So here's the deal. I'm doing a project for one of my business classes at school and I need some information on BB and if they have any kind of specific customer service program. I know there are some members on this board that work for BB and if they could help me out, it would be really appreciated.
I myself work for FYE where we have this thing called the W.I.N.S. program that we are supposed to do when interacting with customers in order to increase sales. Does BB have anything similar? Do you guys have to suggest additional product or anything when someone is making a purchase or simply browsing?
This thing is just for a project and isn't going to get published or anything. If people would feel more comfortable, PM me instead of posting in the thread. Thanks for any help and responses.
UAIOE
11-09-07, 03:56 PM
I'm a bad person to ask as I worked in the music department and I never really paid much attention to all the stuff they wanted us to sell.
There were 4 things I can recall being told we must "recommend" to customers.
1. MSN
2. If anyone asked about boomboxes, portable CD players, walkmans we were supposed to recommend as much accessories as possible.
3. Being in the music department we had to "recommend" CD/DVD storage, it even got to the point where we had to keep a running total of what we "sold". We also had a sales number to meet.
4. Service plans.
Out of two years working there I might have sold one or two service plans (only because the people wanted them) and one MSN service (the people wanted that too).
I guess i'm not meant for sales.
DVDsAreMyLIFE
11-09-07, 04:20 PM
I worked in Geek Squad for a while, we always had to push data backups, for every PC that came into for service. And it was such a flipping rip off.
ltrain
11-11-07, 04:37 PM
Thanks for the responses guys!
Did you guys have to greet customers within a certain amount of time or did BB ever send in "secret shoppers" to grade you on your customer service skills or anything?
UAIOE
11-12-07, 03:30 AM
I think I was told once that we were supposed to talk to everyone who walked onto the carpeted area of our department. Thats quite impossible when you are answering phones or helping someone find something. I also find it quite rude to be helping someone only to have to stop myself or interrupt someone just so I can ask someone who doesn't want my help if they need my help.
Customer Service, the part about trying my best to make sure they leave happy, was never a problem for me. What was a problem was having someone tell me that making sure people have a good experience has to be sacrificed so that I can meet some sales quota or other nonsensical number.
amd555
11-12-07, 08:12 AM
try to post at retailworker.com , best buy employees forum
ltrain
11-12-07, 02:08 PM
try to post at retailworker.com , best buy employees forum
Thanks for the suggestion. I'm going to check that out.
ltrain
11-12-07, 03:34 PM
I checked out retailworker.com, but there is a 72-hour waiting period until my account becomes active in order to post anything. (Seems a little extreme, don't you think?) There looked to be some interesting threads though, so I might be able to glean some info there anyway.
DVDsAreMyLIFE
11-12-07, 03:37 PM
Thanks for the responses guys!
Did you guys have to greet customers within a certain amount of time or did BB ever send in "secret shoppers" to grade you on your customer service skills or anything?
We did have secret shoppers, but I never encountered one. I would also like to state, I dislike best buy because a lot of my managers or team leads were very unethical.
ltrain
11-12-07, 05:50 PM
We did have secret shoppers, but I never encountered one. I would also like to state, I dislike best buy because a lot of my managers or team leads were very unethical.
Would you be willing to share more details about the ethics situation (or lack of them)? I'd definitely be interested in hearing any stories, either good or bad. Thanks!
UAIOE
11-13-07, 03:55 AM
I don't have any unethical stories, but I do have an incident where I was written up for helping a customer.
You read that right, I was written up because I helped a customer.
I was informed that I was to stay in the boombox area and sell service plans or something. It was a snowy Monday night which meant hardly anyone was going to show up, I think I ended up talking to 4-5 people the whole night.
Anyway, someone asked me if we still had a popular CD in because the shelf was empty, and I said we stored the extras under the CD rack. I take some out to put on the shelf, hand the customer one and go back to my assigned area. My supervisor calls me up about 5 minutes later and tells me I'm being written up for leaving my area.
