Best Buy and Apple - Together Again?

[favpseudonym]

you know what really pisses me off? is when a worker in the apple store doesnt know a damn thing. The times that i have been to the apple store in both Pasadena and Glendale, there are damn kids who work there who dont know anything about macs.
i think apple would be hard pressed to find individuals to put into bb that are knowledgable about macs

 

[iJon]

Originally posted by favpseudonym
you know what really pisses me off? is when a worker in the apple store doesnt know a damn thing. The times that i have been to the apple store in both Pasadena and Glendale, there are damn kids who work there who dont know anything about macs.
i think apple would be hard pressed to find individuals to put into bb that are knowledgable about macs

i know exactly what you mean. ive been into some and a guy is explaining his problem to the genious and he doesnt have any idea what is wrong. but i know exactly whats wrong but i dont butt in because i dont want to make him feel stupid.

iJon

 

[Doctor Q]

I was shopping for digital answering machines last week. As I always do when shopping for gadgets, I researched on the web and read a lot of specs, and even a few user manuals in PDF form, to decide what I wanted. Then I went to Best Buy to see which were in stock and to check prices. A senior citizen was looking befuddled with so many phones, answering machines, and phones with builtin answering machines around him. The salesperson could read the boxes and point out prices but didn't start with the basic question they should always ask - what are you looking for? So I asked the man and he said he just wanted a simple-to-use answering machine. I wanted something fancier myself, but I explained his choices (having just read the manual for the one he was holding). He decided that he didn't mind the cheap one that had a single LED (blinks n times for n messages) instead of one with a two-digit LCD number-of-messages display, and he didn't want to pay for caller ID, so he thanked me and went off to buy the one that suited him best.

This is not the first time I've turned into a pseudosalesperson while shopping myself. I did the same thing this morning in an Office Depot where a lady was shopping for an inkjet printer. I'm a sucker for people who need help with something about which I feel knowledgable.

I was about to ask all of you why salespeople don't routinely ask "what do you want?" and explain the choices that suit a customer's purpose, but I just realized what the answer must be: They don't offer enough help because I'm always there to do their job for them!

 

[themadchemist]

I hope not! They took the money Apple gave them to advertise and pushed PCs instead. Those leeches!

But on the other hand...A lot of people go to Best Buy, though it is terrible and disgusting.

 

[tazo]

Originally posted by Doctor Q
I was shopping for digital answering machines last week. As I always do when shopping for gadgets, I researched on the web and read a lot of specs, and even a few user manuals in PDF form, to decide what I wanted. Then I went to Best Buy to see which were in stock and to check prices. A senior citizen was looking befuddled with so many phones, answering machines, and phones with builtin answering machines around him. The salesperson could read the boxes and point out prices but didn't start with the basic question they should always ask - what are you looking for? So I asked the man and he said he just wanted a simple-to-use answering machine. I wanted something fancier myself, but I explained his choices (having just read the manual for the one he was holding). He decided that he didn't mind the cheap one that had a single LED (blinks n times for n messages) instead of one with a two-digit LCD number-of-messages display, and he didn't want to pay for caller ID, so he thanked me and went off to buy the one that suited him best.

This is not the first time I've turned into a pseudosalesperson while shopping myself. I did the same thing this morning in an Office Depot where a lady was shopping for an inkjet printer. I'm a sucker for people who need help with something about which I feel knowledgable.

I was about to ask all of you why salespeople don't routinely ask "what do you want?" and explain the choices that suit a customer's purpose, but I just realized what the answer must be: They don't offer enough help because I'm always there to do their job for them!

I become a salesman too lol at electronic stores sometimes, like you said because the real staff just aren't helping. I remember I was at office max for like pens, and i stopped to look at the cellphones. a guy is looking at pdas, and the guy just wants your basic functionality. Lo and behold the saleman is trying to push the latest microshaft gadget on the guy and i got the guy to go buy a zire. although i told him to go buy it somewhere better like a compusa or something. lol.

if people dont do there job what are ya gonna do?

 

[Mav451]

alot of ppl have brought up that salepeople and people in general are not computer proficient. That's expected.
That aside, i'm going to describe the situation in my area:

There are 2 bestbuys in less than 15 minute drive-radius.

On the other hand, there is the same number of Compusa's (people in Maryland should know of the one in Montgomery Village and 355 Federal plaza).

NOW--the nearest apple store to me USED to be on Muddy Branch (close to my house). Now it's gone...probably went out a few years ago. I have to drive 30-40 minutes to Virginia to Tyson's Corner mall JUST to see an apple retailer.

Imagine if the 2 bestbuys were to now carry Macs. Convenience and the sheer "I HAVE to go out of the way" would be eliminated. I don't have to cross the stateline/get on 495 just to get to an Apple retailer. I can go on local roads to the nearest bestbuy.

