Recently I visited the PC Club in Murray, Utah… In the past I have had good experiences with their store in Orem. Last week I visited this particular PC CLUB to get some cost estimates and I had kind of a bad experience. The sales person was young probably a high school student and obviously not an experienced sales person. Yesterday I thought I would give them another try…as I understand that stuff happens. Unfortunately this visit was even worse than the first time. Here are a few Helpful Tips to being a Retail Salesperson all of these based on yesterday’s crappy experience.

1. When someone walks into your store… Don’t stay in a group chatting with your coworkers until I have to come over and ask, “Are you going to help me?” It’s ok to let a customer browse for a few minutes but when I am staring directly at you across the counter and you pretend not to see me, especially when I am the only customer in the store, is just too much.

2.Talking out of your BUTT isn’t a good practice. DON”T LIE TO THE CUSTOMER. Its ok to admit you might not know anything about this particular product. I hate catching sales people making stuff up instead of just admitting they might not know the answer. Reading the packaging or instructions is ok. No one knows everything.

3. Brush your damn teeth…or at least check them in a mirror for moss. I don’t want to see breakfast hanging in your teeth. (My visit was at 10:30 AM)

4. In a matter of minutes you ask me repeatedly what type of CPU I have. Damn it it’s an AMD Slot 939 (One of the most popular types on the planet out of about 4 slot types currently made). I need a CPU fan. Focus RainMan. Focus.

5. Asking the customer about the parts in his computer is good. It might add to the sale but going on for 10 minutes about how the customer bought the wrong motherboard and how he should have spent $200 more isn’t endearing to the customer. Implying the customer is stupid is a death sentence in the retail world. You didn’t bother to ask about my needs and why I chose this motherboard. You had no clue about the motherboard I bought other than its brand name. Oh and by the way you sell that brand name. And it didn’t matter when all I was asking for was a simple fan.

6. Make the buying process as simple as possible. DO NOT make the customer fill out a credit app before buying. I will not do that. Do not create a process that takes “45 minutes cause I have to have you fill out the credit app and we fax it to LA” to use a tax-exempt number when the customer has all the proper documentation. Maybe I will just take your ass out of the 911 database or maybe you will suddenly have a warrant. Making IT people livid with your stupidity is not a good choice.

7. After all of this don’t ask me why I decided not to buy anything. Isn’t it obvious? And under no uncertain terms should you follow that stupid question with statements like this, “dude we have the best prices in the valley.” Especially when your competitor next door CompUSA beat your price.

When this company goes out of business I won’t wonder what happened… It is simple I am willing to pay a little more for those who appreciate my business and give me better service.