i think it's story time boys and girls.
i used to work at a best buy here in minnesota. so here's the ins and outs.
granted, most of the sales people really don't know anything. but that's only because the people that do know everything aren't really able to get the "good" sales jobs (ie computer department). it's mostly the people who only care about getting best buy the most money and wanting to get a higher position with the company. those people are known as "lifers". best buy is actually a terrible place to work because of these people. the lifers care more about selling the most expensive toys with the most accessories. by the way, accessories is where the numbers are folks!.
speaking of numbers. best buy employees are told that they need to out-perform all other best buy stores in certain areas. each department has it's own goals. the computer department, for example, has goals of selling xx number of MSN connections per day, xx number of UPS backups, xx number of best buy credit cards, xx number of service plans, xx numbert of the most expensive cables, and xx number of blank media (CDRs DVDRs).
moving on to the point about apple representatives in the store...best buy already has lexmark and sprint reps in the stores at almost all times. this is because the employees seem to have a hard time selling both lexmark printers and sprint cell plans. (both of which are pretty crappy). ever since the representatives have been moved in, lexmark and sprint sales have gone really really high. so, the idea of putting apple reps in the store is a good idea...on one condition...they are not turned into apple reps/best buy employees. by that i mean that the apple reps need to be NOT required to sell MSN, best buy credit, etc. customers HATE being offered MSN. apple employees need to be in a position where they are to help best buy employees learn more about macs, yet not be told how to sell PCs.
it's comparison time.
BOSE equipment is and has been sold in best buy stores for some time now. by "sold", i mean customers look at it...and then look away. each store has it's own section, secluded from the theater booths for bose speakers. Bose is known to the general public to be way overpriced. and jsut not necessary. sony, yamaha, and jvc make speakers that are just as good for a lot less of the price. employees barely EVER sell bose equipment in most stores. in the store i worked at, i never, EVER saw any customer buy anything made by bose.
apple computers are known to be a bit pricey. but they are just as pricey as sony vaios. the only way that customers will even see the macs is if they are well-lit and right next to every other computer in the store. not in the next aisle over, not in a corner, right out in the open.
currently, every best buy that i have been in does not have any room for that kind of placement. i can see the macs being put in the next aisle next to the CDRs where everyone runs in and grabs something and runs out as fast as they can so sales people don't try to sell them the overpriced blank CDs.
but then again, the main problem with best buy...
corporate...best buy corporate and microsoft have some of the largest deals together between two separate companies to date. microsoft will NOT allow best buy to start selling a more substantial amount of macs. besides, MSN is not available for macs right? MSN and windows are the two biggest money-makers for both best buy and microsoft.
end of story
but i will continue if you have any questions.