In addition, with the 2 compusa's, the Apple retailers in my area would have effectively DOUBLED. More exposure is ALWAYS better than none. ALWAYS. Even if just a small portion of the "usual" BB buyers/viewers (sometimes i jsut walk around the store looking at what they have) will see this "new" unknown area or the "hey i saw this in compusa".

All it takes is a small % of interested buyers--which will garner the interest of other buyers. Again, obviously some experienced salepeople will be needed but one you get it rolling, having them retailed across the US will definitely help get them out there to the public.

 

[favpseudonym]

if bang and olufsen audio products were sold in every best buy in the country, would sales of bang and olufsen go up or down???

 

[j33pd0g]

Originally posted by favpseudonym
if bang and olufsen audio products were sold in every best buy in the country, would sales of bang and olufsen go up or down???

Well, that all depends on if the CEO of the whole chain wanted to push those sales. I personally had never heard of them, so if I went to best buy someone would have to know about them to tell me. I looked them up online now, and so now I know... but not every one will do this. So the answer I think will be determined by what the best profit will be, and or belief in product.

 

[thebossisback]

I realy dont like bestbuy

 

[Doctor Q]

I read a business article that said that Best Buy is doing well, while Circuit City and Good Guys are having trouble competing and are rethinking their strategies. In Los Angeles, I would rank the chains from best to worst as follows for the most selection and the best prices: Fry's, Best Buy, CompUSA, Good Guys, Circuit City. For expertise of the salespeople, it's a hit or miss thing, so I couldn't put them in any order at all.

 

[question fear]

Originally posted by thebossisback
I realy dont like bestbuy

funny, me either.
while i have disliked my job a bit over the last few weeks, i was overhearing training for the sales people (i dont currently work in sales) and it shocked me how much best buy sounded like a store i would never want to shop in...they were telling the employees to push the best buy card really hard, to not take no for an answer, etc.
i was sick to my stomach, and hated that i was employed by people who purport to care at all about what they sell, when in reality they'd happily sell monkey crap if they could make a decent margin on it.
and i know, i know....all business are like that. but i think you can be a business and still have an investment in your product, and not an investment in retail per se.
thats the difference.
thats why i am so angry i have to work there until i find another job...its not that i couldnt find another job, its that any good job takes time to procure, and i can't get another job for a small stopgap.
so don't shop at best buy unless you loooooove the hard sell, and people who are only out for their stupid success banners from "getting every single dollar that walks into this store".
--carly

 

[Doctor Q]

Another point to keep in mind: Different stores have different stock. Even the most knowledgeable salesperson is more likely to tell you about the models his/her store stocks than those they don't. Another reason not to rely solely on salespeople for your information.

I just opened my mail and found my new "Reward Zone" card from Best Buy. It's free if you don't mind them tracking your purchases and sending you targeting mailings. You get a $5 coupon after every $125 spent, which is equivalent to a 4% discount. Since I do my own research and comparison shopping and I don't rely on the salespeople for technical advice, I go there simply to save money.

One funny note: My Reward Zone statement says "You get 100 Reward Zone points for nearly every dollar you spend on eligible products and services." What do they mean by nearly!? The fine print explains which items are not eligible. But if they also exclude some "eligible" items from the program, what does "eligible" mean? They either have a bad editor or a clever lawyer!

 

[bcsimac]

Re: Re: Re: Bad Idea

Look, I feel your pain! I worked for CompUSA as the Mac guy for four years. We are told to sell EW or don't eat. Basically, everybody is expected to sell at least 45 percent EW for the overall sales that person had. No ifs, ands, or buts about it........don't sell EW.....don't have enough to eat, pay rent, or eventually have a job at all! Now that CompUSA has switched to commission only pay off of EWs and systems.......you have to sell EW to even survive......no choice! Realize man....CompUSA employees don't get crap for selling software and accessories unless they sell training, DATS, or some service plan......I am dead serious......if you don't sell some service on software and accessories....then you don't get commission and you don't get paid.....period! By the way computers only get you 1% commission......the only way to make enough to pay the bills is to sell the EW or something because then at least you get 6%! Could you live off no pay for software or accessory sales and only make 1% commission on computers? I don't think so! Think about it....if you sell a $499 pc package and no EW, then all you get is $4.99 commission from that sell. You can't even get a meal at McDonalds in Boston for that kind of pay! By the way, even the employees had to get EW's on their own purchases or face getting a nasty yelling from the managers! By the way, those guys were only doing their jobs....don't give them more abuse than they already get from the managers for not producing the numbers.....it is awful hard in the trenches!

