Those who work retail

[bvbull200]

You're right, i didn't post it in the OP but here it is. So you are telling me you are not biased? Of course i offered what i think is best, why would i offer something that i didn't like myself?

Do you want to know the honest truth? When I started selling, I was a bit biased. I had a few brands that I was familiar with and it was hard for me to give a passionate sales presentation for a product that was a "competitor" to the product that I had at home. I was still pretty slick, but not "great" by any means. That didn't last too long, though. That makes you just like every other sales associate that people complain about. A customer goes in one day and gets told that brand X is the greatest, because that is what the associate is comfortable with. He then goes in a week later and gets told that brand Y is the greatest because some other associate is comfortable with it. Frustrating as hell for the customer and a tougher sale for the associate.

When you get really good at your craft, all personal biases are removed from the equation. What you want is inconsequential, what the customer wants is of primary concern.

I don't sell anymore, but I can tell you that, without question, I wasn't biased at all when making my sales presentations.

I still contend that, based on your OP, any of the other cell phone solutions that you have available doesn't get the same quality presentation that the Evo does. Maybe in THIS particular case, the Evo turned out to be the right thing, but it won't always be and you will walk customers if all of your enthusiasm goes in to a product that simply doesn't fit the customer's needs.

 

[backdown]

Do you want to know the honest truth? When I started selling, I was a bit biased. I had a few brands that I was familiar with and it was hard for me to give a passionate sales presentation for a product that was a "competitor" to the product that I had at home. I was still pretty slick, but not "great" by any means. That didn't last too long, though. That makes you just like every other sales associate that people complain about. A customer goes in one day and gets told that brand X is the greatest, because that is what the associate is comfortable with. He then goes in a week later and gets told that brand Y is the greatest because some other associate is comfortable with it. Frustrating as hell for the customer and a tougher sale for the associate.

I will only recommend something that i like, because when a customer comes in they want to know personal experience you have with the phone. If they didn't care about my experience, they would just go somewhere like walmart or somewhere of the sort where they will get no help at all, besides to sell them the actual phone.

When you get really good at your craft, all personal biases are removed from the equation. What you want is inconsequential, what the customer wants is of primary concern.

If the customer needs a phone that i don't like, i wouldn't hesitate to sell them that phone. But i give them my experience with it as well, so they can judge whether or not they will like it before they buy it. For example, i don't like samsung phones and i would never own one again. A customer wanted something with a nice screen and full keyboard, and something a bit more techy than the usual phone. I recommended the intercept (even though i dont like them), and they love the phone. I won't not sell a phone to a customer depending on if i like it or not, i always take a look at their needs, not mine.

Maybe in THIS particular case, the Evo turned out to be the right thing, but it won't always be and you will walk customers if all of your enthusiasm goes in to a product that simply doesn't fit the customer's needs.

That last sentence is ridiculous. See, heres the difference : I take the customers need into reference when recommending a phone. I don't say "oh, you need a basic phone? here, have an evo!" that would be ridiculous.

 

[ChaseQ]

Okay, so Im a new employee at a Sprint retail store. Without exaggeration I personally take on average 6-10 calls a day asking if we have any EVO's!

Theres 2 other guys that work with me and they get the same. We started a tally and we average well over 20 calls a day requesting an EVO.

People actually ask, "Why are all the stores out?" I honestly dont know what to say. Its so ridiculous! This was Sprints biggest opportunity to capture a large and new chunk of the market and they have FAILED!

Please dont blame HTC, Sprint is the controlling factor in this and they carry the responsability because its their name on the front of the store not HTC!

 

[asaberan]

You say not to blame HTC, but they make the device not Sorint, right? It should be painfully obvious to every carrier that the market is not saturated and demand is very strong. There are device shortages with every major carrier and every major phone even Motorola and Verizon, two huge players in the game can't keep devices in stock.

If you don't think that Sprint has tried to put a major boot in HTC's ass, I think you are mistaken.

 

[aznap]

ChaseQ,

Do a little homework first. Samsung was producing the screens for the EVO, Samsung knew they were rolling out the Epic and subsequently slowed the screens to HTC. HTC did an end around and now has Sony making the screens. Any new EVO's that are released have the Sony screens. There was a production lag due to this. Sprint had nothing to do with that. But being an uninformed Sprint employee is nothing new.

