Don't you just hate sales people that knows %$^%%$

JackBauer

JackBauer

New member
Let me tell you what i mean.

I am a sales manager for a small pc shop in the middle of nowhere and sell every piece of pc hardware that finds it's way into the sunny SA. When a customer walks into my shop, they come with the expectation that i can and will help them. Now why the f@k does my suppliers (99% of them) put a blerrie tea-lady as a salesperson?

I can name on my 1 hand the people i phone that have the knowledge to help me with a product (specifications etc.)
Why do they put people in a sales position if they don't know their products? How difficult can it be to read-up about the 200 odd products that they sell? The IT business needs people that actually knows what they are talking about (not even the product managers at suppliers knows their products)

If anyone reads this that works at a supplier, please do yourself and your customers a favor, become knowledgeable about the field that you work in....
 
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Long stretch Jack... long stretch...

Even though I agree, this is not a requirement in any place I have ever visited.

Dealing with sales staff that can't find the open end of a straw is just part of the greed-driven world we live in;
If they actually knew what they were doing, they wouldn't be content with the shit salary they're getting paid now...
 
Ja. It is all about how much they get paid.

Also it is largely yhe retailers' responsibility as the sales people at wholesalers are more like order clerks. There are product specialists at most branches. These people work with specific specialisations of the conpany.

The retailers make big money when they know what theyre doing, not so much the wholesalers as their job is to stock the right products.

Sent from my GT-I9100 using MyGaming Android App
 
I find it funny going into Incredible Connection to discover how wonderful the sales people are there. They have a wide knowledge of the products they sell and are always so eager to help. Even when you report a problem with one of their display models not matching the write up just below giving the specs and price they always are really keen to adjust it as though it never happened.
/ Yeah right...

Sales staff are generally useless, in fact I am thinking of applying for a job there. Should become sales manager in no time since everyone else there is so useless.
 
simon said:
I find it funny going into Incredible Connection to discover how wonderful the sales people are there. They have a wide knowledge of the products they sell and are always so eager to help. Even when you report a problem with one of their display models not matching the write up just below giving the specs and price they always are really keen to adjust it as though it never happened.
/ Yeah right...

Sales staff are generally useless, in fact I am thinking of applying for a job there. Should become sales manager in no time since everyone else there is so useless.
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Must be just your IC branch cause that described how good the sales people are in the IC here.

They are always eager to help me and when the price in shown wrong with specs they give me the item shown for the price shown even if it is half the price it normally sells for.

I got a R2500 printer for R1300 that way.
 
Ichigo said:
Must be just your IC branch cause that described how good the sales people are in the IC here.

They are always eager to help me and when the price in shown wrong with specs they give me the item shown for the price shown even if it is half the price it normally sells for.

I got a R2500 printer for R1300 that way.
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Well the one in Tokai (Blue Route) is particularly bad. The next closest to me (Cavendish), is only bad with the sales staff not helping more then the little niggly stuff.
 
simon said:
Well the one in Tokai (Blue Route) is particularly bad. The next closest to me (Cavendish), is only bad with the sales staff not helping more then the little niggly stuff.
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The manager is quite good at our one so probably tries his best to get good staff or get them knowledgable

I have been to Cavendish and Canal walk one and the customer service was terrible :D
 
What I hate more than clueless sales people is sales people who walk after you and ask 'Do you need help?' I know it's probably part of their job, but something about it really just rubs me up the wrong way. I'm not a moron. I know that if I need help with anything I can just go ask them for assistance. I'm not incapable of making the first contact.

What I hate even more than that is if you say 'No thanks' and they follow you around the store as if you're going to steal something. At that point, I simply leave the store.
 
Graal said:
What I hate more than clueless sales people is sales people who walk after you and ask 'Do you need help?' I know it's probably part of their job, but something about it really just rubs me up the wrong way. I'm not a moron. I know that if I need help with anything I can just go ask them for assistance. I'm not incapable of making the first contact.

What I hate even more than that is if you say 'No thanks' and they follow you around the store as if you're going to steal something. At that point, I simply leave the store.
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They work for commission you have to just understand that. You people should not hate a person doing an honest days work(unless they have a job and do fuck all.) I hate the okes that don't offer help. I think its common curtasy that people should ask for help.
 
Yeah, I understand that, but I just find it annoying. If I'm standing in a certain section of the shop for a while, then I don't mind as much, but most of the time I've barely entered the shop and they already ask, or like what happened in Game on Friday, where I was walking to a certain department, and someone in one of the departments I walked right past asked if I wanted help. He didn't even know which department I was on my way towards, but he wants to offer help in his section.

