Agents and customers must band together about pricing
I am an agent in Arkansas. I am not afraid to speak my mind about the new pricing Cingular has given to the dealers. Here is an example, in the recent Best Buy Ad, they are offering the Motorola Razor for $89.99. Agents and retail stores are offering the same Motorola Razor for $219.99. This is NOT RIGHT!!! I work at my local Cingular Agent store and we are feeling the direct impact from this prime example of undercutting. I want to get a lot of replies to this supporting point that Agents and Retail store are being drastically undercut. Please speak your mind about this matter and I will do my best to see that the right people at Cingular get this. If you are a customer please tell us what you would do!
Tha...
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if someone's gonna go $39.99 with no features, then oh well. let them go to best buy and get forced into features they don't want and then they can complain about best buy adding stuff to their account. it's not worth taking that big a hit on the subsidy.
i agree that prices shouldn't be SO different from one agent to the next, but all you can do is ask about matching.
Well, I guess you do have some points. The V400 DOES have bluetooth, video capability, and a color external caller ID, and a really sweet look. Oh wait, no it doesn't. Think before you post.
You lose.
As far as best buy "forcing" features, that sucks for the customer and for us, because best buy sends them to us for explanations about their bill, so not only do they get the sale, they don't deal with their own problems either...
TenMidgits said:
If I were a customer I would go to Best Buy to buy the phone. Then when I realized the service was terrible, it would be easy to sell a Razor oon Ebay and pay the ETF with the money.
that is the dumbest comment i have ever read.
if the service was "soooooo bad" then a person could simply cancel within 30 days and not have to go through the trouble of selling on ebay and paying an ETF.
just remember, best buy also has their own cancellation policies as well. read the fine print.
"shu(beaks out)## up and g-(breaks out)-ur t-mo foru-(breaks out)"
lefteyeiu2006 said:
Let's hear that again on your Cingular phone...
"shu(beaks out)## up and g-(breaks out)-ur t-mo foru-(breaks out)"
you've got that the wrong way, i think you mean that's how it sounds on the t-mobile phone. how about repeating that but this time call me from zip code 14067. what's that, call failed? here, borrow my cingular phone. 😉
LMAO. T-Mobile sucks too, but on a different level!
-Actually if I want to borrow someone's phone it would be a verizon phone. Verizon covers more areas than Cingular or T-Mobile or Sprint combined.
lefteyeiu2006 said:
-Actually if I want to borrow someone's phone it would be a verizon phone. Verizon covers more areas than Cingular or T-Mobile or Sprint combined.
LMAO
🤣 🤣 🤣
And what's the deal with selling it for 219.99 why can't you just sell it for 199.99 like we do? are you stupid simple or just slow.... no wait maybe you just don't understand how simple business works!!!!!
First, the Razr is $219.99 on a two year contract before rebates. It's only $199.99 if you qualify for the instant $20 rebate.
Now on to more important matters. Cingular is paying stores like Best Buy and Wal-Mart (Sam's Club) about the same as they pay your store. It's possible they've negotiated a slight difference in commission, but it doesn't come into play on the smaller price plans. The Razr is the phone on the table, so we'll use it's numbers. We all buy our products from Cingular, and then sell them at a loss with the promise of a commission six months down the road from Cingular. The Razr on a tier 1 upgrade will make $64.99 f...
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The information isn't on a website, as it's internal, but I've made a few spreadsheets to illustrate the differences per phone based on each tier and class. Send me a PM, and I can get the info to you in it's basest sense of how it applies to you.
One huge advantage a Cor rep has over an agent is we actually receive training on just about everything that comes out including da...
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National retail has a contract that pays them more. They basically give up residuals for extra commission.
They still make money, just not much.
Question 1: What market are you in?
Question 2: I am not stupid, how dare you get on my thread and tell me I'm slow or stupid. You, my friend are the stupid one. In Arkansas we must sell a $4.99 data package in order for our customers to receive the phone at $199.99. Maybe you should check your price. This is not a thread made to insult people, so if you can't handle that, please get off.
Let me give you a $1 worth of free advice, get a phone that can demo MOBITV. The RAZR has it. You will sell a data package every time so they can try it out.
Is it better than people are saying?
texaswireless said:
Haven't tried it yet. If it is as good as the RAZR it won't be bad. If you expect a solid stream with no chops I think that is unrealistic. Otherwise it was pretty neat in my opinion.
Save your money buy a Casio handheld TV for $80 if you have to watch TV on the bus. Oh and it's free.
How would you say that Mobi-TV would compare?
texaswireless said:
So what you are saying is you can't sell very well to get to be able to offer that price.
