Music store salesperson disgust today

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Milkmansound
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Re: Music store salesperson disgust today

Post by Milkmansound » Tue Dec 28, 2004 10:37 pm

phait wrote: But I would be honest with the customer if I didn't know anything about such and such gear. I'm not a bullshitter.
thats probably why you don't work at one.

I have toyed with the idea as well - but the fact is, it would drive me insane after 2 weeks. Think about it - most of the customers are going to drive you crazy over stupid shit. I mean, if you think most of the employees are clueless - just imagine getting bombarded by high schoolers looking to save a buck... and people banging on the drums all day... and bad guitar playing... its really no wonder why they hire a certain type of person. I mean, the above experience happened at a local store in northern VT (well, its a chain - the only chain we have up here Daddy's) are they going to find someone with some knowhow there? The manager there is ok though - but hes usually too busy dealing with bullshit from the other customers and employees to help me all of the time.
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Re: Music store salesperson disgust today

Post by Rigsby » Tue Dec 28, 2004 11:00 pm

I've got to the point now too where i'll only deal with one shop and two guys in that shop. Occasionally i'll pop into a few other places to see what they have, only to be reminded why i don't buy from there. There are three kinds of Pro-Audio store assistants in my experience:

The ones who pretend they know things that they clearly don't.
The ones who know a lot and compete with you or mock you for things you don't know.
The ones who are honest about what they know and will ask someone else if they can't answer your question.

I only buy from the latter.
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Re: Music store salesperson disgust today

Post by i am monster face » Tue Dec 28, 2004 11:31 pm

I like the last post. I work at a pro-audio shop (no, we do not work off of commission) and I always have repeat customers. My associate does not. Why? When I don't know something, I'll flat out tell him. I won't make it up because I know I will be called on it. And when someone's needs dictate the use of an ART Tube MP instead of a more expensive model, I will tell them that.
Since we deal with only Pro-Audio, when I need my guitar fix, I go to the local guitar shop. I go to the same salesperson everytime. Why? Cause he doesn't lie to me.

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Re: Music store salesperson disgust today

Post by i am monster face » Tue Dec 28, 2004 11:33 pm

Plus, I consult this board for almost all of my hard pressing questions. I also send a majority of my customers here to check before they buy. I've wondered if this is a bad thing? Should I not be sending them here? I trust this board more than any other on the internet and cannot think of a better way to sell them on certain pieces of equipment (i.e. the lesser known pieces like Bellari stuff) than to send them to this board. Is this wrong?

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Re: Music store salesperson disgust today

Post by Rigsby » Wed Dec 29, 2004 12:28 am

i am monster face wrote:Plus, I consult this board for almost all of my hard pressing questions. I also send a majority of my customers here to check before they buy. I've wondered if this is a bad thing? Should I not be sending them here? I trust this board more than any other on the internet and cannot think of a better way to sell them on certain pieces of equipment (i.e. the lesser known pieces like Bellari stuff) than to send them to this board. Is this wrong?

Ian
I don't think it's wrong, as long as everybody knows it's pretty much just opinion and not gospel. Opinions here do seem a lot more informed than on many many other boards.
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Re: Music store salesperson disgust today

Post by bobbydj » Wed Dec 29, 2004 2:34 am

chema wrote:look, i'm not justifying any asshole's actions (or words), but not everyone that works in a music store falls into the dumbass/jerk category like i often see posted around here, i work in a music store ("boutique" acoustic guitars) and there are some benefits to doing so, it pays my bills when doing bands is slow, my rent is paid, my bills are paid, i have health insurance and i can do as many bands as i can hustle for whatever profit i want to make, i don't have to pound my ears doing live sound in a club, i don't have to sit behind a desk, blah blah blah, and i did work pro audio sales at a large independent store, and chances are if something like that came up, i'd've bought it myself like all the other cool crap i pulled for myself or people i knew would be interested before it even made it to the floor, and then there's all the free education that i gave out to folks that bought stuff from me because i felt it was only fair to show people how to use their new stuff, i'm rambling but the point is that it bums me out when people group together music store employees as not knowing what they are talking about or as all being greedy, yes, those folks exist but most of us are just people trying to make a living, i can also say that you do spend a lot of time talking to complete and utter morons and that can make you a little jaded, i should also mention the built in and instant clientele base that you get from talking to musicians all day (invaluable when you're broke), so next time someone in a music store pisses you off, either shoot them yourself, or rest comfortably in the fact that they are idiots and you are not (making an assumption there) and that's punishment enough in and of itself, but bitching about it and lumping them all together is one-sided and unfair, anyhow that's just the devil's advocate's side for some perspective...
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Re: Music store salesperson disgust today

