Best Buy Experience
 

Just returned from a visit and in the TV section the sales people were
pushing EDTV's LCD and Plasma sets over HDTV's claiming that they did a much
better job with standard definition analog TV programs. I got out of there
fast after suggesting that the new 32 inch Sony HDTV LCD set for under
$2,000 was a better deal than the slightly larger EDTV they were trying to
push on this poor couple. Don't they have any shame?

Richard.

Richard wrote:
Just returned from a visit and in the TV section the sales people were
pushing EDTV's LCD and Plasma sets over HDTV's claiming that they did a much
better job with standard definition analog TV programs. I got out of there
fast after suggesting that the new 32 inch Sony HDTV LCD set for under
$2,000 was a better deal than the slightly larger EDTV they were trying to
push on this poor couple. Don't they have any shame?


A They have no shame.
B They are poorly trained.
C They work on commission.
D Commissions are often riggged to "encourage" sales people to
recommend the crap Bestbuy makes the most margin on.
E They are poorly paid.

None of these are conducive to a good sales experience for the consumer.
So it's up to you to either educate yourself and ignore the sales ween
when you get there or patronize a store with knowledgeable staff (often
at the expense of paying some higher price than a discount store) who
will be more inclined to listen to your needs and sell you something
appropriate for what you want to accomplish.

Incidentally, the sales people get a much higher commission if they
manage to sell you one of those "extended warranties".

Cheers,

"Ritz" wrote in message
...
Richard wrote:
Just returned from a visit and in the TV section the sales people
were pushing EDTV's LCD and Plasma sets over HDTV's claiming that they
did a much better job with standard definition analog TV programs.

It's probably true in some sense that there's less upconversion.

I got out of there
fast after suggesting that the new 32 inch Sony HDTV LCD set for under
$2,000 was a better deal than the slightly larger EDTV they were trying
to push on this poor couple. Don't they have any shame?


A They have no shame.
B They are poorly trained.
C They work on commission.
D Commissions are often riggged to "encourage" sales people to recommend
the crap Bestbuy makes the most margin on.
E They are poorly paid.

None of these are conducive to a good sales experience for the consumer.
So it's up to you to either educate yourself and ignore the sales ween
when you get there or patronize a store with knowledgeable staff (often at
the expense of paying some higher price than a discount store) who will be
more inclined to listen to your needs and sell you something appropriate
for what you want to accomplish.

Incidentally, the sales people get a much higher commission if they manage
to sell you one of those "extended warranties".

Cheers,

Ritz wrote:

A They have no shame.
B They are poorly trained.
C They work on commission.
D Commissions are often riggged to "encourage" sales people to
recommend the crap Bestbuy makes the most margin on.
E They are poorly paid.

Incidentally, the sales people get a much higher commission if they
manage to sell you one of those "extended warranties".

Best Buy salespeople do not work on commission.

Jim Gilliland wrote:
Ritz wrote:


A They have no shame.
B They are poorly trained.
C They work on commission.
D Commissions are often riggged to "encourage" sales people to
recommend the crap Bestbuy makes the most margin on.
E They are poorly paid.

Incidentally, the sales people get a much higher commission if they
manage to sell you one of those "extended warranties".


Best Buy salespeople do not work on commission.


I've asked several and they all told me they get paid some hourly slave
rate and then get commission based on meeting sales targets (both on an
aggregate basis and on special items like warranties). Was I misinformed?

Cheers,

On Mon, 29 Aug 2005 18:38:05 -0400, Ritz spewed forth these
words of wisdom:



I've asked several and they all told me they get paid some hourly slave
rate and then get commission based on meeting sales targets (both on an
aggregate basis and on special items like warranties). Was I misinformed?

Cheers,

I used to work for Best Buy and we never got any kind of bonuses for selling
warranties, etc.

--
"I'm not a cool person in real life, but I play one on the Internet"
Galley

Ritz wrote:
Jim Gilliland wrote:

Ritz wrote:

A They have no shame.
B They are poorly trained.
C They work on commission.
D Commissions are often riggged to "encourage" sales people to
recommend the crap Bestbuy makes the most margin on.
E They are poorly paid.

Incidentally, the sales people get a much higher commission if they
manage to sell you one of those "extended warranties".

Best Buy salespeople do not work on commission.

I've asked several and they all told me they get paid some hourly slave
rate and then get commission based on meeting sales targets (both on an
aggregate basis and on special items like warranties). Was I misinformed?

I haven't heard that, but it makes some sense. It sounds like they may
be paid a bonus based upon making a store-wide (or, more likely,
department-wide) quota. That kind of bonus system wouldn't be called a
"commission" since it's not based on individual sales by individual
salespeople. And it wouldn't incent them to favor any particular brand
or technology.

I wouldn't doubt, though, that there is a separate sales target for
warranties and interconnects. I haven't asked about that, but you can
often infer the details of the sales plan just by watching the behavior
of the sales force.

I don't see any sign of competition between the sales people on the
floor, nor do they seem to make any effort to track which sales people
make which sales. So my observations tend to support their story.

"Rewards" and "promotions" are directly evaluated on the sales of a
salesperson. That alone justifies the actions your describing.

Young highschool salespeople are just pawns in the larger world of places
like Best Buy/Circuit City etc... Offer them incentives, not commission,
and there you have the mentality to sell,sell,sell.

Tommorrow on your way to work in traffic. Look over at that "tard" next to
you. That is the person who is gonna buy that EDTV with the extended
warranty by the highschool kid. Best Buy just made some jingle. A perfect
system. Darwin would be proud.

Just a litte diet food for thought...
SL :)


"Jim Gilliland" wrote in message
...
Ritz wrote:

A They have no shame.
B They are poorly trained.
C They work on commission.
D Commissions are often riggged to "encourage" sales people to
recommend the crap Bestbuy makes the most margin on.
E They are poorly paid.

Incidentally, the sales people get a much higher commission if they
manage to sell you one of those "extended warranties".

Best Buy salespeople do not work on commission.

Best Buy salespeople do not work on commission.

I used to work for CompUSA and I cant say that they made commission, but
they did make alot off of every warranty they sold, thats a fact. I had a
friend who worked for BB up the street, he told me he got commission and it
wasnt from warranties, just regular sales, in fact, he told me that he was
the top seller for 2 months, and each month he got a huge bonus for being
number 1 as well....cant remember the amount but it seems like it was around
$500 or so.

"Ritz" wrote

...patronize a store with knowledgeable staff (often at the expense of
paying some higher price than a discount store) who will be more inclined
to listen to your needs and sell you something appropriate for what you
want to accomplish.

Actually some better stores with salespeople who actually have a clue can be
quite competitive on price, since they don't have the huge advertising costs
of the big box stores. But that means you have to seek them out.