Posted by peepboon
Hi all
Do you find it annoying when you go to a phone shop and the people working there don't have a clue about mobiles? They should employ people with a GOOD knowledge of mobile phones or give them some kind of training.
Anyone think the same? Please post your thoughts.
Thanks
Peter
Posted by jcwhite_uk
In my experience sales staff at CPW or small indipendent shops (not many left) are the only shops in the UK that seem to know what they are talking about. It is hard though when you look at all the different phones on the market and new ones coming out at a rate of at least 1 a week.
Posted by methylated_spirit
The staff in the larger stores are taught to sell, not to care. Its a real shame, if they were taught a little about the products they sold, they would get on much better imho.
Posted by BobaFett
The best is when beautiful babies are the sellers so males are ready to buy everything. However the ladies i make deals usually are real experts and most of them /// and se fans cos they are in mob biz since years
Posted by SCORPIONKING1982
I got chatting to the salesman in the CPW near me when I purchased my T610 and he knew his stuff, he even mentioned about esato! (he had a P800 himself)
Posted by SsTiTcH
Yes find it very annoying...worse yet is when ya have to show em how the phone works..ran into one who didnt know how to set up simcard or even how to put batt. in...
Posted by BobaFett
Weird is, that even in operator shops are the sellers mainly low qualified.
Posted by *Jojo*
I once visited a celshop and asked for a nice fone to give for a lady. Looks like that one I talked to is a 'newbie' (newly employed female), but my she's reaaaaaally pretty at that, so to make my visit worthwhile, we just talked about her vital stats, resume and bio-data . . . all at the same time, the fone I was inquiring for did not matter much after the conversation as I manage to have her mobile number -
!
Posted by BobaFett
I called once t mobile op center and wanted to be informed about virtual village, the guy never heard of it, however t630 was already on the market
Posted by Krubach
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You stud!
Always after women...
Posted by *Jojo*
@krubach - Good to go after - ladies
. . . than preferring - men 
!
Posted by coolfighter
well this problem is everywhere
in shops
they think only for selling
even some times dealers , they dont know how to work with Advanced Smartphones , for example if u ask about Symbians with P900 or P910
nobody knows about it , even pocketpcs
i guess if u want to use engineers , thats also big money cost
so what ever
most Old mens , womens care to have a big screen with big fonts
girls want sexy phone with ringtones and pictures , camera , games
kids want games , so what ever they want to buy
they are buying a phone for games
not what brand or what u can do with it
they need games ... lol
well for me
i got P910 , i use it for work , excel world email and internet most of the time
but u know sometimes the camera take me a month to use it one time
only , well everybody has his own needs
but i am happy with it and it satisfy what i want ...
Posted by Sammy_boy
I've generally found them to be more salesmen (or women!) than phone experts.
One exception is that I went into an Orange shop recently and actually spoke to someone in there that knew quite a bit about mobiles! I was astounded!
I often wonder by going into a phone shop and asking a reasonably techy question to a salesman, or see if they've even heard of Bluejacking just to see what happpens!
Posted by jcwhite_uk
In my experience in the UK, The Link are the worst for knowwing what they are talking about. I managed to freak them out once by bluejacking 8 (yes
phones that their shop had. I think that they thought that the world was coming to an end. On a seperate occasion when looking for a case for my S700i (about a month after its release) they told me that I was mistaken and the phone was called the K700.
Posted by BobaFett
Any experiences in nokia, se etc official shops?
Posted by dave_uk
I like to think I know a fair bit, and spent two years working in CPW stores. I think it's pretty simple really - you pay peanuts and you get monkeys!
Obviously, the standard of product knowledge varies wildly, but it what other industry would someone on a sub-10 grand basic salary be expected to know quite as much as mobile phone salespeople? To the person who is surprised that not all sales consultants know in detail about the latest smartphones, I ask you what world are you living in. If you think about it for more than 5 seconds, are you really surprised?!
And the one thing that really bugs more than any other on this subject is people who tar everyone with the same brush. Bracketing someone like me, for example, with the muppet who stands looking disinterested and having a ruck with his mate in the back office of the Phones4U store he is expected to manage, is grossly unfair. Therefore, I appreciate JC White's comments that you do generally get a better level of service in CPW than the rest.
All I would say to those who constantly criticise is that keeping up to date with detailed product knowledge when there are an ever-increasing number of handsets on the market is not as easy as most of you apparently think
Posted by SCORPIONKING1982
dave as youve worked in a CPW can you tell us what sort of training you get with handsets? Do you get info on new features etc or is the first you know about stuff when it arrives on the shelf? Do you get any time to actually play with the handsets yourself so you get an idea about the products your selling?
