Smartphone shops

I've been doing a large route of smartphone shops lately and just wondering what is the minimum time you should stay in the store to inquire about a smartphone?

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Depends on how busy the store is. I would think 15 minutes if a rep is available as soon as you enter the store. I had one that was 40 minutes!

For me, 12 minutes is the minimum for say Metro PCS and/or Cricket and 17 minutes for a large Verizon, AT&T, 24 minutes if there are long silences like at T-Mobile. Most MSCs have a 30 min. wait for service to get paid.

When I did these years ago it was much easier. Now I find I wait nearly 20 minutes to get helped! And depending on the SA, they never get to the point but rather just want you to sign up a credit app first.

It seems like often times I find it impossible to make the Metro PCS minimum and end up answering the why so quick question. I've built up my tolerance for the amount of time I can look interested in a recommended phone when the salesperson gives little or no info on it or the plans. I can hold out for 3 maybe 4 min of silence, but not 5, 7, 9, staring at one phone as the salesperson stands there saying nothing, I'm just not that good yet.

@spicy1 wrote:

For me, 12 minutes is the minimum for say Metro PCS and/or Cricket and 17 minutes for a large Verizon, AT&T, 24 minutes if there are long silences like at T-Mobile. Most MSCs have a 30 min. wait for service to get paid.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/17/2018 09:15PM by wwin.

I try to keep it as close to 20 as possible. I often get lucky and catch less busy locations at a less demanding time of day. Part of it is being not completely at the fringe but still enough removed from the high density of my larger metro area. Even when a store is busier, like some of the Black Friday shops I did, if you go into the type of store that actively utilizes greeters, I can often discern just enough from brief encounters with them and just try to capture a few minutes with a key someone to get that business card. Sometimes if a store is busier and you have the time to browse, I get bits and pieces of info from overheard conversations, I use that as a pivot point to keep the interaction time streamlined so I do not need to linger much longer. Those are also some of the reasons I do not mind routing those low paying app phone shops. Sometimes I skip them, but it works when it is second nature and a shop is on the way to or from somewhere else.

I know, me too. I stall by asking about if they like the animojis of the iPhone x or I ask if TMobile has better reception or how they split the towers or some sort of related mess of a conversation. I set my timer right before I enter the door for 15 minutes and say that's my daughter texting so I have an out in case I get someone who wants to prove their knowledge. At that point I ask how much for everything today and, since I have to ask that question anyway, I say it's $5 cheaper at Cricket so how do they compare and baboom, peace out having gotten a business card, if they have one, on the way in.

I will say this about the phone shops, no matter how low or high the pay could be across the different MSPs, I learned really fast how to spot a sales person from a tech geek, in the process learned a lot tapping their expertise. I switched from Windows phone to android and found MS--and it has made me a smarter consumer with technology, a good thing with my kids these days.

Wow you guys are amazing! I tend to avoid these shops, since the few I have done were time consuming. I'm going to have to rethink this, since there are so many of them, it could be some easy money for me.

I just have to get my strategy in order ahead of time. How many times can you visit the same place though and ask about plans? It seems you would get outed. I have done some wireless audits too, and I was told by one of the sales people that if they are asked for a business card they know right away it's a mystery shopper.

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 03/18/2018 08:57PM by CTChamp.

Well, that may be and maybe that is part of the game, they know it happens. But I like to feign I need to write down a couple of things so I can read about it online further, like some of the tech reviews, and even any little paper will help. Or if I reach for a brochure,sometimes, you find out they don't have business cards that way. And I really have written some stuff down as a customer for real anyway when I have shopped for myself.
But sometimes I get burned out on them.
The one that has so many in the app, there are so many times you can make a route anyway, even if there is turnover at the stores. It has not happened often that I think I may have encountered someone that I shopped long ago. But I have also gotten very good at being streamlined in the exchange and enjoying 'playing 'with the tech.
For MF, I tend to do the environment ones, not how someone connects with you. I like the compliance reviews too. But at the end of the day, I like the faster pay with something at a higher pay later in the month.

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