National Cell Phone chains interaction

I do a national cell phone chain here in Kansas city. And there's no instructions, on either company, how long we talk to the employee. Some are amazing,and demo the phones, and show the camera and the GPS, some are lousy, and I leave thinking I know more about the phone than they. I might, I have an HTC Sensation, that is always turned off during those shops.

My question is, how long do you guys usually interact with the employee during face to face mobile phone shops? It is usually, like today 5:09 to about 5:22, which was stretching it, but the girl was great. Sometimes, it's exactly 10 minutes. It's never over 10 minutes (except today)...all I hear is, "Thanks for being such a dedicated shopper." I fill out a very detailed oriented report.

Sometimes, I do observation shops, where I go and watch the shop for 20 minutes. I do use my HTC Sensation, cause it makes me look less noticeable texting on a phone. I have the Job Slinger ap,and I email the report to me. That way,I don't have to carry a clip board with me, which looks dumb,and signifies SHOPPER.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/06/2011 02:23AM by Rhonlynn.

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More About Phone Shops

If all depends on the guidelines. I know I had one that required you to spend 15 minutes, which is really difficult with a kiosk and a lousy salesperson.

If there are no guidelines, it is more up to you and how quickly you can gather all the info. I think you probably need to spend more time if things are going bad. If you spend 5-7 minutes and all goes well you might be able to get away with it. If the salesperson misses a lot and you are only there that length of time, it is easy for them to say you did not give the salesperson a chance because you were trying to get out of there quickly.

I've done many cell phone shops and the ones that make me see red are those in kiosks at busy, noisy transit centers. It is almost impossible to hear anything. It always makes me wonder how they are able to sell anything.

I did one in a kiosk, I do many of them...the traffic was so dead. I observed it for 20 minutes, so I sipped an Orange Julious at a table. No customers went by. The employees stood there for 20 minutes. I do these frequently. I take note every 3 minutes what is going on. When I say there was no one, the mall was dead.

Most cell phone places also sell tablet computers and have live demo units. If you have to kill time - I read the news on the pretext of trying out the unit. Just avoid checking for mystery shops lest you reveal yourself

I think tablets are cool. I have a nook color, and an htc sensation phone....when I do a round of national phone chains, I turn my htc sensation off. So I have all these Android products....and I have to act like I know nothing about Androids, when I approach the kiosk.

I've done a couple of these, I have to say currently these are the shops that I enjoy the most. The one's I've done so far have been quite well. The associates always know what they are talking about. I typically interact for 15-30 minutes. Not too bad.

Rhonlynn, I'm an Android user, too. It is weird having to pretend you know nothing about smartphones when you do, yes! What company has these observation shops? You would not be breaking your IC agreement since you've not mentioned specific companies in this thread. I love any kind of tech related shops.

Rhonlynn Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I think tablets are cool. I have a nook color, and
> an htc sensation phone....when I do a round of
> national phone chains, I turn my htc sensation
> off. So I have all these Android products....and I
> have to act like I know nothing about Androids,
> when I approach the kiosk.

Circle of Service. It's fun as heck. I sit away form them, and use my HTC Senstion to make notes in, as if I'm texting someone. It's a busy mall. No one sees me. on the other kiosk, I grab a drink, and sit, and watch them. They are lazier than the 1st kiosk. in fact, I have the scenario down so tight, that I can do it, and do a whole bunch of them in one night, both observations, and also the store scenerio. The observation, you just stare at them,and never have to approach them. I love those.

Ah, okay. I am signed up with them, but they haven't had anything in my area yet.

Rhonlynn Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Circle of Service. It's fun as heck. I sit away
> form them, and use my HTC Senstion to make notes
> in, as if I'm texting someone. It's a busy mall.
> No one sees me. on the other kiosk, I grab a
> drink, and sit, and watch them. They are lazier
> than the 1st kiosk. in fact, I have the scenario
> down so tight, that I can do it, and do a whole
> bunch of them in one night, both observations, and
> also the store scenerio. The observation, you just
> stare at them,and never have to approach them. I
> love those.

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National Cell Phone chains interaction

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