The Problem with Retail Stores

I was interested in upgrading to the Z30. I checked out 4 retail stores (especially Bell) in a day and as soon as I mentioned Blackberry, immediately they start bashing the brand and persuade me to look at other phones. I thought it was snobby of them as retail salesman especially I never asked for their opinion about the phone and they continue to bash. I was turned off by the negative sales pitch which is why I had to jump from store to store. It's been over a week and I've been to 15 stores and I've had nothing but negative sales pitch from all the stores.

All I ask from all the retail store is to leave the politics behind and start serving your customer the way they want to be treated. Avoid the negative opinion to yourself and be enthusiastic about the product you sell. You represent your company and if your company believes the Z30 is a great product then you should too.

Completely agree with you. any question by a customer should be answered with details about what the phone's capabilities are, and followed by what the customer feels they need. Not "buy this phone it's so awesome I worship Larry, Balmer,Steve, Thornstein" crap.

If they like a particular brand so much, go work in a brand store.

This goes to whatever brand, not just BlackBerry bashing. I purposely bought the phone I wanted off a different colleague of the staff so he'd get the commission instead after that sort of behaviour. (happened when I bought a Galaxy S and was told to get an Apple)

From my smokin' Barbeque10

Wow all 4 stores the same? Time to make a complaint to the DM. Just got to tell them to talk to staff about keeping their opinions to themselves. If someone comes in wanting a specific phone, no matter what it is, they shouldn't have to go through that kind of disrespect. That is bad customer service. I'm sure you can find someone who is willing to keep it to themselves. Give them the sale and make sure you tell them you appreciated them keeping phone politics out of it.

When I was looking for my z30. I walked into two source stores. They were open to the idea and one clerk was actually quite knowledgeable. I can't believe you have had such bad luck.

Posted via CB10

What were they saying? I hate this common theme of salespeople talking users out of phones especially without understanding their needs. It shouldn't be a barrier to have to get past the wall of the carrier rep. It's hard enough for BlackBerry as is to sell their phones without reps actively talking people out of it. I didn't have the same experience when I ordered over the telephone but I would not be as pleasant if your story happened to me.



CB10 - Z10 -10.2.0.1725
Attachment 214243
Wasn't made by me but thought it was funny

Well none of the reps did start by asking qualifying questions as if they were so sure they read my mind and know what I wanted. They dive right into the iPhone or the Samsung Galaxy. Not knowing what I'm looking for, I patiently listen to their sales pitch. Then I tell them that I heard there's a new BB Z30 out. Then I would get a response like "Don't go for Blackberry, they are going out of business, no one buys them anymore, they have a lot of hardware and software issue and you're going to be disappointed". Hmm, psychic salesman creeps me out because they know instantly I wouldn't like the phone.

If you were a salesperson, and you sold Widget A and Widget B, and in the past, buyers of Widget B had lots of complaints, required lots of post-sales support, and returned/exchanged their Widgets at a very high rate (causing you to lose your commission), while Widget A didn't, you would probably push customers to buy Widget A, because for nearly all users, it would be best for them AND best for you.

That's most of what is going on. Salespeople rarely care all that much about what they are selling; they just want to sell a lot of them, and have as few problems/returns/request for support as possible after the sale. If BB delivered that, they'd be pushing everyone to BB, but that's not what happened with the BB10 launch, and sales reps don't want to get burned again.

You can't blame the retail stores or sales reps.

Put it to you this way - if you told the sales rep that you were considering buying a Z30 and you asked him what's his experience with it, and he told you, "It's wonderful! Man just about everyone who tries one in this store loves it! I use it all the time to do what I need to do!" even though majority of the people who used it reported complaints to him and he personally had issues with it, would that be okay? Just as long as he praising your decision, right?

It goes both ways.

I get that JR A. The point is, and this goes for many things (you listening CB?), it's how you say it. If the customer likes BlackBerry and is interested in it, why would you giggle or smirk at them and then tell them that their personal choice is garbage. They work in the Customer Service industry. Sales is what happens when you treat customers the way they expect to be treated. The same goes for any device. I'm sure the WP users had these kind of issues for some time as well. Maybe not as prevalent. People love to hate BlackBerry.