Post by hearnoevil » Wed Dec 29, 2004 7:36 am

andyg666 wrote:
hearnoevil wrote:Of course, half the customers are losers with no jobs who come in to the shops to kill time while these poor bastards are living on commission only paychecks! Damn. It's a loose-loose situation!
Woah, rewind... commission only?!?!? If you don't sell you don't get paid? Is this how it is in the big music shops?!?!? damn...
Yep- He actually works for a former mom & pop shop that is now owned by one of the two (not naming names) corporate forces of evil in the music shop world. He gets a guaranteed minimum wage-ish base pay every week (which ends up being under $200 a week after taxes), then he gets a commission check at the end of the month. The REALLY screwed up thing is, he not only has to make up his base pay in sales (so that kinda ends up being commission too), but they keep screwing with the commission percentage! He sold two of the EXACT same guitars for the same price this week- the only difference was the color of the body. He got $24 commission on one & $43 on the other. That, and when he has to do inventory or something that doesn't require selling or doing repairs, he's basically working for free.
I honestly don't know how he does it- I'm perfectly happy sitting in my studio making an expected amount every month even if I DO work way to many hours for salary. It's no wonder the turnover rate in that place is in-friggin'-sanely high!
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Re: Music store salesperson disgust today

Post by JASIII » Wed Dec 29, 2004 8:32 am

Another music store employee chiming in. everything everyone has said here is 100% true. Get in good with someone who works at a non corporate music store and you'll realize exactly how bad people get screwed on prices. Everybody's gotta eat.
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Re: Music store salesperson disgust today

Post by StivBatorsWreckedMyCar » Wed Dec 29, 2004 8:56 am

I loath going into those corporate stores but recently I had to buy a new piece of equipment that is only carried in these parts by Guitar Center. I swear those guys' best day on the job consists of selling some 12-yr old's parents on a Custom Shop Strat for lil' Junior to learn on. I know it may be sacrilege to say here, but that whole pro-guy, equipment-based mentality makes me ill. Just find something that makes noise and something that records it. Otherwise, write great songs and plug it in.

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Re: Music store salesperson disgust today

Post by Coco » Wed Dec 29, 2004 10:02 am

I buy from one guy and one guy only. I usually know more than he does but he is ok with that. I consult this board for the things I can not figure out. He learns more from me wanting weird shit than he would on his own. I never get lied to or get the run around. The guy I go to works in the drum dept. but he seems to be the only guy selling $3000 compressors, because he is not full of shit and knows I know more than he does. I don't trust the guy in the "pro audio" dept. at the shop I buy from. I have actually had to tell a customer of the audio dept. guy to get something else because what the slaesman told him was absolute garbage, and not to waste money. I was tempted to say it in front of the salesman but I bit my lip and waited till he left to inform the cluless customer correctly.
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Re: Music store salesperson disgust today

Post by trashy » Wed Dec 29, 2004 11:00 am

I dislike music shop guys and sound guys. Pretty much intensely, pretty much universally. But both groups have an excuse for their ridiculousness: they have to work with musicians...