Let me give you a $1 worth of free advice, get a phone that can demo MOBITV. The RAZR has it. You will sell a data package every time so they can try it out.
Mobile TV? I don't think so. Those little Casio TVs are not exactly blowing out of K mart. Buffer and go cell TV is not exactly worth paying for. I have both Verizon and Cingular, I laughed at the Verizon rep when he showed me Vcast at work. That mobile video stuff is too gimmicky.
Good sales reps can overcome.
I didn't have a problem with Best Buy and Wal-Mart until Cingular jacked up the price of every phone $20. The Nokia 6010 used to be free on a 2-year contract, new or upgrade. Now that phone is $49.99. Even if you add a data package, the cheapest you can go is $29.99. Again, the numbers don't lie.
texaswireless said:
The numbers lie for you apparently. If you cannot sell a customer why they would like a 3120 over a 6010 maybe you should be in a different industry.
What you're saying makes no since. I'm in freshman english I. I'm not going to sell Cingular Phones forever, I'll move on to better things. You might consider going back to school to work on your grammar. How do those numbers lie?
Stop whining about sales goals and having to sell at higher prices. You work at a retail location that provides a valuable service at a higher price, not a discount retailer who provides "zero" service. Unless you are in the same parking lot as a Best Buy you probably only lose 5% of your sales to them. If you dropped EVERY PHONE SOLD to match Best Buy instead of only losing 2-3 sales a month simple math tells you it is not worth it. Do you also think you would get paid the same commissions to sell phones that much cheaper? Heck no, you'd lose more in commissions on every sale than you miss on the 2-3 a month you lose.
When you take that logic class or that m...
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Don't short yourself.....you make a 7 figure salary.
Will
colione112 said:
I agree with what tex said a couple posts ago. While I don't agree the pricing issue is fair, it's our job as salespeople to overcome price objections.. This is why you have ton's of tools at your disposal to assist the customer, and all the bestbuys and walmarts get an 800#. this is why you get training, and they do not.
With the kind of turnover i see in the stores there is not much you can do to beat the Best Buy and Radio Shack sales people who have stick around a lot longer because they are not on commission. My
Verizon rep is the same for over five years. My Cingular store always has new faces.
one is 14 yrs (before cing)
one is 9 yrs
one is 3 yrs
one is 2 yrs
three are 1 yr.
there are alot of new faces, but it's not because of sales, its because of the amount of pressure on the sales staff, and alot has to do with the opening of new stores.
We merged with a "blue" store, and all the reps were retained and went into the one store. No one was layed off or fired.
sangyup81 said:
I have no problem with people buying phones at Best Buy. I have a problem with people buying phones at Best Buy and then coming into a Cingular store expecting a tutorial.
what you have to understand is the customer has no idea of your commission structure. They shop price. What they do know is CINGULAR is on everything from their phones to their bills. Where else they going to go if they have an issue? Best Buy? Radio Shack? NO they will go to the place that has Cingular on the sign out front. Its only normal. It's your system from inside that needs to be addressed. The customer is right in this case.
If you bought a Chevy still under warranty or not at a Ford dealership would you go t...
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If I had to make a choice, I'd pay a little more for the phone, knowing there was someone I can call personally on their cell phone that will help me with any problems I may have.
I agree with you 100%. The fact of the matter is that customers care about the cost of the handset. Sure, go to Best Buy or Wal-Mart (who sells the RAZR for the same price), and see what kind of customer service you get from them. How about zero.
I can't count on both hands and feet how many times a customer comes in to my store and says...."I bought this phone at wal-mart and...."
I cringe everytime this happens. You expect me to jump through hoops for your billing problems and you didn't get service through me? BS. I reluctantly do it anyway.
Best Buy and Wal-Mart have a difference commission scale than we agents do. They are paid much more (about 1.5X's) per activation. Plus they recieve a SPA on the back end for selling t...
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Iselltheshitoutofphones said:
O,
........I can't count on both hands and feet how many times a customer comes in to my store and says...."I bought this phone at wal-mart and...."
I cringe everytime this happens. You expect me to jump through hoops for your billing problems and you didn't get service through me? BS. I reluctantly do it anyway.
Best Buy and Wal-Mart have a difference commission scale than we agents do. They are paid much more (about 1.5X's) per activation. Plus they recieve a SPA on the back end for selling the handset so cheap.
Average joe public doesn't care.......
Will
The issue is people are buying CINGULAR no matter where they get the phone. They are not buying Motorola...
