Microsoft Attempting to Lure Away Apple Retail Store Staff?

[La Porta]

PMS?

na, this one store seems to have management and team member issues. Some are real great, others just pairaiord. (I know not all apple stores are like that, so before you say that, just know I already know )

Oh, I'm sure you do! For example, last weekend I totally just shot the s*** with one guy for a good 30 minutes after a "theoretical" question of how I would be able to connect two of the new 24" screens to a Mac Pro IF I decided to buy one in the future. Heck, he proceeded to ask "honestly, do you really need all that? What is it you do?"

Those are the best salesmen in my opinion...like the guy who sold me my Mustang, asked me "do you REALLY need a GT?" Not pushing things on me is an almost surefire way to get me to do business with someone. Apple's employees seem to have always done that for me. In fact, I think that some of them are Apple's greatest asset on the front lines.

 

[MH01]

Cool.
I'm switching to Windows the day MS opens a store in Denmark. My first question at the WindowsGuruBar will be "How do I run Mac software on my PC?"

He will probably tell you to hackintosh it

BTW, its not him that looks dumb when you pop that question....

 

[Target362]

FWIW, the 35¢/hour extra you make at Target vs McDonald's (had you stayed) would have only increased your paycheck by $28 every two weeks (assuming you worked the same amount of hours at both places).

What sucks about McDonald's is that the vast majority of them are independently franchised, which essentially makes them "small businesses", which seem to be the worst at being able to give decent benefits to the employees.

Huge employers, like Target, Walmart, Starbucks are in an entirely different ballgame.

Glad you've found something that works for you.

I left Mcdonalds in December 2008, I stated at $7.75 back in July 2007, went up to $7.95 a year later. (took me a bit to remember)

I was unemployed till April of this year. (I got unemployed right when we went in to the recession)

Also keep in mind at Mcdonalds I didnt get enough hours, or most of my hours were 3-4 hour shifts. If it was slow, they sent me home, hence even more shorter hours/paycheclTarget most of mine are 4-8 hours, (mcdonalds was flip flop. Some weeks I wasnt even on the schugle)

I work 5 days. (weekdays, 2-6 or 2-10:15pm. Only Cart attendent that can work days. We are down too 3 and the other two are still in school.

and yes the one I worked for was a franchise, and the owner was nice, but the overseer supervisor was just as an idiot as my mangement was.

At Target we get paied time and a half if we work on a holiday. thats good

 

[peepboon]

Lol... no one is that loyal... if I were offered a significantly increased salary I would take it without thought... think about it, that extra ¢¢¢ will make such a difference in your life.

It also would depend on the working conditions, I never worked for Apple so I am not too sure how they treat the staff but if MS will treat staff the same or even better then why not?

Only downfall which I can think of is what if MS' stores fail? jobless? :S

 

[Target362]

Oh, I'm sure you do! For example, last weekend I totally just shot the s*** with one guy for a good 30 minutes after a "theoretical" question of how I would be able to connect two of the new 24" screens to a Mac Pro IF I decided to buy one in the future. Heck, he proceeded to ask "honestly, do you really need all that? What is it you do?"

Those are the best salesmen in my opinion...like the guy who sold me my Mustang, asked me "do you REALLY need a GT?" Not pushing things on me is an almost surefire way to get me to do business with someone. Apple's employees seem to have always done that for me. In fact, I think that some of them are Apple's greatest asset on the front lines.

but think about it. Why would you ask that question if you wern't going to do it. By asking that question your sure your going to be buying two of the 24" LCDs.

I admit I HATE pushy salesmen, but if they don't push how can they make a sale.

Whats worse if when another customer gets involved. Last week we lost $2000 in sales because a dumb idiot over in electronics (a fellow co-worker!) deciced to stick her big nose in and said that "i never heard of Vizio thats a cheep brand. So our guest decicded NOT to get the TV and the guest behind her was going to also get the TV but deciced not to...