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Re: Music store salesperson disgust today

Post by hearnoevil » Wed Dec 29, 2004 11:06 am

trashy wrote:I dislike music shop guys and sound guys. Pretty much intensely, pretty much universally. But both groups have an excuse for their ridiculousness: they have to work with musicians...
Not that I disagree with your dislike of that breed of guy, (even though I fall in to the sound guy category-or at least the sound part) but if you're not a sound guy or music shop guy, what kinda guy are you? I guess that leaves musician guy?
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Re: Music store salesperson disgust today

Post by kcrusher » Wed Dec 29, 2004 11:29 am

I'll chime in here - as a former music store employee. I worked at at 'boutique' store that sold alot of the higher end gear alongside you're regular stuff (NO guitars/amps, though - thank god!).

We worked on commission only and I preferred it that way - if I hustled, I wanted to get compensated for it and, generally speaking, I did VERY well. The only reason that I did so well, though, was because I was honest and generally 'took care' of my customers. Wankers that came in just to jerk me around would summarily be dismissed, since I knew they were not going to amount to anything. We weren't there to sell something to every schmoe who walked in. The way to make a living was to develop a customer relationship - you knew what they had and how they used it and could call them or let them know when you had something they may be interested in - whether it be some great deal on a product or something new that just came out. You would do your research so they didn't have to and give them options they may not have thought about.

That method required that we know what we were talking about - we never hired anyone who didn't have great references and passed the knowledge test. Yes, sometimes the prices were a bit higher, but customers that knew better realized they saved money in the long run by not getting the wrong item and not having to go bouncing from store to store to find the best deal. Most of the customers I dealt with wanted solutions fast and didn't have a whole lot of time to research all the options.

Some people think that commissioned sales people are just looking to sell you something for as much as possible, but the reality is that most customers were educated enough to know what a reasonable price was on a product AND, since you were trying to gain their loyalty, you knew that if you jerked the customer around on the price, they would probably eventually find out and that would ruin any reputation you were trying to build. The other thing about commissions is that there is actually more incentive for the sales person to get the right thing for the customer the first time, since you have to do all the paperwork and get the commission deducted, then have to take the time to try to find the right product for the customer if they haven't already picked it up somewhere else due to time constraints. The non-commission salesperson doesn't have to care what the customer buys because they make the same amount no matter what.
America... just a nation of two hundred million used car salesmen with all the money we need to buy guns and no qualms about killing anybody else in the world who tries to make us uncomfortable.
- Hunter S. Thompson

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Re: Music store salesperson disgust today

Post by hearnoevil » Wed Dec 29, 2004 11:51 am

bombastique wrote:We worked on commission only and I preferred it that way - if I hustled, I wanted to get compensated for it and, generally speaking, I did VERY well.
Fair enough, but it doesn't work that way with a lot of shops. My boyfriend works in what used to be a boutique/mom&pop place, but was bought out by one of the corporations. They still try to make it look like that kind of shop, but the corporate-ness is pretty obvious. On top of that, the shop is damn near in the middle of Times Square, so they get a lot of tourists & kids coming in after school with no intention of buying anything. The employees can't ignore those people, because they have to follow the customer service standards set by the larger company- i.e. get yourself a pair of kneepads & prepare to lick the ass of every person that walks in the door. He treats his customers very well and will most likely be followed to his next shop by his regulars.
On the other hand, unless I go into a shop where people know me (which, luckily, is quite a few in the city), the employees have a tendency to treat me like an idiot. I've actually had guys in shops ask me if what I was purchasing was for my boyfriend or some other male. They just don't take me seriously.
I think you probably did well because you seem to have a good work ethic- it really takes a certain kind of person to work a commission only job and be successful! If you treat your customers well, you're knowledgeable, and you get them what they need, hell YEAH you'll do well!
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Re: Music store salesperson disgust today

Post by bobbydj » Wed Dec 29, 2004 12:10 pm

trashy wrote:I dislike music shop guys and sound guys. Pretty much intensely, pretty much universally. But both groups have an excuse for their ridiculousness: they have to work with musicians...
With only 2 days to go trashy makes a last-ditch attempt for Misanthrope of the Year award 2004.
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