 

[ryohei47]

ChaseQ,

Do a little homework first. Samsung was producing the screens for the EVO, Samsung knew they were rolling out the Epic and subsequently slowed the screens to HTC. HTC did an end around and now has Sony making the screens. Any new EVO's that are released have the Sony screens. There was a production lag due to this. Sprint had nothing to do with that. But being an uninformed Sprint employee is nothing new.

i thought the screens were epsons or novateks. or is that something different?

 

[R1_Rydah]

ChaseQ,

Do a little homework first. Samsung was producing the screens for the EVO, Samsung knew they were rolling out the Epic and subsequently slowed the screens to HTC. HTC did an end around and now has Sony making the screens. Any new EVO's that are released have the Sony screens. There was a production lag due to this. Sprint had nothing to do with that. But being an uninformed Sprint employee is nothing new.

a lot of misinformation in this post... and trying to be a wiseguy while misinforming folks...

 

[Slick1020]

i thought the screens were epsons or novateks. or is that something different?

That is correct! Samsung makes screens for the Incredible ONLY. They do not make LCD screens. Only AMOLED screens.

 

[cbanks]

Okay, so Im a new employee at a Sprint retail store. Without exaggeration I personally take on average 6-10 calls a day asking if we have any EVO's!

Theres 2 other guys that work with me and they get the same. We started a tally and we average well over 20 calls a day requesting an EVO.

People actually ask, "Why are all the stores out?" I honestly dont know what to say. Its so ridiculous! This was Sprints biggest opportunity to capture a large and new chunk of the market and they have FAILED!

Please dont blame HTC, Sprint is the controlling factor in this and they carry the responsability because its their name on the front of the store not HTC!

I agree with you mostly. As a long-term customer about to bail when my contract is up October 1, I think the company is incompetent. The excuse is that there's a screen shortage. True. However, what set up this mess was Sprint completely botching their forecast for the EVO. HTC set up manufacturing based upon Sprint's requirements. Sprint cries for more after they run out in a few days forcing HTC to squeeze suppliers for more displays. Too late, other carriers who did better estimates are sucking them all up.

That's why Verizon has less problems stocking phones like the Droid X, HTC Incredible, and Droid 2. I visited Verizon maybe a week ago and I could have my pick of phones. The just ran out of Droid X and HTC Incredibles online but guarantee them by the 31st and 16th, respectively. Sprint? I'm realistically looking at over 6 weeks for an EVO.

Then Sprint comes out with the Samsung Epic. Since people can't get an EVO to save their lives, Sprint gets cute and decides they can gouge customers by charging them 25% more than any other Android phone on the market. Plus, they're jacking up their rates for their crappy 4G service.

Short-term, Sprint will rack up lots of profits. Beyond that, they're driving off long-term customers like me for short-term profits. All the new customers they're boasting about now? By the time their contracts expire 2 years from now they'll have a belly full of Sprints 2nd-rate 3G coverage and over-hyped 4G network and they'll be off to Verizon's LTE. Sprint'll wonder where all those loyal, long-term customers are. You chased them away!

 

[BenChase7]

^
lol

 

[Slick1020]

I agree with you mostly. As a long-term customer about to bail when my contract is up October 1, I think the company is incompetent. The excuse is that there's a screen shortage. True. However, what set up this mess was Sprint completely botching their forecast for the EVO. HTC set up manufacturing based upon Sprint's requirements. Sprint cries for more after they run out in a few days forcing HTC to squeeze suppliers for more displays. Too late, other carriers who did better estimates are sucking them all up.

That's why Verizon has less problems stocking phones like the Droid X, HTC Incredible, and Droid 2. I visited Verizon maybe a week ago and I could have my pick of phones. The just ran out of Droid X and HTC Incredibles online but guarantee them by the 31st and 16th, respectively. Sprint? I'm realistically looking at over 6 weeks for an EVO.

Then Sprint comes out with the Samsung Epic. Since people can't get an EVO to save their lives, Sprint gets cute and decides they can gouge customers by charging them 25% more than any other Android phone on the market. Plus, they're jacking up their rates for their crappy 4G service.

