Day: 2 September 2005

The boiler room battle of the highstreet retailers

Boiler room

This is a aledged memo to Best Buy staff. Best buy is like PC World in the UK but much cheaper. Even if its not quite real (I certainly think it is) its not uncommon in retail. I remember working at Starbucks, Showcase Cinemas and a few other retailers and having very simular type advice from managers and head office memos. A little while ago Best Buy also got into trouble recently for this and this last year.
Enjoy the “secret to screw you” memo, the boiler room style. Don't forget to check out the comments too.

1) Introduce the PSP (product service plan) in your presentation. Do not wait till the end.

Ex.
Sales Associate: I understand your daughter is going off to college, and while she'll be away we offer a protection plan that will cover anything that goes wrong with her computer/laptop.
Customer: No, I'm not interested

SA: Well it's something that you really should look into. Because if anything were ever to go wrong with your daughters computer she would have to take it in to be repaired. To give you an estimate, we charged $60/hr to decide what is wrong with it and $80/hr to fix it not including additional parts that may be needed.

C: I really don't need that, doesn't the computer come with a warranty.

S: Well that's a good question. This computer comes with a 6 month warranty but does not cover parts. Know here is a side by side comparison of what we cover and what the manufacturer covers.( hand customer comparison sheet and fill it out in front of him/her).

C: Ok, but I'm really not interested I just want the computer.

S: Are you sure, because you are really passing up a great deal here, if something ever happens while your daughter is away she could have no computer for up to a month.

C:No, I'm sure.

*1*At this time make sure to sell at least 3 accessories and if it is a laptop make sure to offer a bundle deal and a Platinum PSP**

*2*Once you have successfully added at least 3 accessories to the sale take the customer to a mobile register away from the floor traffic.**

*3*Since you Have been unsuccessful selling the Service Plan, Have another associate go with you to “help you” ring up the sale.**

*4*The other associate will help you tag team the customer. The other associates job at this point is to point out how amazing the computer is and what a great deal it is. Once you scan the computer/laptop the Kiosk will ask you if the customer wants the Service Plan. The accompanying sales associate will say, “hey did 'Joe' tell you about the Service Plan that covers anything that may go wrong with your computer…?**

*5* If your accompanying associate is unable to get the Service Plan then you must say, “I'm sorry I'm new here and there seems to be something wrong with my kiosk, I'll be right back with my supervisor and he will be able to fix it.”**

*6* You return with your Supervisor, and now You, the accompanying associate and your supervisor Tag Team the Customer Once again until the Service Plan is accepted by the Customer.**

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More Xbox 360 information for non gamers

Xbox 360

The xbox 360 has really earned the category of Home entertainment. If you start looking at the facts contained within hype within this article from GamesIndustry.biz. Take for example, The console can be switched on and off wirelessly using the Media Remote control or the wireless game controller. The xbox didnt have this feature and made it difficult to be used like a ce (consumer equipment) type device. Sarah has a 6 in 1 remote with macro support, so shes able to turn on and off all our home cinema/entertainment equipment without shifting off the sofa. But the xbox still needs to be manually turned on by the small switch on the front of the machine.
So the xbox 360 rewrites that mistake and adds its self to the CE group, just what Microsoft has been planning for a long time. It also seems Microsoft have decided to pump up the stakes when it comes to securing the Xbox platform and content. I remember the xbox was meant to be a test for the Trusted computing platform. Uncrackable security system is what they claim, well I predict it to be hacked before March 2006. Uncrackable my ass! When are they going to learn, there is no such thing – its more a matter of time.

Back to Home entertainment and the xbox360, some things which will make home cinema fans smile.

On the issue of cooling – Satchell said he thought the system had three fans (he said he wasn't sure but thought it was three, so we'd open to correction on that one), and we couldn't hear them at all as he spoke. When you play a DVD, it powers down to just one fan.

One word, thank goodness! I've got my xbox behind a glass case because the fan makes such a noise.

DVDs can be played even if you don't have the remote control, unlike Xbox 1.

Yeah well its about time, I do wonder how there going to do region coding now.

DVDs will play back in progressive-scan, with the Xbox 360 up-sampling to prog-scan in the case of DVDs that don't support it.

Great except….

RGB video output will only be possible if you purchase the GBP 17.99 cable separately – regardless of whether you paid GBP 209.99 or GBP 279.99 for your Xbox 360 console.

Well, well, a extra £20 for a machine which only supports HiDef output? What cable comes with the machine? a non RGB scart?

iPods are detected by default, as are PSPs, and by our watch it took about 2 or 3 seconds for the Xbox 360 to notice they were there. With an iPod plugged in you can play music direct through the Dashboard software, with visualisations, or you can play a slideshow of photographs.

You can also plug in a laptop or PC (or not plug it in – if you're using wireless networking) and play content direct from that. This is through Windows Media Player Extender, the software for which is pre-installed on the Xbox 360. In our example, Satchell first streamed a high-definition Project Gotham Racing 3 trailer, and then drew upon a high-definition recording of Star Wars: Episode II apparently captured on his home TV.

We shall see how good this feature is compared to the abilities of Xbox media centre. I guess with the ipod and psp support, xbox 360 must support firewire, usb and network connections like smb.

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