I have picked up a few things from them (ok a lot of things), hell I worked for the precursor to the Geek squad for awhile.
One of the reasons I quit was because I was threatened with a write up because I didnt sell the 70+ year old couple a new computer and instead sold them the RAM they needed and a hard drive to replace their failing one. I was written up for my outright refusal to charge for services unless the customer told me that they didnt want them.
Best Buy has NEVER gotten around the concept that a happy customer will come back and bring friends, a pissed off customer wont. Dont BS your customer and try to sell them 10 things they DONT need for a single sale. I had a few customers who would not even talk to anyone except me, that is from the district manager down to the lowly tech (me).
I have been banned from more than a few Best Buys for interrupting the salesperson and telling the people what they need vs. the salesperson trying to talk them into something 10x what they need. The best one was when I was kicked out for telling the salesperson "Ok please explain to me the difference between this plastic coated wire and the Monster brand plastic coated wire.
"Monster cable is Oxygen free!"
"so is this generic, otherwise it would be copper oxide.."
"Monster cable has better sound transmission!"
"How?"
"Umm well uhh..." "They use higher quality copper and well uhh umm..."
*blink* *blink*
"You dont know do you?" (by this time a small group of people were *not* standing close enough to listen, and none of them were laughing at the salesperson either)
"Sir, can you hold on for a second?"
"sure, go get your boss, Im done shopping anyways."
Other examples of my stopping a BS sale:
No you dont have to replace that Harmony 550 just because you bought a new TV.
No you dont have to replace your receiver simply because it doesnt do HDMI, BUT there are a few caveats to be aware of...
No, you dont have to replace your monitor if you buy a new PC.
Yes, you can easily move your data from your old PC to the new one, it can be done a couple of different ways.
I have had customers who I helped who knows how long ago, stop me and ask me if I have the time to help them with simple things because every blue shirt they asked, all blew them off or mumbled "Im busy"
While I have gotten some outstanding deals from BB, generally I look at them as a "Gotta have it now, and damn the cost alternative." Typically, the sales staff know about as much about what they are selling as I do about the molecular structure of Platypus poison.
If Best Buy want to stay open and in business:
They need to start training their sales staff on the items they sell.
Stop trying to oversell to make a huge one time sell and instead make a happy customer.
Stop trying to sell the warranty, set up, configure, black tie, white glove, clown suit, whatever service and figure out if the customer NEEDS it first. It isnt hard, know what you sell, and ask a few questions.
Dont BS your customers, even the most technically inept customer probably has a coworker, relative, or neighbor who ISNT and WILL tell them they got robbed.
Stop the blatant shill game for certain companies (Monster, Sony)
and ohhh a few hundred other things.
