Kind of OT: Verizon sales people versus Cingular sales people
 

Hi,

I'm a Verizon subscriber in San Diego, CA. Here at my local mall
(University Towne Centre, for San Diego locals who might be interested) we
have little outdoor booths where people can buy cell phones. Verizon has a
booth, ATT has one, and Cingular has at least two.

I've noticed that the Cingular guys have a tendency to shout at
customers as they walk by the booth:

"Good afternoon, sir! Can you come over here for a sec, I have something
to show you."

or

"Hi there, Maaaaam!! Do you own a cell phone?"

This approach seems to annoy the heck out of shoppers. "Regulars" that
frequent the mall now have a tendency to avoid eye contact and blatantly
ignore these Cingular hucksters.

The guys at the Verizon booth are very different. They seem to just mind
their own business and will only greet you if you walk over to the booth and
look semi-interested in asking them a question.

I'm wondering if you guys notice the same thing in your malls or is this
something that's just unique to my local mall? If you're noticing the same
thing in your area, it means that Verizon and Cingular train their sales
people in VERY different ways. I find that kind of interesting and wonder
what the rationale is... not that it makes one bit of difference in my life,
just curious.

Here's another thing that I find kind of amusing... Remember how I was
saying how the mall shoppers avoid those obnoxious Cingular sales people?
The vast majority of these annoying booth people are males. For YEARS I've
been thinking that Cingular should stick some really hot 22 year old female
in one of those booths and see what kind of impact it had. Well today, I
passed by the Cingular booth and sure enough, they put a hottie in there and
she was selling cell phones. As the male mall-walkers passed by, their
attention would be drawn to the hottie. All she had to do was make eye
contact and perhaps smile and the potential (male) customer was lured in
like a carpet beetle to a dead human carcass [excuse the analogy. I'm a CSI
fan].

Again, I'm kind of wondering kind of impact (if any) the "hottie effect"
is having in cell phone booths in your local malls.

Thanks...

Re: Kind of OT: Verizon sales people versus Cingular sales people
 

I.P. Freely <yellowRiver@optimus.prime> wrote:

> I've noticed that the Cingular guys have a tendency to shout at
> customers as they walk by the booth:
>
> "Good afternoon, sir! Can you come over here for a sec, I have something
> to show you."
>
> or
>
> "Hi there, Maaaaam!! Do you own a cell phone?"

I've found that most of the time, these aren't employees of the carriers,
they're employees of the carriers' authorized sales agents or resellers.

I've also found that the handful of times a mall kiosk was operated by
the carrier itself, that they generally aren't this obnoxious.

Double check - is the Cingular booth run by a reseller?


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Re: Kind of OT: Verizon sales people versus Cingular sales people
 

Many years ago about 50 more or less I was a
San Diegan. I try to keep it a secret, but now
it's out. In those days all San Diego had was
the Navy and Convair. It didn't even have U. S.
8/80. No freeways to speak of. But, San Diego
had new car dealers down on Broadway, right
behind glassed-in shops, just like shoe-shops
etc. As you walked down the sidewalk the
Chrysler, Chevrolet etal. salesmen would stand
outside and yell at passerbys and sometimes
grab them by the arm and pull them inside
and sometimes sell a new car or two. They
made a lot of money. This was very common
practice in large cities around the country. The
man vants a green suit, turn on the green
light. Things are getting back to the way they
used to be. Deja vue..Cheers

Re: Kind of OT: Verizon sales people versus Cingular sales people
 

>
> Double check - is the Cingular booth run by a reseller?
>

Excellent point... I never thought of that. I just assumed that these
booths were run by Cingular, but maybe it IS a reseller.

Re: Kind of OT: Verizon sales people versus Cingular sales people
 

"I.P. Freely" <yellowRiver@Optimus.Prime> wrote in message
news:HORuc.12830$hM4.4853@twister.socal.rr.com...
> >
> > Double check - is the Cingular booth run by a reseller?
> >
>
> Excellent point... I never thought of that. I just assumed that these
> booths were run by Cingular, but maybe it IS a reseller.

I know that in SD (and LA too), one of the larger VZW authorized agents is
MTI, and they only have mall kiosks - no stores. I know because I almost
worked for them (in fact I just donated my never worn MTI polo shirt to
Goodwill yesterday). The VZW kiosks at two of the three Mission Valley malls
are theirs, for example.
--
Jason G
Marlins Win. The Gods of Baseball Smite Me Again.
Remove 'WINNER' to reply.

Re: Kind of OT: Verizon sales people versus Cingular sales people
 

On Mon, 31 May 2004 22:36:09 GMT, "I.P. Freely"
<yellowRiver@Optimus.Prime> wrote:
>I've noticed that the Cingular guys have a tendency to shout at
>customers as they walk by the booth

I was in a Verizon store once where the salesman actually followed me out
of the store(!) and kept talking to me in an attempt to get me to buy a
phone.