To me, choosing a smartphone is much like selecting the next car you want to buy. It has to look good to you and feel right in every way if you’re going to spend your hard earned money. Even if you have a decent amount of knowledge, you want the sales person to help you make a decision partly based on information he or she might have that you do not as yet. If that person does not possess the knowledge needed to convey all the pertinent information to you it’s possible you might drive off the lot with something you might regret later. The same can be true of shopping for a smartphone.
I know plenty of people who are intelligent and could even be considered geeks but do not know everything about new mobile devices recently released. With this thought in mind I decided I wanted to find out just how much Canadian mobile stores knew about the HTC M8 which was released in some stores recently. I also wanted to compare what they might know about the Galaxy S5 and see if they would push one over the other or ask about my needs in order to help me make an informed decision. I must state that there are many very helpful sales people in the industry and I have had the pleasure of dealing with some of them. That said, I needed to know just how easy it was for someone to walk out of any given store with something popular rather than something they might have chosen otherwise. I did meet a very smart and knowledgeable sales rep in one store who admitedly preferred the S5 over the M8 but also said that my choice would have to be something I’m sure I would be happy with a year from now. That was the last person I spoke with. The video below was the first person I spoke with. He agreed to be on camera and was told this would be published on the web. In all fairness he was in training but this does not excuse management for not training him properly and putting him right out front when he should have been by the counter. The rep is not named and the location is not published.
As you can see from the video, it’s unlikely the HTC One M8 will sell well in Canada due to the fact that most reps automatically recommend Samsung devices without even batting an eye. I went to several stores from a few different carriers and with the exception of one, the one person mentioned earlier, all others didn’t even ask what I might like. In fact a few even argued with me about what was better. This type of sales practice is not acceptable in my opinion and these people need better training. When I managed a Rogers store many years ago that type of thing was not tolerated at all. Remember that if the rep insists one device is better than another and does not ask you anything about your needs, go to another store.
Image Source: Screen Media Daily
Last Updated on November 27, 2018.
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