenters have been successfully pressured into becoming much more aggressive in their approach to sales. I think the only one who naturally excels at a hard-pressure type of selling is Debbie Flint. What I do like about her is that she is always conscious about the information that should be being put across about the products she's selling. I have no time for the endless consulting of ipad for twitter etc and the constant exhortations to tweet, references to her own (rather than Q's) website. Mercifully I've not recently heard much about books...

 

[Julius]

Reading numerous derogatory comments about various presenters, I wondered what people thought made a good presenter. For me a good presenter is someone who seems genuinely interested in the product they are selling, is knowledgeable, and gives you all the relevant points about the item as well as covering any aspects of it a viewer might have a question about.

Being sincere.
Not shamelessly self-promoting at all costs.
Not depriving a charity of a donation in favour of your friends.
Being able to write with zest and verve, not like a semi-literate gibbon.
Being able to take criticism.