Why I'm going to be Fired

[Geek King]

Hmm, I might see it on some of the big, complicated games I like (i.e. Twilight Emperium), or the all-wood Settlers of Cataan game I have my eye on, but it seems really odd for a standard Monopoly set.

[Knightmare]

That's the way it is. Selling intangibles.
The store doesn't make much profit on the actual products.

But they make a ton of money selling air.

At RadioShack, I also hated selling the service plans (and credit cards). But there were a few products that I strongly believed they should be paired with.
Computers were a big one. At the time, the service plans covered the computer for 5 years. I don't know what it is now.

But if you are going to work at a place where service plans and credit cards are part of the program, you had better get real comfortable real quick selling those.

[Gurndigarn]

Hmm, I might see it on some of the big, complicated games I like (i.e. Twilight Emperium), or the all-wood Settlers of Cataan game I have my eye on, but it seems really odd for a standard Monopoly set.

Sadly, the closest We B Toys comes to interesting games is HeroScape. What I would like to know, though, is what happens when the game they're protecting goes out of print. "Yeah, my first edition RoboRally SpiderBot minature broke down the middle...."

[Jadedcarguy]

I actually have no problem with the service plan on video games. I just picked up a PS3 game at BB, and I bought the plan. It was $5. It covers the game if it gets scratched, which has happened to my games in the past and is the reason I don't loan out games anymore.

$3 to $5 is not a big deal and a lot of people will buy it if you offer it. Some will not, and some will tell you to go to hell. All in a days work.

[DarthRetard]

Well, I've worked at CompUSA, Radioshack, Gamestop, and now GNC, and they all offer some sort of real intangible like a discount card, service plans, memberships, protection services, or a credit card. Where I learned to truly be a salesman though, is when i worked for an independent sales company for Bellsouth.

The trick is not just knowing what to say, but when to say it, and that is:

Every Sale, no matter what. It's the Law of Averages philosophy. If my quota is 20% on our membership card, and i ask every single person on an 80 customer day, I'll get that no problem. It's selling PAST the no's. It's searching within the product to know why that replacement plan is important to them.

Service plans are convenience on sheet. Instead of a return, 30-day warranty process on said board game, it allows the person to just come back, flash a piece of paper with the warranty, and bam, you're done. new board game. Seems expensive at 5$ right? But, people will pay for convenience, especially Will-Mun, your store's biggest consumer base: Parental units. Parents who have 1 or more children will more than likely love the idea of "Just in case you might be interested, we offer certain service plans for your convenience in case any important pieces or parts go missing, you can just come right back in, and we'll give you a new one no problem." That sells it right there. NO waiting? NO receipt hassles? Minimal inconvenience?

I know it seems dishonorable, but it's really not. There's nothing wrong with being adept at your particular profession.

[hawkchick11]

I was just at Toys R Us today, and I bought a mat for my son's Thomas wooden train set.. the girl tried selling me the $3 plan on it and got all pissy when I wouldn't get it.

Its a freakin mat for crying out loud

[Salesmonkey]

Well I could sorta see protection plans for some things... I can't play Halo on my computer anymore because the disc got cracked while I was carrying it from home to work and back. It does piss me off, though, because this has "profit center" written all over it. And if Microsoft wasn't a bunch of tools I would have been able to make a working backup copy (as is my right under law) of the broken disk instead of a couple of coasters.

[Jadedcarguy]

the girl tried selling me the $3 plan on it and got all pissy when I wouldn't get it.

That's outta line right there. One thing I learned when I was in that line of work was never push. If the customer says no, no it is.

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

That's outta line right there. One thing I learned when I was in that line of work was never push. If the customer says no, no it is.

Well that's just because you worked for a decent company that didn't encourage that sort of thing.

My company on the other hand---Well, a few months ago in the company spokesrag, they had a feature on a guy from one of our stores out west who was selling far more extended protection plans than anybody else, and even outselling stores by himself. In the article the guy said his secret was "I never let the customer say no." Which would lead me to believe this guy is pushy as hell and keeps asking in different ways after being told no numerous times.

Also the word from the grapevine is that while corporate is generally happy with us and we are doing well in many areas, they aren't happy with our sales of EPPs and want us to get more, More, MORE! Which is why EPPs are discussed at every employee huddle and we're always having cheesy, corny games to encourage people to push those damn EPPs.