Originally Posted by eddy_berry

I get that JR A. The point is, and this goes for many things (you listening CB?), it's how you say it. If the customer likes BlackBerry and is interested in it, why would you giggle or smirk at them and then tell them that their personal choice is garbage. They work in the Customer Service industry. Sales is what happens when you treat customers the way they expect to be treated. The same goes for any device. I'm sure the WP users had these kind of issues for some time as well. Maybe not as prevalent. People love to hate BlackBerry.

Yes. I agree with everything you said. The customer deserves respect as it is their money that the salesman is trying to procure.

And while as some have said, it is in the salesperson's best interest to sell what they think will not get returned, a lot of them wrongly assume the customer has no idea of what they're talking about. That's where the frustration comes in with people on this forum. We've read about the bugs. We know of the possible limitations. We've still come to the conclusion we want a BlackBerry. Now comes the fun part, you can't simply go out and buy the product you want, you have to go out, hope you get a good salesperson and if not, you have to fight to be able to buy the product you want.

I've ran into this problem myself with more than just phones. As a woman, who dabbles in carpentry, I deal with this same crap every time I go into a home improvement store.

I can't simply buy what I need if there's a salesman around. I have to explain what I'm doing, why I'm doing it, confess to having the proper tools and then depending on if my answers show the proper amount of knowledge, they will either sell me what I came in for, or try to trick me into buying some crap I don't need.

Fighting to buy what you want is sometimes so tiring. I wish I could buy everything online. That way I could order what I want without a side of attitude.

A salesperson should warn of potential flaws in the products they sell, but if the customer disagrees with them, they have no right to ridicule them or continue to make snide remarks. On top of it being unprofessional, it's just plain rude.


Posted via CB10

Why should a salesperson care if a product is returned? It's not their money that was spent.

Originally Posted by stackberry369

Why should a salesperson care if a product is returned? It's not their money that was spent.

People expect the salesperson to understand the product they sell and they (Salesperson) are very often the first port of call when things go 'pear-shaped' on the customer.
They can often be hounded by cranky customers demanding solutions.
I've always said that the best Salesperson is an honest one who knows their product, yet the one's I've encountered (re BB 10) have been clueless on the device and their attitude was highly biased and stank of smarmy platform bias.


Z10 via CB10

Originally Posted by eddy_berry

I get that JR A. The point is, and this goes for many things (you listening CB?), it's how you say it. If the customer likes BlackBerry and is interested in it, why would you giggle or smirk at them and then tell them that their personal choice is garbage. They work in the Customer Service industry. Sales is what happens when you treat customers the way they expect to be treated. The same goes for any device. I'm sure the WP users had these kind of issues for some time as well. Maybe not as prevalent. People love to hate BlackBerry.

Sure if they're being rude in a manner such as giggling/smirking or the like, then yeah that's not good.

But I didn't read any of that happening in the OP. It just said that they were "bashing" BBRY and told him/her to look at different phones. I'm not sure what the OP defines as bashing, but I've been accused of "bashing" BBRY for saying the failed launch date and 1 month delay of BBM4ALL was covered up with more excuses by BBRY, so I take the term "bashing" lightly.

Originally Posted by JR A

Sure if they're being rude in a manner such as giggling/smirking or the like, then yeah that's not good.

But I didn't read any of that happening in the OP. It just said that they were "bashing" BBRY and told him/her to look at different phones. I'm not sure what the OP defines as bashing, but I've been accused of "bashing" BBRY for saying the failed launch date and 1 month delay of BBM4ALL was covered up with more excuses by BBRY, so I take the term "bashing" lightly.

When you are face to face with sales staff and you can see body language and hear speech tones you can make a better judgement. I wasn't there but from experience it would be noticeable. People on forums tend to have misunderstandings because the right tone is not always portrayed through text. I understand though the OP did not go into that much detail.

Originally Posted by stackberry369

Why should a salesperson care if a product is returned? It's not their money that was spent.