I ask about how I'm supposed to assist customers if they ask me questions, only to be told that I'm to call my coworker on the portable phone and have them come over to help the customer right in front of me with something that (from this incident) was a mere 10 feet away.
spainlinx0
11-13-07, 10:20 AM
I remember when I worked in the home theater department that we had to push service plans, accessories (Monster cables), and MSN back before broadband was huge. These were crucial and every hour a manager would come around showing us the percentage attach rate, and berate you or pat you on the back. They always tried to lamely make it a competition. "Look at Computers, they have a 20% PSP(service plan) attach while you guys are at 8%. Are you going to let them win?" Yes, I am going to let them win because I have no incentive to sell them other than to keep working in this shitty environment so you can save your motivational speeches for someone else.
spainlinx0
11-13-07, 10:21 AM
Oh, I remember that the district manager came in once posing as a customer (I had never met the guy or knew who he was" and he came to me to buy a TV. I guess that is sort of a secret shopper?
DVDsAreMyLIFE
11-13-07, 10:25 AM
Most of my unethical stories come from selling people things they don't want or they don't need. We (they) would use a lot of trickery and "make stuff" up to convince the customer to buy useless computer components or scare the customer into getting us to come out to setup their wireless router for obscene amounts of money, when they could easily do it themselves.
Lunatikk
11-13-07, 10:44 AM
I never had to deal with that crap since I worked in the warehouse and barely interacted with customers.
riderjeff
11-13-07, 12:41 PM
I worked there for like 2 days a couple years ago. They hired me and a few others on to work in the camera department, had 2 days of training, knew NOTHING about the products, and the next day they wanted us to work on black friday. No thanks, I quit the day before. I wasn't about to have people complain all day because I knew nothing about what I was selling. Also, I distinctly remember they told us to tell the customer, that we don't work on commission, which is pretty lame when you have to push all this stuff on the customer.
I never had to deal with that crap since I worked in the warehouse and barely interacted with customers.
I remember once the warehouse guy at my store was asked to clean the bathrooms (someone didn't make it to the pot) and the store was out of cleaning gloves. The manager recommended he wrap his hands in store bags(!) to clean up the mess. The warehouse guy turned around and told the manager he wasn't cleaning up anything without the proper gloves, and that if he was given and grief about not doing it he was going to contact OSHA.
DVDsAreMyLIFE
11-13-07, 04:02 PM
I remember once the warehouse guy at my store was asked to clean the bathrooms (someone didn't make it to the pot) and the store was out of cleaning gloves. The manager recommended he wrap his hands in store bags(!) to clean up the mess. The warehouse guy turned around and told the manager he wasn't cleaning up anything without the proper gloves, and that if he was given and grief about not doing it he was going to contact OSHA.
That is disgusting, I would have done the same and if insisted I woulda quit on the spot.
That seems both a little sneaky and unnecessary to me. I'm sure if they just set up a big display, people would buy them really quickly anyway. I suppose it's the mentality of "getting the last one" for the customer that also fuels the charade. The customer goes home with a good story to tell their kids.
If we're lucky enough to receive any Wii's at FYE, we just put them on display behind the counter, so anyone walking through the mall can easily see them. (The area behind our registers is all glass.) They don't last long, especially this time of year.
You guys have been really helpful. (I should've started this thread a couple of weeks ago! The project is due on Friday.)
I saw something mentioned over at retailworker.com about 'determining a customer's needs' by defining them as a Jill, Frank, or Buzz etc. (I think it relates to how much money they might be willing to spend or what 'type' of customer they are.) Does this sound familiar to anyone? I know most of you guys are former employees, so this could be a more recent program. Any info would be great! Thanks.
DVDsAreMyLIFE
11-14-07, 02:50 PM
That seems both a little sneaky and unnecessary to me. I'm sure if they just set up a big display, people would buy them really quickly anyway. I suppose it's the mentality of "getting the last one" for the customer that also fuels the charade. The customer goes home with a good story to tell their kids.
If we're lucky enough to receive any Wii's at FYE, we just put them on display behind the counter, so anyone walking through the mall can easily see them. (The area behind our registers is all glass.) They don't last long, especially this time of year.
You guys have been really helpful. (I should've started this thread a couple of weeks ago! The project is due on Friday.)
I saw something mentioned over at retailworker.com about 'determining a customer's needs' by defining them as a Jill, Frank, or Buzz etc. (I think it relates to how much money they might be willing to spend or what 'type' of customer they are.) Does this sound familiar to anyone? I know most of you guys are former employees, so this could be a more recent program. Any info would be great! Thanks.
YES! Our story was a Barry. We were in a richer part of town. Barry was the guy with a lot of money who wants the latest and greatest and wants everything done for him. We were Barry when I started then we eventually moved to Best Buy for Biz, where we were geared more towards businesses, rich part of a town but also a lot of commercial.
