How not to sell a parasol

We bought some new garden furniture recently and are looking for something to provide shade over the area where it sits in the garden.  As a result, I have been looking at parasols and came across this image.

It does not take too much effort to find the problem with this image.  The wall casts a shadow, the chair casts a shadow, even the book casts a shadow.  However, the parasol does nothing.

We can only conclude that the parasol was inserted into the picture digitally and was never there when the photograph was taken.  So, why does this matter?

I am buying a parasol to provide shade.  While the sun will move around and the parasol can turn and tilt and so can vary the amount of shade that it provides, I at least want to see it providing some shade in the image that is being used to promote it.

Honesty has to be the cornerstone of successful sales.  While I can look at a parasol and infer many things, the fact that the company selling it cannot be bothered to use a real image of it makes me wonder what else they might be hiding.

The Equation of Sales starts with trust for a good reason.  We cannot sell much to anyone who does not trust us.  I can go and see a parasol, see what shade it provides, try putting it up and down to see how easy it is to work.  However, with many products and most services, we cannot necessarily try before we buy.  Our customer has to trust what we say about our product and therefore has to trust us.

Trust in a product only comes when we trust the person selling it.  The trust can be transferred from a brand or a shop but we still need to trust the person that we are talking to in the shop.  It can be transferred from one sales person to another by way of recommendation but we still form our own opinion based on our experience.

So, if we want a person to buy our product, start by building trust.  Present the product honestly.  If it does not have certain functions, acknowledge that.  If it only does some things and not others, admit those.  Certainly do not start by showing it not doing the very thing it is designed to do!!