I dunno, it's possible I'm just being petty, but it's one of my pet peeves. I prefer going to ask them for help when I need it instead of 5 people in a shop asking me if I want help.
 
Graal said:
Yeah, I understand that, but I just find it annoying. If I'm standing in a certain section of the shop for a while, then I don't mind as much, but most of the time I've barely entered the shop and they already ask, or like what happened in Game on Friday, where I was walking to a certain department, and someone in one of the departments I walked right past asked if I wanted help. He didn't even know which department I was on my way towards, but he wants to offer help in his section.

I dunno, it's possible I'm just being petty, but it's one of my pet peeves. I prefer going to ask them for help when I need it instead of 5 people in a shop asking me if I want help.
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Look I don't blame you :p
 
Graal said:
What I hate even more than that is if you say 'No thanks' and they follow you around the store as if you're going to steal something. At that point, I simply leave the store.
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Are you sure it's not just because you look like a dodgy character? Did you smoke weed before going into the store :D. Haha, just kidding dude. Yes, it's kak annoying when they follow you around in the store. Pisses me off big-time as well.
 
Graal said:
Yeah, I understand that, but I just find it annoying. If I'm standing in a certain section of the shop for a while, then I don't mind as much, but most of the time I've barely entered the shop and they already ask, or like what happened in Game on Friday, where I was walking to a certain department, and someone in one of the departments I walked right past asked if I wanted help. He didn't even know which department I was on my way towards, but he wants to offer help in his section.

I dunno, it's possible I'm just being petty, but it's one of my pet peeves. I prefer going to ask them for help when I need it instead of 5 people in a shop asking me if I want help.
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yeah I kinda think you are being petty. The thing is they are doing what they have been trained to do.
Imo I would rather they come ask me if I need help because then at least I know somebody is doing their job. Problem is if you are there for a while trying to find something by looking around in a particular isle then there is no guarantee that someone will come in and ask you if you want help because they don't know how long you have been trying to find that particular item for.
I prefer staff to be able to take the initiative and help you so that you are in and out the store as quickly as possible without wasting your time looking around for an item that may or may not be there. Or they themselves may know certain things about that product relating to problems that lets say iron has and how many times it has been returned due to faults and what the return policy that the particular shop has with that product.
 
Firstly, I work at a large distributor. And yes, I've seen across my years in the industry that non-IT savvy people are hired in sales positions, but they normally don't last terribly long. Having said that, I also belive you cannot expect a sales person to know everything off the top of his head about everything. It is simply impossible. There are too many products that change too often to memorise everything. What I will agree to however is the person must have a more than basic understanding of IT to at least be able to know what the client is referring to and be honest enough to say he/she doesn't know, but get back to client asap or even know ehre to find the answer whilst on the phone. ie, a client asks you if the HP DL380 server supports RAID 6. The salesperson should know what RAID 6 is at least and be able to quickly look it up, but too often the person doesn't even know what the hell RAID is, never mind RAID 6 or where to even begin looking for the answer.

As for sales people bombarding you on the floor, there are ways and means of doing it. Be polite and non invasive. Read the customer as well. Intro yourself and let customer know he can just ask for you should he need any assistance. Important little lesson I learnt and it is applicable, cause that's I feel when in the shops, don't sell something to a customer, rather let the customer buy something from you. When you sell him/her something, they might not enjoy their purchase as much as if they had bought it from you. Sounds dumb, but think about it, generally people know what they want when going to shops, but then the salesperson sells you something you weren't considering and aftewrwards, you think it might have been a mistake or not actually what you wanted, whereas if you had bought what you wanted, you'd be happier. Now I'm not saying don't recommend a better item to the customer, just don't force upon them. Remember, a happy customer is a returning customer. Simple.

Wow, that was more than I intended, but I think you get my drift?
 
If its a walk-in shop (Incredible Con) you just keep throwing heavy tech jargon at the salesperson until they give up & fetch the person who knows whats going on...

This procedure may or may not involve a salesperson staring at a rack of USB cables for a few minutes looking for an RJ45 converter until he realizes he is clueless.
 
I asked for a quote on a GTX580 from one of the biggest suppliers in the country, whereby my sales dude, and i'm not kiddng, replied with this "Sorry we don't sell ATI products".

:|
 
Maplassie said:
I asked for a quote on a GTX580 from one of the biggest suppliers in the country, whereby my sales dude, and i'm not kiddng, replied with this "Sorry we don't sell ATI products".

:|
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Haha, I kinda feel sorry for that company then.
 
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