[Tanasi]

I've been asked to buy an extended warrenty on something that has a lifetime warrenty. I asked if the item has a lifetime warrenty when does the extended warrenty kick in? The poor kid looked so confused that I finally said no thanks. I thought he was going to have a brain cramp.

[Pezzle]

Also the word from the grapevine is that while corporate is generally happy with us and we are doing well in many areas, they aren't happy with our sales of EPPs and want us to get more, More, MORE! Which is why EPPs are discussed at every employee huddle and we're always having cheesy, corny games to encourage people to push those damn EPPs.

AAAAAAAAUUUUUG!!! HUAGHAGHAHGH!!! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!!!!!!!!! YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!! GREEDY MOTHER FUCKING ASSHOLES1!!!

I could sell 6 a shift and they'd ask me why I didn't sell 7, like I'm never good enough for them

[Jester]

I used to work for a chain restaurant that had one of those "frequent diner rewards points" cards or whatever. Early on in my career with said chain, they were gung ho on getting us to sign people up. I would sign a few up here and there, but didn't care all that much, because A. most of the people didn't care, and B. there wasn't anything in it for me besides headaches and pissing off some of my customers.

Now, every now and then they would run a contest, with an actual reward, and lo and behold, Jester would have a bunch of signups and walk off with the bottle of booze/cash prize/gift certificate/whatever. And they would wonder why I didn't do that all the time.

I repeat.....there was nothing in it for me, you corporate flacks. Give me a reason to do it, and I will. Otherwise, I am not going to bother customers who don't want to be bothered. Stop messing with my tips. You know, tips? My income? Yeah, that.

And speaking of income, another thing that drove me nuts was when management at this same chain would, at various meetings, tell us what needed to be done for this and that, whatever, and then tie it all in to their bonuses. As in, "if this doesn't happen, we may not get our bonuses." For those wondering, no, staff never got bonuses. Holiday or otherwise. The funniest/most tragic time this happened, they had just gotten done telling us our cheezy little Christmas party that they threw every year wasn't going to be thrown that year. And yet they still expected us to do this and that for "their bonuses." And we were getting WHAT out of all this? Right, nothing. Except our party taken from us.

Our outward response was a noncommital nod, a halfassed attempt at saying, "yeah, sure, whatever."
Our inward response was "FUCK YOU! AND FUCK YOUR BONUSES!"

[Mr. Rager!]

People will get angry with this, I'm sure.

Offer service plans, extended warranties on everything that have the option. Why? It's your job. You are not the one to decide what the customer wants/needs. If you don't offer everything there is to offer, you're doing a disservice. Some people will buy anything you throw at them... some won't... some need to be talked into it. It's your job to recognize and capitalize in each situation.

My numbers for service and service plans are high... why? I offer everything to everyone. I'll even offer it to people who I don't think will buy anything extra because you never know.

[Jester]

Despite my earlier comments about my restaurant, I agree with Fashion Lad.

Allow me to explain. Regarding my restaurant, I would OFFER the card to everyone.....I just wouldn't PUSH it if they said no. I respected my customers, something that management didn't get. And to be honest, I thought the rewards card was a pretty good deal....not only was it free, but you fairly often got free food from it. How is free food NOT good?

If it is part of your job to offer these things, then you should do it.

Keep in mind, it's one thing to deal with service plans in retail, when you are dealing with one customer at a time. It is another thing to try to sell people rewards cards in restaurants, where you are dealing with multiple tables all at once. If you get busy, that can be one thing you can see forgetting about. And yes, I know in retail you still have people in line waiting, often impatiently. But it still is a different dynamic. (Hope all you retail folk are not going to get pissed at me for that one.)

All of that, however, does not make the board game service plan in any way intelligent.

[chops]

Offer service plans, extended warranties on everything that have the option. Why? It's your job. You are not the one to decide what the customer wants/needs. If you don't offer everything there is to offer, you're doing a disservice. Some people will buy anything you throw at them... some won't... some need to be talked into it. It's your job to recognize and capitalize in each situation.

I was going to disagree with this until I realized that this is the perfect opportunity to show those corporate types that make associates push this stuff what a mistake they made.

If this practice annoys customers enough, they won't come back. Is that your problem as an associate? Absolutely not! You're simply doing what you're told. If that ends up shooting your company in the foot, then maybe they'll recognize their collective craniorectal inversion and rethink their policies.

On the other hand, Jester has a point. Positive reinforcement of these things are MUCH better than the "do this or you're fired" approach. Management should give people rewards for hitting certain targets, or do it as a contest.