Let me preface this post with an apology on the length. It probably won't be worth it, but I'll feel better if I write it. To those of you about to partake in my rant, thanks in advance for letting me rant away 
A little background is warranted before I go on. I'm a stay at home mom that's 33 years old and admittedly a bit (or alot) of a cell phone whore (pardon my language). I look like a normal frumpy woman but clean up quite well. I also do a whole lot of research before I pay $100+ per month for a cell phone. My experience with the Verizon store on Little Road and approximately Trouble Creek in Port Richey was dismal at best and you may have lost a customer all thanks to your idiot set up and not-so-smart salesman(s).
I walk in the door with hubby, the store is the biggest I've ever been in and your salesman are all busy. No prob. I'll browse the display phones. That should keep me busy. But wait! You have none of the latest or greatest on display! No Thunderbolt, no Revolution, no Bionic, no Charge! Where are all your phones??!?! And the ones you do have out are pretend- you can't check em' out but you can hold them in your hand for sizing purposes. I wait. And wait. One of your guys tell me there's water available if we're thirsty, thanks. 30 minutes later, someone gets around to me. I ask where the newer phones are- I'm told they have no displays but can get them out of the box to show me. Ok. Let's go with that. Now we need a name for sales guy so I don't have to write sales guy over and over. Let's go with DAS for dumb a** salesguy. DAS proceeds to bring out the boxes of phones not out- except for Bionic- they had 4 but now they're sold. Ok.
I tell DAS that I am THISCLOSE to leaving Verizon so before I do this. I wanna see what ya got in person. Why would you leave? We're the best! he tells me.....Right. You are the best reception wise for coverage. However, if I am in an area where others provide awesome reception that doesn't matter anymore. "Our 4G LTE is the fastest out there!" I agree with this but I use WIFI 90% of the time so that is not necessarily a deal breaker either. "We have the BEST phones out there!!!" But your phone selection sucks IMHO (and I realize it's only my opinion and I AM entitled to one.) and you are the most expensive. "I can't believe you'd even think about leaving Verizon, it's the best!" I tell him my heart was broken when they passed on the galaxy s2 and he asks if that's a tablet. Um no.
I explain my contract has been up for ages but my Incredible is so Incredible that I'm not ready to give up my Incredible for a marginally better phone and nothing has caught my eye yet. Charge is ugly as sin. Not a fan of LG. Motorola's user interface drives me crazy. Thunderbolt is nice but I want dual core too. Incredible 2 is sleek but worth a 2 year upgrade? Nah. I tell DAS I may have to look at other providers phones- why are his better? He then proceeds to tell me he has no idea what other carriers have and only worries about what he's selling. Great idea. Since you're so knowledgeable about what everyone else is carrying, you can tell me why your phones are better.
He drags out all the top of the lines and presents them to me. Since they're straight out of the box. They don't power up. Fabulous. I can see how well I like the current user interfaces then. Excellent. What's in a user interface? Why nothing at all. User interface? What's that?
So I'm not real impressed at this point. I ask him if he's got any inside information on the HTC Vigor or Nexus Prime or the Bliss rumored to be coming out in the next couple months. DAS says no, sorry, he has no idea what the upcoming phones are. He only concentrates on what he has in the store since he can't sell something he doesn't have. Now look, I get you want to sell what you have but if you don't know what's upcoming you can't say to me "BUT WAIT! Don't run over to T-Mob or At&T because we are going to wipe their tushies with what's coming out in the next few weeks. Here's my card. Come see me next month and we'll work out a deal when the new stuff comes out since we just don't have anything that interests you today." No instead you're completely clueless and I walk out the door and go to another provider. Glad to see you've sold another phone. That you had in stock.
I then ask about the upcoming iphone 5. DAS says all Apple products are crap. Now hold on a sec. I'm admittedly a Droid girl but you got to give credit where it's due. I'm too lazy to root. Don't really have a need, I'm really not that much of a techie if I'm keeping it real. And to be honest, Apple's user interface is fabulous. And for new smartphone users or my mom who can hardly use her feature phone this would be an excellent option. It has 1 button it - she could figure it out. Maybe. Regardless, you probably should have said, hey it's a great phone but it won't be dual core or 4G which you've indicated you want. We can talk more about it but I highly doubt you'd be happy with it. That may have been a better answer from you.
