I gots me a job which beleive me for someone still at college and nearly 17 is very hard nowadays. But i landed a part time sales role at currys. I just think i'm gona feel quite bad recomending overpriced electronics. But at least i will know what im talking about. Not like alot of the people in there:L
Well from what the manager told me in the interview 'theres some stuff you can read on the internal website, otherwise you should have a basic knowledge of most stuff anyway' so yeah not much training except on how to operate the till and what not which i go in for on tuesday:L
Did you get the job at the Park Rd retail park? The people who think 'career' and work at achieving one at DSGI do very well, it's the ones who look at it as a bit of pocket money that end up with ... well, pocket money ... As for the training, there is a lot of product knowledge to learn and speaking as a consumer, if you know your stuff and you tell me what I need to know then you've made a sale.
Went into my local Currys a few weeks ago and saw a few familiar faces that I hadn't seen in almost 10 years (since i last worked there).
Unfortunately most people will buy if you tell them what they want you to say, not what they need to hear.
I work at a Dixons here in Greece. The good part is that most people won't say, 'oh but it's only x ammount on line', as most people don't have a clue about shopping on line and tbh it hasn't really taken off as much as it has in the UK. The crap part is that there's a real bargaining mentalitY. Hardly anyone pays the price listed if it's a cash buy. I've never in my life asked for a discount on cash buy but hey. I suppose that's what you get when your store is based in seaside location and you live in Greece. The other crap part, is that people think that when they buy something from your store, that they can come back and make you show them how it works. They think the manual is meant to be thrown away, and that they are meant to be spoon fed.
I did indeed And i do generally know my stuff so hopefully all will be well, i would like more hours though Its only weekend at the moment(N)
I hope you enjoy it. I have worked at a Maplin for a while and I am looking for a way out, retail is a very peculiar line of work.
I was looking at maplin but the only one i could of got to was the wakefield store, and obviously there was no jobs there. But i've heard it tends to be the kind of customer you get that makes or breaks it in retail. Although i guess you always have some prats in.
As someone who's worked in two Currys stores I'll try and give you a bit of a heads up as to what to expect. The main reason I got the jobs was because, probably like you, I felt I 'knew my stuff' and could give really geeky technical explanations as to what contrast ratios and SDHC cards were, which helped to a decent extent but what you'll really need to know is why TV A is better than TV B, and not just because it's listed as being 10% brighter on the spec sheet or whatever. So many times I remember customers asking me which £100 digicam was best and just staring at a wall of products with pretty much the same spec and pulling of whichever was the best brand. Sadly the company doesn't really help much here at all aside from a practically useless magazine so you'll really have to keep your finger on the pulse to keep up (following sites like TrustedReviews would be a good start). Secondly, and most annoyingly, is all the warranties, accessories and finance deals you're expected to plug. Few people are good at this and even fewer enjoy doing it, but this is really what they'll be tracking you on so at least try and make a concerted effort with them. Ironically I cracked the technique for warranties a few weeks before I left but I never forced it upon anyone, which was sufficient in the first store but I imagine I wouldn't have lasted long in the second anyway had I not quit- it was the top store in the region but that only made it a lot tougher to work for. Either way so long as you're working with nice people and keep on top of what you're selling to people then you should find it works out quite nicely
I had a thought and seeing as you are embarking on a new venture it seems right to offer a little more encouragement Ironically the worst customers you will experience will be mostly geeks ... fact. Geeks will play on the fact that Currys and PC World don't stock the enthusiast items, charge slightly higher prices than dedicated mail order companies (although I actually bought a 4 pack of Epson printer ink the other day from PC World online for £29.56, instead of £37.95 from Asda), and have staff that will not know everything about everything. The geeks will scoff at the staffs lack of knowledge and the staffs feeble attempts to help the geek because they believe they are far more superior due to their bulging brains and lack of social skills. Of course this is a generalisation of the worst customers, you will also get good geeks come into the store who have social etiquette and you will have a laugh with. The second type of bad customer will be the aggressive ones. These fall into several camps, a) anger-management problems, b) in a rush, c) wife is nagging, d) kids screaming, e) the geeks ... again ... lack of social etiquette etc. It is best to ignore the anger problem and focus on a short-sharp technique of providing the correct information asap, never try to reason with an angry person - unless you have a degree in psychology or you are built like a brick shithouse Retail isn't for everyone and it takes a certain leather-skinned approach to make it work for you. When you do meet crappy customers just find the care switch and move it to the off position. Keep all other switches in place, especially your customer service switch, it's all good practice. There are thousands of products so even though you think you know it all, I can certainly guarantee you that many customers will find questions that you have no answers for. At times like these, the simple answer is ALWAYS "I am sorry, I do not know, however I know that one of my colleagues has brushed up on that item, please wait here while I find him/her for you" or "I do not have that information for you, but I know exactly where to look to find out for you, I'll be right back". 2 of the best staff I've met were both female although I don't think that means anything necessarily although nice eyes and a cute smile helps. One was late 30's to early 40's, hangs around in the audio/video section of my local Curry's store. I can guarantee that if she doesn't know what features a product has then she will find out herself or find someone else who does, however she is pretty hot on the TV's so she can usually answer all my questions. Just like the other guys on this site I generally class myself as technically more knowledgeable than the average person so I have given her some good challenges. The second one was in her early teens, PC World, had been working there one week. Wet behind the ears. Knew nothing about anything. She probably couldn't remember the names of the other members staff yet let alone the thousands of tech specs of all the products. She attached herself to me as soon as I walked in the door, but not in an annoying way - in a friendly and slightly nervous way still being so new to the store. In all fairness it would have been much quicker to find the products by myself. Because she was so helpful and interested in learning the location of the products, and also why I needed an external USB drive, and why I needed a laptop cooler - I gave her some time and thanked her for her help. This is in contrast to the staff who stand around chatting about weekend plans ... they don't last long in these jobs. Always leave that customer service switch in place no matter how crappy the customers are! It pays-off in the end. People will remember exceptional service, and managers should notice a good worker.
+1 for the info above 1 type of customer which is perticulary annoying and you get every now and again is an older person who like to tell you a storey you can never get the devil away, I wouldnt worry to much about the hours I started off as every saturday in my 1st job but it was only a few weeks in and they added sundays then wednesdays after a month or two i was working a good 4 day week plus when you hit 18 your salery will go up which is always nice. 2 Tips I would say try not to look like you have nothing to do tidy up some shelving etc, And try not to bother people if they look like they dont need help I always find it annoying when me and my gf are discussing which one and an employe buts in, go for the ones looking at you but who havent quite got the courage to ask yet Good luck a job is alot of fun
Congrats on the new job, i've been looking at maybe transferring to a John Lewis dept store, TV's and Computers area over sofas obviously, but i can't help but think that i want to advise people on the best products, and then tell them to look up the model number online, as it will save them loads and loads. Still, good luck with your till training, it's easy enough to pick up though, well, was for me at Waitrose. Sam