Posted by Dyce9984
When I worked at P4U we had no training on the handsets, they just showed us them and said there they are this is what they do. It just so happens that phones are one of my hobbies so I know a fair bit about them. And my sales figures heavily reflected this
So when people came back and said have you had this problem with "x", i could say have you tried this or that etc, and they really appreciated it
Posted by BobaFett
Brands should test the operator shops, public or secret way, how is the support and knowledge
Posted by Sir-SonyEricsson-man
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If a beautiful girl/lady comes into my shop, and need help i never delete my number out of the sent "outbox".
Anyway, thats who i got my last girfriend, I sawed me mith my name and number in her telephone book like this: sven telekiosken..
Posted by BobaFett
@sir do u have trainings in the shop?
Posted by fatreg
i work in a mobile shop and id like to say i know my "stuff"
been their 4 years and have dismantled many a phone in my time, you dont have as many phones as me if your not intrsted in phones!
fatreg
Posted by BobaFett
@fatreg and what about the users? Do they really know their fones?
Posted by Sir-SonyEricsson-man
@bobba.. yes we have training at work
Posted by BobaFett
@sir also from brands?
Posted by tranquil
May I use this opperunity to announce that I've got myself a new job!!!
You might have noticed that I have, over the years, been singing the praise to GSM-Sentert here in Oslo; Well, I'll be working there as of the 3rd of Jan next year!
That shop has allways been packed with competance so I've got a task and a half to do to live up to their reputation.
Posted by obsixx
Before I bought my car-100 on expansys, I went to my local T-mobile shop to get one. I asked the salesman if he had any
car-100's in stock, what he told me was that the T610 was the latest model of that he had. 
lol The best part was that the car-100 is on the T-mobile web site.
Posted by BobaFett
@tranquil det er fantastisk! Jeg congratulere, ha det god! :-)
Posted by fatreg
@ boba
id say the monority of users dont have a clue on what there phone does, my mother for example has a 6230 and a T610, she cant use either of them for any more than texting and phoning people. it really annoys me when i see people with P900s, Treo 600s etc that just cant use them, why have them if you cant use it??
but no i receive no training in my shop other than the training i give!!
fatreg
Posted by BobaFett
@fatreg may u offer a brand or u have to offer what the boss wish to be sold?
Posted by riflogic
Phone shop staff (99% of them) don't know anything. PRONTO! Just today I got a called from the 3 network saying that they are offering me the LG U8120 handset on the contract, I simply replied I am not interested. Upon his enquiry, I told him that the memory is crap and no bluetooth and the infrared is crap. After hearing me winge, the guy replied that the phone has 32Mb and that should be enough to store more than a 100 songs in MP3 format. I just said to the guy that he should not waffle as I know what I am talking about otherwise I will make sure he is embarassed, he apologised and hung up straight away!
Posted by fatreg
@ boba
i sell whatever the customer wants, i do not see the point in selling them something they dont want, it noly causes complaints!!
fatreg
Posted by BobaFett
@fatreg i ment more those situations where buyer isnt sure what to buy.
Posted by fatreg
ahh when there not sure you have to go for what makes you the kost commission!!
its only fair! based on the amount of NOkia 3510is i sell!!
fatreg
Posted by dave_uk
@scorpion
There is very little rigid product training. Those who are interested will play with them and as most people here will appreciate, if you are an enthusiast, you can teach yourself. Occasionally, network or manufacturer reps come round, but as with in-house trainers, I often found myself in the position of knowing more than they did.
But there's plenty of info available on the intranet and it's basically down to how much people want to know. As a (sales)person, I am the sort who draws confidence from knowledge, so I always wanted to understand more about the product to help me as a salesman.
@boba
Mystery Shopping is a widely-used training tool and performance measurement within the industry, conducted by a few industry publications and CPW also do their own. In fact, this is one of the largest determinants of a store manager's bonus, designed to improve the customer experience and standardise service levels across the business.
@riflogic
Whilst you may be very knowledgeable on the subject of mobile phones, apparently you have yet to grasp that making comments like:
"Phone shop staff (99% of them) don't know anything. PRONTO!"
only make you sound silly...
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[ This Message was edited by: dave_uk on 2004-12-17 11:03 ]
Posted by BobaFett
@sir what are your experiences with costumers in the shop?
Posted by jcwhite_uk
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I agree. doesnt "pronto" mean quickly?
Ok, just found that it is actuall yspanish for "soon".
[ This Message was edited by: jcwhite_uk on 2004-12-17 11:42 ]
Posted by Ivan Kusturin
Check this out,it's about something similar...
Posted by *Jojo*
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. . . and 'some' are not really buying at - all !
