I was recently cruising around a mega-store which sells PCs, Macs, software, home theater equipment, music CDs, and musical instruments, and I didn't like the attitude I got from the salespeople when I was looking at the Macs. They were OK with selling them to me and I was OK with buying it from them, but they insisted I also buy a certain third party protection plan they offered as well as a ton of software titles which they happened to carry. It wasn't unlike a similar big box store I worked in within a populated area which considered every customer a one time event and thus sell as much as you can, even if it pisses them off.
When I worked at the other store, I would try and build relationships and trust so a customer would come back, even though there were dozens of computer stores within driving distance. I thought that if I treated them with honesty and provided for their needs, then they would come back. But the policy of this big box store was that since there were so many other stores with 100,000+ people in the direct vicinity, it was smarter to upsell as much as possible and get the money from them then and there knowing they would eventually see that we upsold them and they would go elsewhere next time. The store went on daily totals and it was expected that the current quarter could be their last since so many big box stores bit the dust back then and since then.
Personally, I think this sell the whole store to an unsuspecting person on their first and only visit is a bad approach that ended the run of said big box store. I like how Apple stores are not quite as aggressive and while they upsell like anybody else, they still try and sell you products within a range of what you are asking for. I think this honesty has made people return to the usually much smaller Apple Store and led to the success being customer oriented and not profit driven like the big box stores.
That being said the new Apple employees I have seen start out gung ho and tend to sell similar to the common big box store model, but if they last a few months, which most don't, then they use building relationships with the customers as an approach and a core Apple/Mac crowd is what keeps the store going during these lean times. I know there has been a lot of debate on the best way to sell retail computers, but I like the personal touch of an Apple store or authorized Apple reseller vs. a big box store.
Thoughts?
When I worked at the other store, I would try and build relationships and trust so a customer would come back, even though there were dozens of computer stores within driving distance. I thought that if I treated them with honesty and provided for their needs, then they would come back. But the policy of this big box store was that since there were so many other stores with 100,000+ people in the direct vicinity, it was smarter to upsell as much as possible and get the money from them then and there knowing they would eventually see that we upsold them and they would go elsewhere next time. The store went on daily totals and it was expected that the current quarter could be their last since so many big box stores bit the dust back then and since then.
Personally, I think this sell the whole store to an unsuspecting person on their first and only visit is a bad approach that ended the run of said big box store. I like how Apple stores are not quite as aggressive and while they upsell like anybody else, they still try and sell you products within a range of what you are asking for. I think this honesty has made people return to the usually much smaller Apple Store and led to the success being customer oriented and not profit driven like the big box stores.
That being said the new Apple employees I have seen start out gung ho and tend to sell similar to the common big box store model, but if they last a few months, which most don't, then they use building relationships with the customers as an approach and a core Apple/Mac crowd is what keeps the store going during these lean times. I know there has been a lot of debate on the best way to sell retail computers, but I like the personal touch of an Apple store or authorized Apple reseller vs. a big box store.
Thoughts?