Since you're now kinda freaked out by the unassuming lady sitting across from you, you're gonna bring out something to play with. You throw me your rooted Thunderbolt to play with it. Hoping to get my mind off your lack of knowledge. I notice there's no games or hardly any outside apps. Why the hell are you rooted if you've left the phone as is. So you can tell people you've rooted? Cool. I get what rooting is. I just don't see what the point was for you, Mr. Customization.
But let's get back to the real issue here. Selling phones this way, you will not. You have nothing to display. You know nothing about your competitors. You know nothing about what's coming up. And yet you call yourself a salesman? Hell. I could sell more paperclips than you. Not to be all tell-you-how-to-do-your-job-like but I'm just gonna say this. There are two questions you need to ask people when they walk in the door so you can determine what you need to do to sell a phone. #1- What is your knowledge level on cell phones? Novice? Intermediate? Expert? and #2- What do you want to do with your phone. Text? Calls only? Use for work? These 2 questions will tell you what you need to actually make a sale. When I tell you I'm a cell phone whore. Don't laugh that off. I mean it. Frumpy stay at home mom (but trust me, I can look hot if I want to) knows her phones and is not impressed with your lack of skills. If you want to exclaim that "you are the best!" then tell me WHY! And show me WHY! Don't expect the lady who knows her smartphones to believe the DAS just because you say it. That doesn't make it true.
But thanks for asking me why I know so much about smartphones. I realize I know more than most but know I am not the only one that knows about phones. I probably know less than 75% of the users here on Android Forums to be honest with you. It has nothing to do with the fact that I've been waiting for a decent phone that fits my needs (yes, you have some nice phones but I am not a motorola fan, sorry, my Droid X was blech, I don't want a ginormous man size phone, and I will not waste an upgrade for something I perceive as only marginally better than my Dinc.) from Verizon to come out since January and you just haven't delivered. If I do research- why can't you? It is your job and all........
So now I'm gonna go home and stew about this pathetic experience. Still not sure of whether or not I'm staying with Verizon or moving on to someone else. So the torture will continue..........
By the way- I appreciate your offer of a job (because clearly you're qualified to offer me one) but do you really want me to steal all of your sales?
A little background is warranted before I go on. I'm a stay at home mom that's 33 years old and admittedly a bit (or alot) of a cell phone whore (pardon my language). I look like a normal frumpy woman but clean up quite well. I also do a whole lot of research before I pay $100+ per month for a cell phone. My experience with the Verizon store on Little Road and approximately Trouble Creek in Port Richey was dismal at best and you may have lost a customer all thanks to your idiot set up and not-so-smart salesman(s).
I walk in the door with hubby, the store is the biggest I've ever been in and your salesman are all busy. No prob. I'll browse the display phones. That should keep me busy. But wait! You have none of the latest or greatest on display! No Thunderbolt, no Revolution, no Bionic, no Charge! Where are all your phones??!?! And the ones you do have out are pretend- you can't check em' out but you can hold them in your hand for sizing purposes. I wait. And wait. One of your guys tell me there's water available if we're thirsty, thanks. 30 minutes later, someone gets around to me. I ask where the newer phones are- I'm told they have no displays but can get them out of the box to show me. Ok. Let's go with that. Now we need a name for sales guy so I don't have to write sales guy over and over. Let's go with DAS for dumb a** salesguy. DAS proceeds to bring out the boxes of phones not out- except for Bionic- they had 4 but now they're sold. Ok.
I tell DAS that I am THISCLOSE to leaving Verizon so before I do this. I wanna see what ya got in person. Why would you leave? We're the best! he tells me.....Right. You are the best reception wise for coverage. However, if I am in an area where others provide awesome reception that doesn't matter anymore. "Our 4G LTE is the fastest out there!" I agree with this but I use WIFI 90% of the time so that is not necessarily a deal breaker either. "We have the BEST phones out there!!!" But your phone selection sucks IMHO (and I realize it's only my opinion and I AM entitled to one.) and you are the most expensive. "I can't believe you'd even think about leaving Verizon, it's the best!" I tell him my heart was broken when they passed on the galaxy s2 and he asks if that's a tablet. Um no.