Originally posted by bitfactory
<way off topic>
not just HIS store... the two where i live are exactly the same way... i've already written a letter to the Best Buy Corp office on the high-pressure way they try to sell you the extended warranties on EVERYTHING. i bought a mid-size WEGA television in there not too long ago and was pressured to buy the extended warranty at the counter in the back (said, "no thanks" - "why?" - "uh, the chance of anything going wrong with this television after the warranty are nil'" - "well, wouldn't you feel safer knowing..." - "nope, just ring it up"...

made my way from the back to the front with the TV on the cart... got to the front door to show the guard my receipt and was harrassed AGAIN for not buying the EW. after turning it down two more times to him, i finally couldn't take it anymore and went OFF on him...

jesus, just take NO for an answer... extended warranties from companies like Best Buy are a JOKE. they make SERIOUS money off of it, less than 4% of people who buy the policies ever use them (PrimeTime Live, 2002).
</way off topic>

that said, it'd be nice just to get the exposure... but i only buy CDs there now... they don't sell warranties for them.

 

[question fear]

Originally posted by Doctor Q
Another point to keep in mind: Different stores have different stock. Even the most knowledgeable salesperson is more likely to tell you about the models his/her store stocks than those they don't. Another reason not to rely solely on salespeople for your information.

I just opened my mail and found my new "Reward Zone" card from Best Buy. It's free if you don't mind them tracking your purchases and sending you targeting mailings. You get a $5 coupon after every $125 spent, which is equivalent to a 4% discount. Since I do my own research and comparison shopping and I don't rely on the salespeople for technical advice, I go there simply to save money.

One funny note: My Reward Zone statement says "You get 100 Reward Zone points for nearly every dollar you spend on eligible products and services." What do they mean by nearly!? The fine print explains which items are not eligible. But if they also exclude some "eligible" items from the program, what does "eligible" mean? They either have a bad editor or a clever laywer!

yea, the reward zone thing is weird.
no one really understands what it does.
half the employees think its a star market card.
the other half think its every .01 spent, not ever 1.00 spent.
and i bet best buy excludes anything they dont make a big phatty margin on.
sketchy b*st*rds.
anyhow.
disgruntled rant over.
return to regularly scheduled gripes.
:-D
--carly

 

[Farside161]

giving macs more exposure is a good idea, but doing so at stores like best buy, CompUSA and Fry's is not a good idea. why, because all of the people that i know who buy macs buy them because they need them for there work, not because they like iphoto or itunes of any of the other great apps and features bundled with macs today. all the sales people who work at those stores don't know what there talking about, they just want to sell you the most expensive stuff in the store. thats why i buy all my macs from a west coast chain the mac store (formaly The computer store) the guys that run that business have been selling apples since apple was formed (yes they sold apples even before the mac was created). the people that run that store know what their talking about and are a very informated resource.

 

[bcsimac]

Re: bad idea

Excuse me, but I think you are over generalizing all the salesman who work at these stores. Some of us do know what we are talking about and are just as dependant on the Mac as you are. I used to work for CompUSA for 4 years. I have been an ADC member since 1995. I have been an Apple tech since 1997. I have used Macs since 1984. I have owned a Mac since 1995. I went to MacWorld Expo, Seybold, and NAB regularly. I had subscriptions to about every Mac magazine on the market. I made it my business to know as much as I could about every Mac product in development. I spent several hours of my day downloading drivers, software updates, freeware, shareware, patches, and etc......and I did this everyday. I made it a point to try to obtain as many NFR copies of software as I could; and if none was available, I went out of my way to save money to buy the product. I also signed up for a bunch of beta tests so that I could become more familiar with the product before it shipped so that if a customer complained about a crash or bug I could help them out or at least email the engineers at the developer so that they could get a bug fix out. I did this on $8.00/hr pay.

I had several colleagues that I worked with who were just as knowledgeable if not more. I had one friend who used to make shareware games as a side job. He knew more about programming than I would have even imagined. He was very creative in his game making. He had been using Macs for over 10 years at the time. I had another colleague who worked for Harvard University as a Senior Mac Systems Administrator and also worked part-time as a Mac technician for CompUSA. He had been using Macs since they first came out. I had another colleague who had been a special education teacher and had used Macs for many years and was very good at making demos and presentations and movies for demostration. He was very knowledgable about education software offerings for the Mac.

You might want to say "most" and not "all" sales people at these stores don't know what they are talking about. You might be just putting your foot in your mouth. Some of us really cared about our customers and wanted to only sell what they needed....."not the most expensive stuff in the store."

Originally posted by Farside161
giving macs more exposure is a good idea, but doing so at stores like best buy, CompUSA and Fry's is not a good idea. all the sales people who work at those stores don't know what there talking about, they just want to sell you the most expensive stuff in the store..

 

[Horse]

What it really comes down to

Apple needs to make sure that they have their own staff out in the field at these Best Buy stores training current BB staff on how to sell Apple products.