 

[Target362]

Lol... no one is that loyal... if I were offered a significantly increased salary I would take it without thought... think about it, that extra ¢¢¢ will make such a difference in your life.

It also would depend on the working conditions, I never worked for Apple so I am not too sure how they treat the staff but if MS will treat staff the same or even better then why not?

Only downfall which I can think of is what if MS' stores fail? jobless? :S

They might, they might not. To early to tell.

I thnk the general concept is good. few ideas are rough around the edges, but the over all plan sounds exciting.

only question is, will they wear bright color tops with a white thingy hanging around their necks and have PDAS (or PDTS) to ring up orders. Hope not. I do not need some kid or hacker to be over looking their shoulder while they input my credit/debit card number (one thing I do not like about the apple store)

 

[ratGT]

The Excuse Bar

The Excuse Bar, Office, basically a Best Buy with MS crap.

The Excuse Bar - Ha ha ha ha ha ha... GOLDEN!!! So true!!!...

 

[MH01]

Oh, I'm sure you do! For example, last weekend I totally just shot the s*** with one guy for a good 30 minutes after a "theoretical" question of how I would be able to connect two of the new 24" screens to a Mac Pro IF I decided to buy one in the future. Heck, he proceeded to ask "honestly, do you really need all that? What is it you do?"

Those are the best salesmen in my opinion...like the guy who sold me my Mustang, asked me "do you REALLY need a GT?" Not pushing things on me is an almost surefire way to get me to do business with someone. Apple's employees seem to have always done that for me. In fact, I think that some of them are Apple's greatest asset on the front lines.

Really, so how exactly do you connect two of the new 24" screens to a Mac Pro??? Please explain? Given the NVIDIA GeForce GT 120 only has only 1 mini displayport? Are you sure they are the best salesmen??

 

[VenusianSky]

Cool.
I'm switching to Windows the day MS opens a store in Denmark. My first question at the WindowsGuruBar will be "How do I run Mac software on my PC?"

I'm sure their answer will be "you can't, unless it came with a Windows version installation disc". What are you expecting them to say?

You can't run a Mac OS X virtual machine on Windows, can you?

 

[seashellz]

it show just what a bunch of CLUELESS old farts they are
I postulate ALL their stores shuttered due to no traffic by this time next year or say by Jan 2011

Microsoft is totally irrelevant in the 21st Century

 

[aristobrat]

I do not need some kid or hacker to be over looking their shoulder while they input my credit/debit card number (one thing I do not like about the apple store)

Are you talking about when your card doesn't swipe, and they have to type all 16-digits in twice, manually?

I admit I HATE pushy salesmen, but if they don't push how can they make a sale.

They don't get a commission or spiff based on the sale, so there's no financial incentive for the employees to push anything.

At some stores, raises/promotions seem to factor around the side-things that are sold with some products (MobileMe, AppleCare, One-to-One), but any employee that is being pushy on selling the main device is likely to get crapped on if he also tries to push a side-thing to go along with it. Nobody likes push. At the store I worked at, they hired a few CompUSA employees when it went under. They didn't last very long, as "push" was ingrained into them.

 

[macshill]

Ahhhhh, so many typical fanboy comments here ("get your own ideas"). Nice.

I'll remember this when the iPhone uses an OLED screen or outputs HD or adds an FM tuner to the Touch.

Of course, it's always a one-way street when it comes to companies stealing ideas... just so long as the company doing the stealing is Apple.

 

[jawporta]

Apple to Microsoft

I love apple but it's a free market. It's about time the working stiff had a chance to make some more money. I'm going where the money is, retail is all the same anyway, might as well make as much money as I can. 90% of the customers at the Apple store are window's users anyway.

 

[olternaut]

Poaching staff is same thing as stealing staff. Apple can have them sign NDAs before they leave as a precaution to protect Apple trade secrets and as a warning to MS.

This move means Microsoft is really desperate.

Desperate? Ehhhhhh.....no not really.

More Ruthless? You bet!

EDIT: In my opinion, if Apple wants to minimize retail store employee defections they'd better pay up.

