No, he had no valid points in his talk. It was all BS.
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So I went to Sam Ash today...
- Thread starter organworthyplayer337
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Hopkins
Commercial User
I've had very good, knowledgeable customer service from Sam Ash's online store representatives. I've even been given extra discounts without asking.
How could the salesman be "right", if he has no idea what the client needs or wants, or what fits in his budget?
I said COULD HAVE... not DID.
I agree with the OP that the salesperson was out of line. But it IS a salesman's job to try and up-sell you on something. There is just a better way to go about it than the salesman in the OP's story.
That's a very simplistic view of sales..........upselling can sometimes be the exact wrong thing to do.
I had a good bass guy in my local NYC Sam Ash for years. He knew his stuff well - never told me wrong - was never pushy and let me have the run of the place whenever I came in (I bought more than one high end ax from him). Now he retired and I no longer have much reason to go into Sam Ash except for strings and test drives.
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Larry is OK - but he's not around that much. Never seems to be around when I go in there. Did you know Patrick Callen who used to work there? He was the best - he knew everything about every bass they had out there. He'd set them all up, play them, read about them etc. He's not there any more - big loss, at least for me. I bought a couple of good basses from him and we could talk basses and music for hours. Since he left, a lot of times I've gone in there and there's nobody in the bass dept. at all. If you want help, you call somebody from guitars who generally knows nothing about basses.
It's too bad - I liked buying there - you could haggle on the sales tax and they take care of you when it comes to service even if you don't buy their coverage. But they've got a great selection of stuff there, so unfortunately it's become mostly a test drive place for me.
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Only Sam ash I shop at is Larry Hartke's bass lounge and only when he is there. There's one guy at the Springfield store I'll go to but otherwise I hate all the chains. Sam ash used to be better than GC - I guess they still are but the chain retailers - in all industries are getting worse and worse.
Theoretically, the job of a good salesperson would be to convince the customer with good service that buying from them is the better choice. The rep should have asked loads of questions, then offered to order the item for the OP.
My guess, "we'll order it, then try it and see if you like it" could be a good sales move, but a) most customers never return or b) if the customer ends up not wanting the big ticket item, it's a big hassle for the rep, if he's even allowed to order something that hasn't been purchased.
My guess, "we'll order it, then try it and see if you like it" could be a good sales move, but a) most customers never return or b) if the customer ends up not wanting the big ticket item, it's a big hassle for the rep, if he's even allowed to order something that hasn't been purchased.
I don't do well with that type of salesmanship. I was shopping for a car and the sales guy at the dealership got his manager and his manager wrote a number on a piece of paper and slid it across the table to me face down and was like "this is the best deal I can offer you, but it is only good for 15 minutes" and I slid it back without looking and was like "I don't do business with ultimatums - I'll go somewhere else", and he followed me out the door yelling at me, and I drove 10 - 15 miles down the road and bought the same vehicle from a salesman who wasn't trying to play games with me.
Nothing pisses me off quicker than a person being pushy and trying to sell me something I don't want. Especially when they get rude about it. It's probably because I'm young, but that sort of thing makes me want to start a fight.
flam it ain't because you're young. I'm 64 and it pisses me off too. I don't want to start a fight (anymore at least), but I've told enough pushy salespersons to leave me alone and go away. Unless the item I need is only available there I leave and buy it somewhere else.
Then when I get home I start the email/phone thing I mentioned earlier in the thread.
Keep Low
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That's how it was at the local SA when I lived in Phoenix,AZ. They were helpful without being pushy and if they didn't have an answer to your question, they made sure to find out. The store was well lit and the displays were done properly. I miss that store. When I moved here to Charlotte, I took a day and visited the local SA and two GC's.
The Sam Ash store here was IMO one of the most uninviting shopping environments I've seen in quite some time. The main area of the store where the stage is was dimly lit and had boxes, loose instrument cases, and other tripping hazards scattered here and there. I don't know how old the building is or how long the store has been there, but the whole place just looked and felt old and run down. The product display areas looked sloppy and hastily setup.
Didn't see the usual "greeter" as I walked in. I walked around the store for a good 15 to 20 minutes and no one came over to greet me or see if I needed anything. One person said hi and I honestly didn't know if he was an employee or not. I did see what looked like 2 store employees (they were wearing name tags) as I left. They were out in the far corner of the parking lot possibly on a break. The experience was so dismal, I couldn't see myself ever going back there to buy anything.
Both of the GC's I went to were the exact opposite experience. Funny how stores are always so different. Maybe I just hit the SA store when they were having a bad day.
