This is topic For the holiday shoppers in forum Books, Films, Food and Culture at Hatrack River Forum.


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Posted by Tstorm (Member # 1871) on :
 
We're coming up on the busiest shopping days of the season. Crowds will swarm the stores and salesmen will develop repetitive stress injuries from operating cash registers. Black Friday, as retail employees refer to the day after Thanksgiving, won't relent it's status of being the busiest shopping day of the year.

I'm a veteran of a retail electronics store. My official title is not sales guy, but being realistic, I'm just a sales guy . Here's some advice for all you potential customers, from the sales guy's perspective.

1. Be patient. Yes, I know you're in a hurry. You don't have to tell me six times or get huffy. I'm also in a hurry to check you out.

2. Don't try to negotiate the prices. No, I'm not paid on commission, and I won't negotiate. On this topic, you can get one bonus offer or the other. Stores can not "stack" offers. I won't discourage you from shopping around to find the best deal, but I want you to have realistic expectations.

3. Please don't blame me for my store's policies. I can't count the number of times I've informed a customer, with sincere apologies, of our store's policy on returns, and the customer tells me the policy is stupid. Yes, I agree, however I can't change the policy.

4. Don't throw your gum on the floor. Common sense, enough said.

5. On warranties, service, and protection plans. Please indulge the salesman by at least listening to his presentation. Ask him questions, if you want. Know what the manufacturer's warranty is, and what the store's return policy is. Find out if the store even offers extended service. Sometimes the extended service plans will be worthwhile purchases, and sometimes they won't. Please don't be dismissive to the salesman during their presentation. From my perspective, I'm doing you a service by letting you know the warranties and policies.

6. On getting angry... The time will come, inevitably, when a customer becomes irritated. One of my co-workers holds an exact running count of how many times a customer threatened his life. If you need to vent anger with someone at the store, make sure it's a manager. They're trained, willing, and paid to handle disgruntled customers.

7. On mail-in rebates... Lots of holiday sales involve these spawns of satan. Here's what I recommend:

• 1. Follow the instructions. I would say the inability to follow simple instructions is probably the number one reason rebates get denied.
• 2. Make copies for your records. You won't remember the information in two months when you follow-up.
• 3. Follow-up with the rebate companies. Call the phone number listed on the rebate form. The form you made a copy of, remember?

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Happy jamming.

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5. On warranties, service, and protection plans. Please indulge the salesman by at least listening to his presentation. Ask him questions, if you want. Know what the manufacturer's warranty is, and what the store's return policy is. Find out if the store even offers extended service. Sometimes the extended service plans will be worthwhile purchases, and sometimes they won't. Please don't be dismissive to the salesman during their presentation. From my perspective, I'm doing you a service by letting you know the warranties and policies.

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From my perspective, I'm saving both of us time by telling you up front that I don't want extended service.

I know the sales profession, I used to train salespeople, I know all about the up-sell and I know these extended service plans are pure profit for the store. I don't want to listen to your canned pitch and I would think you'd be grateful if I say "I'm not interested, thanks." Unfortunately, too many continue the pitch and THEN I get annoyed.
 

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Posted by Tstorm (Member # 1871) on :
 
Well, Belle, I knew I'd be getting this response. I won't try to convert you, I'll just point out, AGAIN, that it's a service to the customer that the store offers. Customers never save time by declining the service up front, in my experience. My pitch is not canned, and I do offer it to everyone. Job responsibility, you understand?
 

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Posted by Tstorm (Member # 1871) on :
 
Allegra,

I just visited that site. I like it.
 

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Posted by TomDavidson (Member # 124) on :
 
"I'll just point out, AGAIN, that it's a service to the customer that the store offers."

If I ever own a store, I'll tell my employees to offer to wipe our customers' faces with hot towels full of aftershave for the low, low price of $3. If they refuse, I'll make sure that they point out it's just a service to the customer that we offer, and that they really can't afford NOT to have their face wiped by a professional.
 

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Posted by quidscribis (Member # 5124) on :
 

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Please indulge the salesman by at least listening to his presentation. Ask him questions, if you want. Know what the manufacturer's warranty is, and what the store's return policy is. Find out if the store even offers extended service. Sometimes the extended service plans will be worthwhile purchases, and sometimes they won't. Please don't be dismissive to the salesman during their presentation. From my perspective, I'm doing you a service by letting you know the warranties and policies.

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I'll just point out, AGAIN, that it's a service to the customer that the store offers. Customers never save time by declining the service up front, in my experience. My pitch is not canned, and I do offer it to everyone. Job responsibility, you understand?

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A salesperson's job responsibility ends at trying to offer it to the customers. It doesn't extend to ramming it down their throats. Understand that I'm not saying anything against you - I don't know you. But it seems to not occur to some salespeople that, prior to shopping, some of us do a lot of research and have already heard everything we need to hear. Or we don't care. At the point where we say, "Yeah, ring it up," it would really be better to just shut up and do it. Or politely ask them if they'd like to hear anything else. But don't don't try to MAKE us listen to boring stuff that we don't need to hear, have already heard, or don't care to hear.

Be nice to customers, please.

And yes, I've been on both ends of the counter.
 

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Posted by Tstorm (Member # 1871) on :
 
Yes, I understand that some salesmen don't know when to stop. That wasn't the entire point of my post, but it seems to be the only one people are paying any attention to. That I got a response from TomD is surprising. Thanks . However, my point stands, Tom. I would absolutely love to wipe some customer's faces with a hot towel. Some people can't apparently can't wash their faces. Thanks for the post, quidscribis. I try to be nice to customers.

Do you have anything else to say about the list? Is this list not a good idea? Perhaps I can get some positive feedback? I realize this list won't make any impact on my workdays, but I thought maybe it would remind people of some basic shopping courtesies and manners before the holidays hit. I do not intend for this thread to be a debate on the morality of extended service plans or mail-in rebates. I realize, shocking as that may be, that most people despise both of those.
 

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Posted by blacwolve (Member # 2972) on :
 
I'm generally pretty nice to sales people, so I think it's interesting, but as I don't do any of the things listed my behavior isn't going to change.
 

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Posted by TomDavidson (Member # 124) on :
 
I think it's a useful list, but I think it's a losing battle that you're choosing to fight -- because exactly those rude, grasping, ignorant behaviors in consumers your list is meant to address are in fact necessary symptoms of the shopping frenzies that your employers and others like them are attempting to create.

In other words, what you're doing is EXACTLY like complaining about your store's return policy; your higher-ups are responsible for someone's behavior, and yet you complain about it to us.
 

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Posted by Dagonee (Member # 5818) on :
 

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Please don't blame me for my store's policies. I can't count the number of times I've informed a customer, with sincere apologies, of our store's policy on returns, and the customer tells me the policy is stupid. Yes, I agree, however I can't change the policy.

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