Do you ever help people in stores?

[Hellmark]

I've been known to step in, but only if the person seems decent. If rudeness is encountered on part of the customer, I avoid. If it is a rude sales person, I definitely jump in. People should know about what they're buying before they spend the money, and if I help a person make an informed decision that ultimately makes them happier in the long run, then I'll gladly spend the few seconds needed to do so.

[Mortis]

Originally Posted by coinín

So...
As someone who works in both books and electronics and actually knows a thing or two about ereaders, I am a rarity?

Damn.

My sarcasm detector just went off, you are a rarity if you know the products you are selling better than the general public. I remember years ago when sales people were expected to study and research the products they sold.
So if you think knowing your products is bad, then might I suggest a career in a different field, HR perhaps?

The only thing I hate more than a sales person that doesn't understand what they sell, is one who is wrong about what they sell and spend as much time trying to convince you as they did their boss who didn't have a clue either.

In this day and age most consumers are better informed than the average sales person and this is a good thing for the customers but bad for the sales staff, the bar is much higher now. Customers should always be as informed as they can be, in the old days that meant asking a trusted friend or colleague that owns what we want to buy. Now we have the internet with its forums, reviews and a handful of other ways to research the products we want, this of course comes with its own set of pitfalls, who do you believe?

I rarely help other customers out, other than to sometimes point them in a different direction when looking for something. I look to old for customers to believe I would know about this new technology.

[coinín]

Originally Posted by Mortis

My sarcasm detector just went off, you are a rarity if you know the products you are selling better than the general public. I remember years ago when sales people were expected to study and research the products they sold.
So if you think knowing your products is bad, then might I suggest a career in a different field, HR perhaps?

The only thing I hate more than a sales person that doesn't understand what they sell, is one who is wrong about what they sell and spend as much time trying to convince you as they did their boss who didn't have a clue either.

In this day and age most consumers are better informed than the average sales person and this is a good thing for the customers but bad for the sales staff, the bar is much higher now. Customers should always be as informed as they can be, in the old days that meant asking a trusted friend or colleague that owns what we want to buy. Now we have the internet with its forums, reviews and a handful of other ways to research the products we want, this of course comes with its own set of pitfalls, who do you believe?

I rarely help other customers out, other than to sometimes point them in a different direction when looking for something. I look to old for customers to believe I would know about this new technology.

Strangely enough, I actually applied for an HR job just this morning. Turns out my big talent is hiring. As much as I like to match people to the right books & electronics, I like matching people to jobs even more.

I figure most people who want an ereader want something that'll have what they need for the best price, and a lot of them don't want to spend cash on something they don't need. For some, they want more/other features than what we've got on hand will do. In those cases, they need to do a little more research and suss out the other choices. Some people are genuinely surprised when I tell them there are more than 3 brands of ereader out there.

My way is to give them the info I have on what we're carrying, if they need more info, then I point them in the right direction to do their own research, and have faith that a large number of them will come back to get the reader. If they don't... well, just as well. If they buy the reader and hate it, it's unpleasant for everyone involved. I don't like dealing with people who are pissed off because they don't like what they got. I just don't need a sale badly enough to push the wrong reader on someone.

[Mortis]

I hope that you're happy in HR, I think good HR people are also good cheerleaders, I mean that in a good way.

With all consumer products there are going to be people that buy the wrong one for them, if a sales person helped them pick out the item, I would hope that the sales person wasn't just trying to make the sale and actually helped them.

On the other hand, in todays market I think the consumer is fully responsible for getting the needed information, there is no excuse for not knowing the products we want to buy. With all of the free and unbiased information we can find in just a few minutes we should never end up with something we didn't want.