UAIOE
11-15-07, 04:27 AM
I remember our store telling customers we didn't have any PS2's when we did, but those were in saved to fulfill raincheck orders. Never did anyone (that I was aware of) pull that "This is the last one" BS.
The only reason I can think of that they would pretend there is "only one left" is to try and sell service plans or a bunch of accessories with it.
Kmical
11-15-07, 12:11 PM
I ran into the "push the accessories and service plan" mentality at Best Buy when I purchased a Toshiba 57" HDTV three years ago. I was shopping after the Super Bowl, and they had a number of "floor samples" and "customer returns" on the floor. The price for a new one was $1999, so I asked what the floor samples were going for that day. The salesman responded with "I can give you 10% off". When I showed him the 10% off coupon I could use to get a new one, he went back to the register and pulled up some information.
He came back and offered me a floor sample for $1499 - but ONLY if I would purchase the extended warranty (for $200) and a Monster Power Center (for $90). When I said I would be interested in the warranty but not the power center, he said he couldn't give me the $1499. Apparently, it didn't matter to him what they sold the set for, but he was personally rewarded (or penalized) for the add-ons. With a clever idea forming, I agreed to the purchase of both.
I went back to Best Buy the day after my TV was delivered and returned the Monster Power Center for a refund :)
fujishig
11-15-07, 12:30 PM
The Jill, Barry, Buzz stuff came from a few articles last year about BB doing some customer profiling:
I ran into the "push the accessories and service plan" mentality at Best Buy when I purchased a Toshiba 57" HDTV three years ago. I was shopping after the Super Bowl, and they had a number of "floor samples" and "customer returns" on the floor. The price for a new one was $1999, so I asked what the floor samples were going for that day. The salesman responded with "I can give you 10% off". When I showed him the 10% off coupon I could use to get a new one, he went back to the register and pulled up some information.
He came back and offered me a floor sample for $1499 - but ONLY if I would purchase the extended warranty (for $200) and a Monster Power Center (for $90). When I said I would be interested in the warranty but not the power center, he said he couldn't give me the $1499. Apparently, it didn't matter to him what they sold the set for, but he was personally rewarded (or penalized) for the add-ons. With a clever idea forming, I agreed to the purchase of both.
I went back to Best Buy the day after my TV was delivered and returned the Monster Power Center for a refund :)
Thats because all of the extras are marked up. They don't make much on TVs they make all of their money on the cable add-ons and such and warranties.
UAIOE
11-16-07, 01:21 AM
Computers are even worse, all their profits are from accessories.
I don't know how the salesperson could make a "deal" on the TV, I thought only managers could alter a price (open box ones anyway).
DVDsAreMyLIFE
11-16-07, 08:50 AM
Computers are even worse, all their profits are from accessories.
I don't know how the salesperson could make a "deal" on the TV, I thought only managers could alter a price (open box ones anyway).
Unless it is a team lead or a department lead, not a "manager" persay but they can usually do some stuff. Although I am not sure if they are really suppose to, they did in my department.
ltrain
11-16-07, 03:25 PM
The Jill, Barry, Buzz stuff came from a few articles last year about BB doing some customer profiling:
Yup. I have to submit it tonight by midnight. I'm working on it right now. Normally, I do not do homework on Fridays, but alas I have no choice. I'll let you guys know how it turns out. Thanks again for all of the input.
DVDsAreMyLIFE
11-16-07, 03:44 PM
Yup. I have to submit it tonight by midnight. I'm working on it right now. Normally, I do not do homework on Fridays, but alas I have no choice. I'll let you guys know how it turns out. Thanks again for all of the input.
I always put my homework off to the last day, no matter what day it was in college. Thats why I love the internet, being able to submit assignments online is the greatest thing ever.
ltrain
12-05-07, 10:40 PM
Just wanted to let you guys know that I received a 97 on my assignment! Thanks for all of your help. I probably would've had to just BS the section about Best Buy if it hadn't been for this thread. That CNN article was really good too. I used a lot of that in the paper. Thanks again!
DVDsAreMyLIFE
12-06-07, 09:03 AM
Just wanted to let you guys know that I received a 97 on my assignment! Thanks for all of your help. I probably would've had to just BS the section about Best Buy if it hadn't been for this thread. That CNN article was really good too. I used a lot of that in the paper. Thanks again!
Buy: