The main deciding factor on the salesperson's attitude and helpfulness, is, of course, whether they are a lowly minimum wage worker or a career commission sales person. Just ask them if they work on commission and they'll gladly let you know.
Minimum wage jockeys tend to not take pride on cramming products down customer's throats and usually work in a fast-paced, highly stressful job with a high turnover rate. Management usually rides them pretty hard, too. "Why aren't you selling enough?!" Well, duh... Probably because you don't pay them enough. End result: After days of standing on their feet and answering the same stupid customer questions over and over again, the employees become surly and unhelpful... on the whole, not caring about you as a customer. Then you start getting writeups like "Why I stopped shopping at Best Buy" and the like.
The commission salesperson is an entirely different beast. They generally come in two forms. This first form is looking for quick cash, instant gratification. He doesn't care about you but he also knows the value in upselling. He will try to get you to spend the most money in the least amount of time, by being very nice, sneakily generous, falsely helpful, and in some cases - discounting like a maniac. This salesperson will likely lie about things like warranties, product features, and other such items just to convince you to buy the product TODAY... Why does he care? If the customer ever find out he was lying, it's a customer service issue, and the salesperson will just deny it all anyway.
This type of salesperson is usually taking a sales job *thinking* salesmen are stupid lowlifes. They usually got the job because there was nothing else available. In most cases they hate their work, and they hate the stigma attached to being a salesperson. Other times, they are just plain stupid. Don't be afraid to ask for a lower-pressure salesperson.
On the flip side, smart commissioned sales staff know that being nice and helpful, being honest, and sometimes saying "this product is too expensive for what you need," will almost guarantee that customer will talk to you again next month when they need something. Or in five years when they need a new car. Or their family will stop by tomorrow. Or their friends will come and see you next week. By building a name as an honest, candid, helpful person, people will actually seek the salesperson out, instead of trying to avoid him. The nice salesman also goes out of his way to make sure he is informed about all of the products available, not only at his store, but at other stores. This salesman is a well-knowledged machine. His sales pitch has been honed to perfection.
The lowlife sales guy will make more money in the first few months of employment, but around 3-6 months in he will start losing ground to the nice guy as his customers start returning with their friends and families. The lowlife salesman does nothing more than serve his own needs, and he puts the store in a bad light, as well as putting extra work on the customer service end of things. His employment will be short.
Comission sales staff are usually paid a flat percentage for each product sold. In stores where this percentage is high, it is the only source of income. Other stores have very low percentage rates, but you also get an hourly wage. Even further stores have low percentage rates, hourly wages, and a bonus structure. Some don't have hourly wages.
Basically speaking, it is always in the best interest of a commissioned sales person to be a nice, non-pressuring guy.
Of course, everyone has their bad days... And on a bad day, you can piss off a lot of customers. |