Posted by plasmadog
okay.. so if the sales team don't know squat about the phones, there has to be a reason.
most smart buyers have a rough idea in mind of what they want before they enter a mobile shop. like a checklist of things that the phone should have. and moreover... a good marketing strategy means all the features of the phone are already told to the customer well in advance via the advertisements.
(like. camera,ir, bt, etc.)
rather than it being an exclusive domain of the salesperson, who's only job it is to sell more and more, (doesn't matter if he knows his product inside out), it is up to the customer to do the homework and have a clear idea. maybe some tech magazines/websites list these features.
in my part of the world, brand recognition and referrals via colleagues or friends/family are the most important forms of educating oneself before buying a mobile.
and so, customers have varying degrees of knowledge before they actually enter the shop.
first time customers, by and large opt for a phone with basic features. whereas older customers want more features in the same phone they using now. to move from one brand to another is pretty rare. so, all the salesperson has to know:
- the basic phone to sell for the "new customer"
- the upgrade option for for the "existing"(eg. the natural upgrade for a t610 is a k700, from k700, to s700; p800 to 900 to p910).
- which mdels has the highest profit margin? sell that one above all else!
Posted by london-uk
When buying a new phone, initially I usually act as if I have no idea of what is going on. It's a well known tactic in business negotiations, and I have found it to work perfectly regarding the purchase of mobile telephones.
You'll usually be able to lull the other party into a false sense of security, subsequently utilising your extended knowledge on the subject, thus gaining the upper hand.
However, when I upgraded to the K700 (ages ago), I played stupid. Through regular conversation I had mentioned that my company had just supplied me with a Wifi enabled laptop. Apparently the salesperson had understood that I liked wifi, and had decided to use that in his sales pitch.
Now, what I find amusing is that he told me that since he could see that I was a 'valued customer' he could do me an extra favour. He said that if I bought the phone then and there, he would be able to get me a 'special' code to enter into the phone, which would make it wifi compatible... I mean honestly, that is utter crap. By the way, all this "advice" was gained from the Carphone Warehouse, who in my opinion are dangerous rogues.
Posted by kimcheeboi
"carphone whorehouse"
guess who?
Posted by Jake Blues
@ london uk
so did you buy there and then? did you get this magical "code"?
Posted by london-uk
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No, I didn't. I think he said what he did, because he could tell I wasn't keen to buy it immediately, and I guess he thought he could sway my decision by making things up.
Posted by scotsboyuk
I must say that I find the level of generalisation in this thread quite rediculous. I have found most mobile phone shop staff to have an average level of knowledge concerning mobile phones, neither completely clueless nor completely clued up. I have also encountered staff who are very ignorant of mobile phones and staff who have a great deal of knowledge on the subject.
Personally I rather like CPW and Orange too, both of which seem to employ staff who are genuinely interested in mobile phones. I have read several bad reports of Phones4U, especially concerning pushy and unknowledgeable staff, but that seems to be changing of late. The Link don't rank too highly in my opinion, with the level of technical knowledge being displayed, in any dealings I have had with them, not impressing me very much. Having said that, I have only spoken with a small minority of their staff, I would imagine there are many Link staff who are knowledgeable about their products.
I think we have to remember that we are, for the most part, 'mobile phone geeks', in that we are very interested in mobile phones and actively seek to learn more about them. Most people treat mobiles as a tool, for communication and entertainment, not as a hobby, like many of us. Belittling shops assistants with superior knowledge doesn't seem like a very good show to me, it would seem better to politely refuse the assistants help and make an informed choice on one's own.
_________________
"I may be drunk my dear woman, but in the morning I will be sober, and you will still be ugly." WSC
[ This Message was edited by: scotsboyuk on 2004-12-21 19:22 ]
Posted by dave_uk
@scotsboy
Huzzah!
Posted by batesie
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>>>>QUOTE OF THE YEAR 2004!!!!!!<<<<
Posted by dave_uk
I think that deserves a new thread!
Posted by peepboon
Thanks all for sharing ur view,etc.
I think we should all open a phone store and we all work there cause most of us 'know' what phones are all about
heh-heh.
"Welcome to the Esato Phone Shop, how may we help you?"
Back to the topic, you guys are right, most of them employ sexy women to sell the phone but still most of them know more than the people behind the counter! heh-heh
But you do get at least one phone enthusiastic working in a phone shop.
Posted by scotsboyuk
@peepboon
I bought my V800 from a rather nice looking girl in a local Vodafone shop. I can assure you that her knowledge of mobiles phon ... I mean her looks, didn't influence my purchase in any way.
_________________
"I may be drunk my dear woman, but in the morning I will be sober, and you will still be ugly." WSC
[ This Message was edited by: scotsboyuk on 2004-12-21 21:21 ]