Just sticking their products on the shelves isn't enough if the poor salesmen don't know what the hell is going on!

I know people get so fed up having to deal with some dude that doesn't know his butt from a whole in the ground when it comes to Apple (and other) products - but at the end of the day it's the corporations fault for giving the right training and placing the right people in the right spot.

Apple has a responsibility to make sure they provide Best Buy with the right tools (informational and otherwise) to move Apple products out the door becuase we all know they aren't going to sell themselves except to current users like ourselves.

Horse

 

[MacGuy283]

Originally posted by Farside161
giving macs more exposure is a good idea, but doing so at stores like best buy, CompUSA and Fry's is not a good idea. why, because all of the people that i know who buy macs buy them because they need them for there work, not because they like iphoto or itunes of any of the other great apps and features bundled with macs today. all the sales people who work at those stores don't know what there talking about, they just want to sell you the most expensive stuff in the store. thats why i buy all my macs from a west coast chain the mac store (formaly The computer store) the guys that run that business have been selling apples since apple was formed (yes they sold apples even before the mac was created). the people that run that store know what their talking about and are a very informated resource.

if stores like best buy, compusa and frys shouldnt sell apple to get more attention, where are they going to sell them walmart? i dont think so.

 

[bcsimac]

You think Apple is any better at hiring knowledgable Mac people than the rest

You guys act like Apple is all that much better than the rest of these companies at hiring Mac knowledgable people at the retail level...I got news for you......it isn't so! I trained an Apple hired retail rep.....he was a fomer cell phone salesman who admitted to me that he had never used a Mac before in his life and was kinda embarrassed that he got hired over me who was much more knowledgable than he was.

 

[Les Kern]

Hmmm. It reminds me of those made-for-TV movies where the battered wife continues to go back to her abusive husband. But I guess if Apple ever wants to capture more of the market, they'll have to keep going back.

 

[Muigleb]

Re: Re: Re: Bad Idea

Originally posted by schweb
Are you kidding me? Best Buy does have a chain wide problem of hiring sub par employees. I have been to Best Buys in multiple locations in multiple states and have such horrendous service that I have not stepped into a Best Buy in over a year and I will NEVER go back again. I have rarely if ever heard anyone in person or on a message board say anything positive about their "Best Buy experience"

i always have a possitive BB experience. i go in know what im going to buy, buy it with an excelent payment option, and never have to talk to a bestbuy employee till i get to the register. of course i know more then the people at BB and yes most of them are lacking in knoweledge in one point or another, but if you never have to talk to them whats so bad about that. i would hope that anyone that post on this page wouldnt need their help anyways.

 

[capitalhood]

OH PLEASE EVERYONE STOP TALKING OUT YOUR ARSE!

BEST BUY could have no employees none, and having the macs there would still help, macs are sooooo much better that just having them insight, in person, would help. Remember, when most people buy a computer mac doesn't even cross their minds, but if they see a mac next to some crappy dell they might go and check, apple dot com and if they do they'll head deeper and deeper down the rabbit hole until they end up buying a mac... phew... now stop bashing best buy and recognize that apple in person is the best way to sell apple stuff.... sigh... man that tired me out...

 

[jaedreth]

BB, Sears

I used to work for Sears. *gasp* (In fact, it was the second real job I ever had, working for an orthotics and prosthetics company owned by my grandpa and dad doesn't count.)

I was on a Seasonal job working small electronics back when Sears was selling Performas.

And wouldn't you know it, the macs were in complete disarray, and I couldn't help them out much because they no longer had the cds.

Every once in a while, a customer would walk over to one of the Macs, while I'm sitting over by telephones and little tiny radio players, and one of the commissioned sales folk would try to convince them to sell a PC. They would trash talk it and all. The customers would often retort that they really came here for a mac. So I would walk in, and say, excuse me. May I help you? Keep in mind, I couldn't make a sale, but I could find out what the customer wanted, and usually those old performas were more than the average sears going mac lovers would ever need. And then when the customers were ready to buy the mac, I'd go to the one lady who *wasn't* a PC/computer person, and give her the sale. Because I sure wasn't going to let one of those pc bigots get it.

How does this relate to best buy?

Education.

If this whole process means that the best buy employees aren't bashing Macs and trying to get them to buy PC's instead, and better yet, *some* of the stores have *actual* Apple employees, then the situation would be *infinitely* better than what it currently is and has been.

So I give a big two thumbs up.

FYI, in my area, the only place to get a decent mac from people of any competence is Fry's Electronics. They have their own Mac aisle, and it's nice. They don't have anyone working there near as mac savy as I am, however, they do have a lot of very smart people there, and I have never once heard one of the sales reps trying to push a customer from mac to pc. Usually the mac customers know exactly what they want anyways.

Jaedreth