Short-term, Sprint will rack up lots of profits. Beyond that, they're driving off long-term customers like me for short-term profits. All the new customers they're boasting about now? By the time their contracts expire 2 years from now they'll have a belly full of Sprints 2nd-rate 3G coverage and over-hyped 4G network and they'll be off to Verizon's LTE. Sprint'll wonder where all those loyal, long-term customers are. You chased them away!

I got a tissue for you... Or would you like a bowl of crybaby soup to go with your crackers? Or you can have some cheese to go with your whine.. I mean wine.

 

[ChaseQ]

ChaseQ,

Do a little homework first. Samsung was producing the screens for the EVO, Samsung knew they were rolling out the Epic and subsequently slowed the screens to HTC. HTC did an end around and now has Sony making the screens. Any new EVO's that are released have the Sony screens. There was a production lag due to this. Sprint had nothing to do with that. But being an uninformed Sprint employee is nothing new.

Being a dipshit on a forum isnt new for you either. Theres a little thing called contractually obligated. So in your fantasy world a company can just say to bad for you HTC we dont care about our contracual obligation to fullfil your order for product so HAHA? I know that how your mommy deals with you when you want the car keys but it doesnt work that way in the adult world!

So you get back to your homework and isnt it past your bed time?

 

[Slick1020]

To say that Sprint wasn't prepared for this is wrong. Why? Because I went on launch day and the Sprint store had everyone in at work specifically for the launch of the EVO. They did an excellent job on launch day, thus they expected to sell a lot of phones. If not, they wouldn't have opened earlier than normal folks. They even gave out doughnuts, water, and OJ to everyone. They had a booth setup to go over quick phone tips. A rep even offered an EVO class I could attend that Sunday. Looks like it should have been mandatory attendance for some of the folks who use this forum LOL.

 

[Crutnacker]

Wow, that's a tough problem to have. Ask Nintendo how not having enough Wii's to meet demand killed their business and sent people over to Sony and Microsoft.

Sprint has managed, with far less marketing might than its competition, to create a buzz for a phone that isn't the iPhone, and they did it with a phone that manages to steal away those same iPhone customers.

Certainly Sprint would love to have more of these, but the tremendous demand has other benefits for the company.

 

[Slick1020]

Wow, that's a tough problem to have. Ask Nintendo how not having enough Wii's to meet demand killed their business and sent people over to Sony and Microsoft.

Sprint has managed, with far less marketing might than its competition, to create a buzz for a phone that isn't the iPhone, and they did it with a phone that manages to steal away those same iPhone customers.

Certainly Sprint would love to have more of these, but the tremendous demand has other benefits for the company.

I think they are just paving the way for EVO II in two years. If you didn't get one the first time, you won't miss out on the EVO II.

 

[ChaseQ]

To say that Sprint wasn't prepared for this is wrong. Why? Because I went on launch day and the Sprint store had everyone in at work specifically for the launch of the EVO. They did an excellent job on launch day, thus they expected to sell a lot of phones. If not, they wouldn't have opened earlier than normal folks. They even gave out doughnuts, water, and OJ to everyone.

I agree their customer service is a major focus. We strive to make every person happy. And I dont pretend to know the inner workings of the agreement with HTC or where this fell apart, but either way this has to be considered a major debacle.

Its a phone, they knew they were bringing something new and special to the market. They had as longs as they wanted to prepare. I just dont understand how the ball gets dropped like this.

BTW I mention the Epic to every customer that calls for the EVO. (I want a sale regardless) and there isnt 1 in 10 that has a clue what the Epic is.

 

[Slick1020]

I agree their customer service is a major focus. We strive to make every person happy. And I dont pretend to know the inner workings of the agreement with HTC or where this fell apart, but either way this has to be considered a major debacle.

Its a phone, they knew they were bringing something new and special to the market. They had as longs as they wanted to prepare. I just dont understand how the ball gets dropped like this.

BTW I mention the Epic to every customer that calls for the EVO. (I want a sale regardless) and there isnt 1 in 10 that has a clue what the Epic is.

Don't say that in the EPIC forum. There was a huge debate on people switching to the EPIC if they can't get an EVO. 1 in 10, that's a huge number...LOL