 

[*LTD*]

Ahhhhh, so many typical fanboy comments here ("get your own ideas"). Nice.

I'll remember this when the iPhone uses an OLED screen or outputs HD or adds an FM tuner to the Touch.

Of course, it's always a one-way street when it comes to companies stealing ideas... just so long as the company doing the stealing is Apple.

The problem isn't neessarily that MS is following, but that they're being so damn obvious about it.

You'd think that with an R&D budget twice the size of Apple's, with twice the workforce, MS would at least make an attempt to go in some novel directions instead of waiting for Apple's "next big thing." MS has some serious image issues, and this isn't helping.

iPod? We'd better release something too (a few years too late.) iPod Touch? We'd better hurry up and fix our Zune (don't forget that capacitive touch screen with cool effects.) iPhone? We'd better redesign WinMo to get as close to the iPhone's OS as possible . . . and on and on.

And now with the tablet, apparently.

MS has all the experience needed in the consumer sphere, but none of the necessary savvy to keep up.

Part of the problen is that they're a corporate/enterprise software vendor masquerading as a home/consumer vendor.

 

[La Porta]

Really, so how exactly do you connect two of the new 24" screens to a Mac Pro??? Please explain? Given the NVIDIA GeForce GT 120 only has only 1 mini displayport? Are you sure they are the best salesmen??

From the Apple website (and him), you need two of the cards at once in order to drive the two screens. It would be different if you had two DVI screens. The DVI can't drive a MiniDisplay, but a MiniDisplay can drive DVI via an adaptor. The card has one of each. Even the high end ATI can't do it: you would need the high end and one NVIDIA to pull off the dual 24"

 

[synth3tik]

When I think of a MS retail store I think of the Gateway Country stores that lasted what 7 months.

 

[neiltc13]

The problem isn't neessarily that MS is following, but that they're being so damn obvious about it.

You'd think that with an R&D budget twice the size of Apple's, with twice the workforce, MS would at least make an attempt to go in some novel directions instead of waiting for Apple's "next big thing." MS has some serious image issues, and this isn't helping.

iPod? We'd better release something too (a few years too late.) iPod Touch? We'd better hurry up and fix our Zune (don't forget that capacitive touch screen with cool effects.) iPhone? We'd better redesign WinMo to get as close to the iPhone's OS as possible . . . and on and on.

And now with the tablet, apparently.

MS has all the experience needed in the consumer sphere, but none of the necessary savvy to keep up.

Part of the problen is that they're a corporate/enterprise software vendor masquerading as a home/consumer vendor.

Your argument would be fine if Apple were the first to do any of the things you mention. However, MP3 players were on the market for a long time before Apple released its first iPod and Apple certainly wasn't the first company to add a touch screen interface to a media player or a phone.

It makes me laugh when I read comments claiming Microsoft is "copying" Apple's idea of the App Store. People who say this clearly haven't heard of XNA, which Microsoft pioneered a couple of years before Apple introduced the iPhone SDK, and it allowed developers to create games for Xbox 360 and Windows and gave them all the tools they needed completely free. The developer then sets the price, the game or application goes on sale... sound familiar?

As for tablets, Microsoft beat Apple to that several years ago.

 

[InTheUnion]

But how many people work at Levi's because they WANT to work there? How passionate are they in selling Levi's products? How much do they care about the company as a brand, a philosophy? It's that type of passion that Apple looks for in their retail staff. If an Apple employee doesn't have it, they'll take the job at Microsoft.

So then that means this is actually helping Apple?

 

[Target362]

it show just what a bunch of CLUELESS old farts they are
I postulate ALL their stores shuttered due to no traffic by this time next year or say by Jan 2011

Microsoft is totally irrelevant in the 21st Century

no traffic? IUf there was no traffic they would be closed by the first week. but thats not going to happen.

Are you talking about when your card doesn't swipe, and they have to type all 16-digits in twice, manually?