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Phonebabe69 said:...Isellthe****outofphones said:
O,
........I can't count on both hands and feet how many times a customer comes in to my store and says...."I bought this phone at wal-mart and...."
I cringe everytime this happens. You expect me to jump through hoops for your billing problems and you didn't get service through me? BS. I reluctantly do it anyway.
Best Buy and Wal-Mart have a difference commission scale than we agents do. They are paid much more (about 1.5X's) per activation. Plus they recieve a SPA on the back end for selling the handset so cheap.
Average joe public doesn't care.......
Will
The issue is people are buying CINGULAR no matter where they get t
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SForsyth01 said:...Phonebabe69 said:Isellthe****outofphones said:
O,
........I can't count on both hands and feet how many times a customer comes in to my store and says...."I bought this phone at wal-mart and...."
I cringe everytime this happens. You expect me to jump through hoops for your billing problems and you didn't get service through me? BS. I reluctantly do it anyway.
Best Buy and Wal-Mart have a difference commission scale than we agents do. They are paid much more (about 1.5X's) per activation. Plus they recieve a SPA on the back end for selling the handset so cheap.
Average joe public doesn't care.......
Will
The issue is people are buyin
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However, the key is the phrase "at that moment". Because if you help that customer, and provide a level of customer service above and beyond what they expect, you might be able to get the next sale they make, whether it be adding a line, or upgrading, or just adding a feature. I tell my people all the ti...
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Phonebabe69 said:
Would you go back to a Chrysler dealership to ask about the Ford you bought there?
Yes. they sold it to me, it's their problem - they fix it.
PS. even in this hypothetical world i wouldn't buy either a Ford OR a Chrysler 😉
UOQuack said:...
Well this is a no-brainer. Clearly, any customer would purchase from Best Buy or WalMart. These are the 2 stores that are impacting my agent's sales most directly. I've complained to my RAE about it, and his response was that the national chains can purchase in bulk and therefore they can sell the phones cheaper. I know the agent principles complain to the Cingular chain of command about this regularly. They spout the 6 step sales process and building relationships ad nauseum. Those things are important, but the bottom line is the bottom line. Customers generally will not pay an extra $150 for good customer service. And with Radio Shack picking up Cingular at the end of this year, it's only going to
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Also, don't feel shy about starting service fees. If someone got their phone at a different store, charge them to help them. Doing so might show people the value of purchasing from authorzed retailers who are trained to service their phones rather than bargain national retailers who are ignorant of how to help a customer.
ralph_on_me said:
If you want to cut your prices, then cut them in store. You are personally responsible for knowing what you make off each phone. Walmart and Best Buy know this and set their prices accordingly. If you're good at what you do your service will sell your phone.
Also, don't feel shy about starting service fees. If someone got their phone at a different store, charge them to help them. Doing so might show people the value of purchasing from authorized retailers who are trained to service their phones rather than bargain national retailers who are ignorant of how to help a customer.
Another brilliant idea to further the erosion of Cingular. You guys don't get it. Customers do NOT see a ...
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alejandro said:
If you think you driving 50 miles to the nearest best buy where they cut the price on that phone but then whenever you need help with that PoS phone you go to the store down the street that that slap in the face is ok, then you need help.
And there in Ladies and Gentlemen is why Cingular has pitiful Customer Service. Self serving reps who will not represent Cingular if it does not mean money in their pockets. Perhaps the hourly eage Cingular pays should take care of this. But obviously it does not and guess what?. You lose becasue the customer will blame the lack of service on Cingular.
The way Cingular sets up their sales force compensation is too enforce the greed factor at the detrimnt ...
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springaf said:
no, you reward those who reward you. dont even try to make cingular look like an evil corporation for paying their best salesmen well. Every other wireless provider does it, even tracfone. And plenty of other businesses.
Who are you kidding their best salespeople are LEAVING because of pay cuts! The rest are whining because Best Buy is selling phones to more astute consumers who KNOW Cingular WILL service them by virtue of sending Cingular a check for two years!
Y
alejandro said:
oh shut up, i bet you shop at walmart, places make their own prices on phones, but the carriers only rebate the same ammount, wal-mart is willing to take that loss because they will sell you that G.I. Joe that some chinese kid made for 50 cents for only 9.95 instead of 19.95, best buy can sell an HD tv for 100 bucks more to re-coup that cost. unless you want to raise the price of your car chargers you dont really have that option, but if you never shopped at wal-mart you would have a high ground to complain from.
That Chinease kid can eat for a week on that 50 cents. Can you?
Wal Mart pricing allows alot of twenty somethings to make $400 month payments on their used Lexus 300's. You reall...
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