Computer sales honesty

[Mr-Biscuit]

In radio shack, the salesman asked if he could help.
Girlfriend needs another computer.
Only a laptop was available. He went to sell and I told him I use Linux and FreeBSD.
Anyway, I was honest and did say that I may sound like an ***.
We talked.
He let us come around the back of the counter to look at the models in the database.
Not once did he use a line or claim to know what he didn't.


I was impressed by his honesty.

[nayab]

Uncommon.


We have a chain here called PC World. Amongst my tech friends (including myself) we hate this place. Simply because most of the staff are spotty kids with no idea. But every now and again, one of the kids actually has the ability to talk sense.


I can relate to your experiences.

[Johnsie]

The PC World near me is just fine.

[3rdalbum]

As a salesperson, I never talk crap and I never give lines. I'm sure I would have done exactly what that salesperson would have done.

[MikeTheC]

Honesty goes beyond the art of selling, and it goes beyond the world of computers. It directly involves personal integrity, and hinges on a person having self-respect.

In short, dishonest people lack self-respect.

Funny you should mention this, simply because I'm reminded of a recent situation that involved a friend of mine and his grandson.

Backstory: There are two MicroCenters in the Atlanta, Georgia area. I don't know for 100% certain, but I believe this was at the one on the west side. Anyhow, this friend of mine has been shopping at MicroCenter up there for something like 20-odd years. He's in there all the time when he's up in Georgia (he also lives down here in Florida in the area I do).

Ok, so his grandson recently had graduated from high school with honors and distinction, etc. Very, very smart kid, really nice. He's got a scholarship and is going to use it I believe at Georgia Tech. My friend planned on buying him a MacBook Pro as a gift and reward for his achievements, etc. They were up in Georgia at the MicroCenter in question and he was talking to one of the sales guys he knows (other than maybe the cashiers, most of the folks working there have been the same folks for as long as that place has been in business) and so he gets everything planned out -- features, upgrades, etc. -- and the salesman told him that, even though he's got a competitive and decent price, because the grandson is going to college, they'll be able to beat his price by a "significant" amount, and he gave my friend his price.

So, my friend goes down to the college store and, sure enough, their price for the same specs, when all was said and done, was about $500 less.

Now, the point is that sales guy knows my friend, but he could easily have made the sale himself and yet chose the honorable path.

My own philosophy in working in retail is I'm not afraid of losing customers through being honest. Any customers I do lose were probably customers I didn't want anyhow. Decent customers -- in my experience, anyhow -- are typically far more impressed with a person's integrity and honesty than they are with anything else, and in the long run, that's all that matters. Having worked at several of the major U.S. retailers in my time, I found you can bet on this as a safe thing to do.

The fact that sales people don't do this is merely a reflection (and a very poor one) on themselves. Again, lack of self-respect leads to bad mindsets which leads to bad behavior.

[Kareeser]

Most of the time, I would say that there's a reason for upselling. Future-proofing IS a good reason to adopt newer technology, but that's not the path for everyone.

I worked (and will work again) in a computer store, and during that time, there was no incentive for me to upsell. Instead, I focused my energy on finding a computer that would be a good fit for them.

Nowadays, that isn't hard, since practically every newer processor can handle multiple threads, and RAM is a dime a dozen. However, I was also working in a very small company, whose profit margins were tight. Obviously, selling newer items would help the company, but it was a judgement call for me.

Big box stores often tell their employees to upsell and meet quotas, or else they're fired.

Food for thought.

[0per4t0r]

Wal Mart's electronics dept. was always fairly honest.
When I needed a flash drive, I picked out an expensive 4 gig for 20 dollars (USD) or so, and when I showed it to the sales rep, he directed me over to a 2 gig for only 5 dollars.

[baseface]

every once in a while you will stumble on an honest sales person.
when youre buying something from a salesman, you have to go in there knowing exactly what you want and have a no bs attitude.

when i was in high school i worked at a car dealership in the parts dept.
lol car salesmen are the scum of the earth.

[lisati]

It's refreshing when you have a good experience in the shop. When I was looking for a new laptop last year, I went into a shop where I've done business before, had a look, and picked out a machine that I kinda liked that suited my budget - would've preferred a nicer one but didn't want to stress out Mrs Lisati when it came time to pay for it. When the salesperson had a moment, we got talking, and he ended up selling me a better machine (an ex-shop-floor machine) for only a little bit extra, not enough extra to worry about - he was even good enough to drop in an extra Gb RAM and a case for no extra cost. The total cost worked out about the same as what I would have paid for the machine I was looking at in the first place, together with bag.

EDIT: p.s. the sticker on the machine I ended up with suggest Vista Home Basic, but it has Vista Home Premium.

[geekygirl]

Yes..unusual!

I was at a store a couple of weeks ago looking for a netbook for and was approached by the sales rep...

The best part was pointing at a laptop that was on display with a BSOD - I asked if that was used as a selling point for it..lol

First I must give the guy some credit - he had a good sense of humour about that!

He asked what I was looking for and I mentioned I am specifically after a netbook capable of running Linux without too much effort (yeah plenty of them around in reality) he proceeded to say that "oh yeah I know Linux"...continue convo...he tries to point me in the direction of the older EeePC's that came preinstalled with Linux...more convo....I say to him that I am going to install Ubuntu..his response..."I know a fair bit about Linux but cannot say as I have ever heard of Ubuntu, must be a new or small version then..." :)

I was wearing my Ubuntu t-shirt as well....

I left that store and bought a netbook elsewhere!

[Warpnow]

Yes..unusual!

I was at a store a couple of weeks ago looking for a netbook for and was approached by the sales rep...

The best part was pointing at a laptop that was on display with a BSOD - I asked if that was used as a selling point for it..lol

First I must give the guy some credit - he had a good sense of humour about that!

He asked what I was looking for and I mentioned I am specifically after a netbook capable of running Linux without too much effort (yeah plenty of them around in reality) he proceeded to say that "oh yeah I know Linux"...continue convo...he tries to point me in the direction of the older EeePC's that came preinstalled with Linux...more convo....I say to him that I am going to install Ubuntu..his response..."I know a fair bit about Linux but cannot say as I have ever heard of Ubuntu, must be a new or small version then..." :)

I was wearing my Ubuntu t-shirt as well....

I left that store and bought a netbook elsewhere!

Its not unsurprising he hasn't heard of Ubuntu. Most of the popular netbooks they'd see in retail stores run Linux, Xandros, ect. HP's ubuntu was rebranded, and Dell's ubuntus are only sold online.