I explain my contract has been up for ages but my Incredible is so Incredible that I'm not ready to give up my Incredible for a marginally better phone and nothing has caught my eye yet. Charge is ugly as sin. Not a fan of LG. Motorola's user interface drives me crazy. Thunderbolt is nice but I want dual core too. Incredible 2 is sleek but worth a 2 year upgrade? Nah. I tell DAS I may have to look at other providers phones- why are his better? He then proceeds to tell me he has no idea what other carriers have and only worries about what he's selling. Great idea. Since you're so knowledgeable about what everyone else is carrying, you can tell me why your phones are better.
He drags out all the top of the lines and presents them to me. Since they're straight out of the box. They don't power up. Fabulous. I can see how well I like the current user interfaces then. Excellent. What's in a user interface? Why nothing at all. User interface? What's that?
So I'm not real impressed at this point. I ask him if he's got any inside information on the HTC Vigor or Nexus Prime or the Bliss rumored to be coming out in the next couple months. DAS says no, sorry, he has no idea what the upcoming phones are. He only concentrates on what he has in the store since he can't sell something he doesn't have. Now look, I get you want to sell what you have but if you don't know what's upcoming you can't say to me "BUT WAIT! Don't run over to T-Mob or At&T because we are going to wipe their tushies with what's coming out in the next few weeks. Here's my card. Come see me next month and we'll work out a deal when the new stuff comes out since we just don't have anything that interests you today." No instead you're completely clueless and I walk out the door and go to another provider. Glad to see you've sold another phone. That you had in stock.
I then ask about the upcoming iphone 5. DAS says all Apple products are crap. Now hold on a sec. I'm admittedly a Droid girl but you got to give credit where it's due. I'm too lazy to root. Don't really have a need, I'm really not that much of a techie if I'm keeping it real. And to be honest, Apple's user interface is fabulous. And for new smartphone users or my mom who can hardly use her feature phone this would be an excellent option. It has 1 button it - she could figure it out. Maybe. Regardless, you probably should have said, hey it's a great phone but it won't be dual core or 4G which you've indicated you want. We can talk more about it but I highly doubt you'd be happy with it. That may have been a better answer from you.
Since you're now kinda freaked out by the unassuming lady sitting across from you, you're gonna bring out something to play with. You throw me your rooted Thunderbolt to play with it. Hoping to get my mind off your lack of knowledge. I notice there's no games or hardly any outside apps. Why the hell are you rooted if you've left the phone as is. So you can tell people you've rooted? Cool. I get what rooting is. I just don't see what the point was for you, Mr. Customization.
But let's get back to the real issue here. Selling phones this way, you will not. You have nothing to display. You know nothing about your competitors. You know nothing about what's coming up. And yet you call yourself a salesman? Hell. I could sell more paperclips than you. Not to be all tell-you-how-to-do-your-job-like but I'm just gonna say this. There are two questions you need to ask people when they walk in the door so you can determine what you need to do to sell a phone. #1- What is your knowledge level on cell phones? Novice? Intermediate? Expert? and #2- What do you want to do with your phone. Text? Calls only? Use for work? These 2 questions will tell you what you need to actually make a sale. When I tell you I'm a cell phone whore. Don't laugh that off. I mean it. Frumpy stay at home mom (but trust me, I can look hot if I want to) knows her phones and is not impressed with your lack of skills. If you want to exclaim that "you are the best!" then tell me WHY! And show me WHY! Don't expect the lady who knows her smartphones to believe the DAS just because you say it. That doesn't make it true.
But thanks for asking me why I know so much about smartphones. I realize I know more than most but know I am not the only one that knows about phones. I probably know less than 75% of the users here on Android Forums to be honest with you. It has nothing to do with the fact that I've been waiting for a decent phone that fits my needs (yes, you have some nice phones but I am not a motorola fan, sorry, my Droid X was blech, I don't want a ginormous man size phone, and I will not waste an upgrade for something I perceive as only marginally better than my Dinc.) from Verizon to come out since January and you just haven't delivered. If I do research- why can't you? It is your job and all........
So now I'm gonna go home and stew about this pathetic experience. Still not sure of whether or not I'm staying with Verizon or moving on to someone else. So the torture will continue..........
By the way- I appreciate your offer of a job (because clearly you're qualified to offer me one) but do you really want me to steal all of your sales?