No, but very often, it's their COMMISION that is lost, and their stats take a hit, which can affect schedules and bonuses - even employment itself.

Bashing as in putting down the brand and talk negatively about the product. I would get comments like "Don't go for Blackberry because they are going out of business, no one buys them anymore, they have a lot of hardware and software issue and you're going to be disappointed". I'm curious if they are commissioned to say this.

What annoys me the most is that these salesman never qualify my needs/wants and immediately assumes the iPhone is the best phone for me.

Originally Posted by JR A

Sure if they're being rude in a manner such as giggling/smirking or the like, then yeah that's not good.

But I didn't read any of that happening in the OP. It just said that they were "bashing" BBRY and told him/her to look at different phones. I'm not sure what the OP defines as bashing, but I've been accused of "bashing" BBRY for saying the failed launch date and 1 month delay of BBM4ALL was covered up with more excuses by BBRY, so I take the term "bashing" lightly.

Originally Posted by Troy Tiscareno

If you were a salesperson, and you sold Widget A and Widget B, and in the past, buyers of Widget B had lots of complaints, required lots of post-sales support, and returned/exchanged their Widgets at a very high rate (causing you to lose your commission), while Widget A didn't, you would probably push customers to buy Widget A, because for nearly all users, it would be best for them AND best for you.

That's most of what is going on. Salespeople rarely care all that much about what they are selling; they just want to sell a lot of them, and have as few problems/returns/request for support as possible after the sale. If BB delivered that, they'd be pushing everyone to BB, but that's not what happened with the BB10 launch, and sales reps don't want to get burned again.

Troy, I'd like to know where you get your information. This was going on before when the Z10 was barely being sold at all. I myself had to fight to buy mine in a store which had yet to sell one yet, so they had no issues with returns. I talk to sells staff, I'm a phone geek, and in my little area, what I've been told, by actual sales staff at several different stores, is that the BB10's were not selling until the price went to 0. After that, there has been some sells. Haven't here been a lot of returns? No, hardy any. IPhone sells have been constant, and rarely a return. SG4's have been selling and that is where they get the most returns. Not returns for a different phone, but returns for replacements.

Now, talking to people in my geographic area is hardly science. Although, since most if not all of them will steer you clear of BlackBerry, (except at Costco, no politics there when I've spoke to them) it does seem like they'd be overstating returns of BB10. But they are not.

I do just constantly see this argument though, and I think this is just another case where you can claim BB10 isn't as good as x, Y, or Z without backing it up. Even back on 10.0 with all the glitches, there were claims of huge return rates, which BlackBerry refuted, which you'd expect them to. But at the same time, no one has ever given proof other than people like you just stating it as fact. So I do what I do, talk to sales staff, look at satisfaction scores of buyers on the carrier sites, and I see nothing to back up your statement.

In fact, from what I've been told, if I were to go by your logic, and from what I'm being told by people who do this for a living, sales people would be pushing people away from Samsung products. But they don't. Why? Because they get paid better to sell a Samsung. We know this for a fact from all the posters in these forums that sell phones and have posted this time after time.

Explaining the logic behind opinion does not make it fact.

#IchooseBlackBerry10 (BB#25)

There have been way too many threads like this posted over the last year. This is one of many issues that BlackBerry has not found any answer for. Retail sales rep bias is real and a serious issue. I partially blame poor training by the carriers and a lack of sales maturity by reps. If BlackBerry decides to Launch a new product in the retail consumer market, I seriously hope they develop a business plan to address this issue.
Attachment 214607

Posted via CB10(BBM#22) on my Z10 featuring BBM Channel C0002FE04

I haven't been to a retail store in at least 3 years! Not for the reasons you mentioned, but I would just rather be surprised getting a device and using it myself.

Posted via CB10

Originally Posted by stackberry369

Why should a salesperson care if a product is returned? It's not their money that was spent.

1) lost sales
2) lost commissions
3) lost spiffs
4) lost stats
5) lost time that could have been spent selling a phone to another customer because you are dealing with the irate customer who hates their phone