They don't get a commission or spiff based on the sale, so there's no financial incentive for the employees to push anything.

both

You must not work in Retail then. My store, out of the 100 or so stores in our district we do the best in sales and even service (theres a chart near the break room that shows all the sales in the district and my store actually does the best with a few others close enough)

Making a sale does not mean you work commission. Its all about making a sale for apple or in general the company you work for.

and there is an incentive,. More sales they make, the more hours they have, the better the paycheck. (thats what our leaders (managers) say to us all the time. ( "Team members, lets help make our sales by stepping out and asking our guests can I help you find something") With out sales, the store will suffer, and could eventually shut down. (does not mean apple will shut down just the store that has low sales. Why run a store if no one is buying from it? Its just wastes money keeping a store running like that if no one is buying from the,

At some stores, raises/promotions seem to factor around the side-things that are sold with some products (MobileMe, AppleCare, One-to-One), but any employee that is being pushy on selling the main device is likely to get crapped on if he also tries to push a side-thing to go along with it. Nobody likes push. At the store I worked at, they hired a few CompUSA employees when it went under. They didn't last very long, as "push" was ingrained into them.

I didn't say anything about raises or promotions. I'm just stating a fact because I work in retal, and the apple stores are retail

 

[RazHyena]

I'm not saying I love the HD, I'm not saying it's a guaranteed success. But competition is a very good thing, and with the recent lackluster iPT updates I'd say Apple needs some fire under their butt to start doing something interesting.

+1

I'm waiting for something REALLY interesting and different to come from Apple. An entirely new looking iMac lineup or something. Enough of these "speedbumps."

 

[*LTD*]

Your argument would be fine if Apple were the first to do any of the things you mention. However, MP3 players were on the market for a long time before Apple released its first iPod and Apple certainly wasn't the first company to add a touch screen interface to a media player or a phone.

Given Apple's implementations of each, mp3s and smartphones might as well not even have existed before the iPod and the iPhone. The iPhone refashioned the mobile telephony industry (aside from handhelds in general) overnight. And before the iPod? The mp3 player Dark Ages.

Apple is the one to usually step in and fix everyone's broken "firsts" and poorly implemented "firsts."

The "tablet" concept is next.

 

[Target362]

What about an actual TV? With the Apple TV features built in? The TV can connect to the internet you you'll have widgets just like on the mac for weather, sports updates, RSS feeds and more.

 

[Rodimus Prime]

Given Apple's implementations of each, mp3s and smartphones might as well not even have existed before the iPod and the iPhone. The iPhone refashioned the mobile telephony industry (aside from handhelds in general) overnight. And before the iPod? The mp3 player Dark Ages.

Apple is the one to usually step in and fix everyone's broken "firsts" and poorly implemented "firsts."

The "tablet" concept is next.

You really are blind by Apple's RDF arent you. Apple's iPhone was not game changing to the cell phone market. The iPhone was NOT the first touch screen phone. the iPhone did not bring the smart phone to the masses.

What apple did was time the iPhone really well. The iPhone was released about the time smart phones were starting to go to the masses and leaving the business/ Geek world.
no you seem to think apple was game changing. It was just damn good timing.

The same way with MP3 players. Apple released the iPod to the masses at about the time MP3 players started taking off. Everyone was trying to figure out a good Harddrive based MP3. Apple justed used it fame and timed it really well and it worked. It set a standard.

Please lose the apple RDF and see the truth.... Oh way you cannt you are to blind to see the truth.

 

[*LTD*]

You really are blind by Apple's RDF arent you. Apple's iPhone was not game changing to the cell phone market. The iPhone was NOT the first touch screen phone. the iPhone did not bring the smart phone to the masses.

You mean the ancient pre-iPhone stylus touchscreen?

A single device by a company with little to no experience in the industry and against all odds caused a tidal wave of change.

Change didn’t come because of Nokia, Microsoft, Sony Ericsson, Samsung, RIM or any other player in the market for the past 15 years. Android and webOS weren’t there before the iPhone.

Game-changing? That's putting it mildly.