sales experience

[wp_ish]

I am currently an owner of an HTC Arrive on Sprint, as are 2 others on my family plan (we all love the phone). However, whenever I've mentioned the Arrive in the Sprint store, the sales reps either didn't know what it was or tried to push me on to Android and now iPhone.

Needless to say, if nothing changes I am leaving sprint this year. With that in mind I walked into my local t-mobile store yesterday. I asked a sales rep about the Lumia 710 and he was very enthusiastic. Actually knew features (text-to-speech and text translation are two he mentioned) and never once mentioned that I may rather enjoy a Galaxy S II or the Amaze.

I will be curious to see how the ATT sales reps treat the Lumia 900, but if it's anything like this, I have much higher hopes for the platform. And I'll certainly be switching to one of the two when my contract is up.

 

[palandri]

Why do you need a salesperson? Myself, I avoid carrier stores all together and do everything online or over the phone after I decide on what phone I want.

 

[anon(5335877)]

Why do you need a salesperson? Myself, I avoid carrier stores all together and do everything online or over the phone after I decide on what phone I want.

Well that's you and me. Many other customers don't know what they want so they either get the iPhone, or whatever the salesperson recommends. In the past, salespeople have been hesitant to recommend Windows Phone devices because they knew nothing about it. Instead they would recommend Android since that's what they knew and I think they got paid for every Android device they sold.

But now, Microsoft's gotten serious. They're training salespeople and offering incentives for them to recommend WP devices.

 

[GazooAz]

Why do you need a salesperson? Myself, I avoid carrier stores all together and do everything online or over the phone after I decide on what phone I want.

I only need the store to get the phone in my hands then if I like it I buy it online.

 

[scottcraft]

I like to play with the phones in the store and buy online.

Sent from my Windows7 Phone using Board Express

 

[jimski]

I have a family friend who is an AT&T sales rep. So I help him feed his kids every 15 months or so. Never makes any suggestions (he knows better). Just gets me in and out quickly.

Sent from my HTC Surround using Board Express

 

[5tephen]

I go into the store cause I'm impatient and want the phone right away. I always shoot down any suggestions because I pretty much already know what phone I want when I go in.

Sent from my PI39100 using Board Express

 

[jabtano]

Well I'm a dink..so my kids tell me. I'll go into the stores checking out all the new stuff and act as if i don't have a clue. the rep persons comes over doing their thing on me, so I play with them in the end I say you know I really like the new Windows Phone 7. Then I'll begin to explain why..and all the features , why I think it's better than what they had been trying to sell me. hopefully waking them up that there are other really good OS out there besides Android,and it's better.

 

[palandri]

Here's why I stay out of the stores and away from the sales reps. I have two phones, a work phone and a personal phone.

When I got my Nokia N8, I was using T-Mobile. I decided to go back to AT&T. I went into a corporate AT&T store to transfer my number and get a new AT&T SIM card. The sales person said I had to sign a two year contract. I kept telling him no, I own my phone and I want a 30 day and out contract. He kept saying I had to sign a two year contract, and there was no other way. I left and called AT&T. Over the phone I transferred my number and ordered a SIM card on a 30 day and out contract. Total cost, $6.97 for the new SIM card and postage.

I had T-Mobile on my Treo Pro work phone and wanted to get an AT&T Pay As You Go SIM card for it. This time the corporate AT&T store told me a Pay As You Go SIM card is $60.00. Once again I called AT&T and ordered a Pay As You Go SIM card. Total cost, $6.97 for the new SIM card and postage.

I also told the AT&T rep over the phone about my experience at the corporate store and she said, yeah, we don't have any control over what the stores do.

 

[anon(5335877)]

Here's why I stay out of the stores and away from the sales reps. I have two phones, a work phone and a personal phone.

When I got my Nokia N8, I was using T-Mobile. I decided to go back to AT&T. I went into a corporate AT&T store to transfer my number and get a new AT&T SIM card. The sales person said I had to sign a two year contract. I kept telling him no, I own my phone and I want a 30 day and out contract. He kept saying I had to sign a two year contract, and there was no other way. I left and called AT&T. Over the phone I transferred my number and ordered a SIM card on a 30 day and out contract. Total cost, $6.97 for the new SIM card and postage.

I had T-Mobile on my Treo Pro work phone and wanted to get an AT&T Pay As You Go SIM card for it. This time the corporate AT&T store told me a Pay As You Go SIM card is $60.00. Once again I called AT&T and ordered a Pay As You Go SIM card. Total cost, $6.97 for the new SIM card and postage.

I also told the AT&T rep over the phone about my experience at the corporate store and she said, yeah, we don't have any control over what the stores do.

Should have called while in the store and done it right in front of them. Lol.

 

[wp_ish]

I just went to t-mobile to check out the phone. I bought the three arrives on my family plan at amazon, wirefly and best buy. But, I had no choice on phones on sprint. If I have a choice in phones and use the store to check them out, I will buy in person. I know it is more expensive, but costs more for them to have the physical presence to show off the phone. I don't think amazon should get the benefit of a store display and not have to pay for one.

Also, I know how important the stores are right now and wanted to see if it was true that nokia was really pushing the reps.

 

[Winterfang]

Even I, a proud user of Windows Phone can't recommend the phone to anyone.

No Pandora, No youtube, no skype, no words with friends, more expensive-bad versions of games, GPS navigation is bad, so is speech recognition, phones aren't that hot, lots of features missing, nothing that other OS won't do better.

Basically, if you don't care about integration there's no need to had a Windows Phone. And you know every topic of new users is always about how they miss something, sometimes that something is important enough that they go away never looking back. Microsoft better step up this year, Nokia alone is not going to cut it.

 

[speedtouch]

No Pandora, No youtube, no skype, no words with friends, more expensive-bad versions of games, GPS navigation is bad, so is speech recognition, phones aren't that hot, lots of features missing, nothing that other OS won't do better.

No Youtube?! Really? It can't pay videos from the Youtube site? Oh geez, I am dead. So dead. Wife's going to kill me. I just ordered her a Lumia 710 and she's a Youtube-a-holic.

 

[GazooAz]

No Youtube?! Really? It can't pay videos from the Youtube site? Oh geez, I am dead. So dead. Wife's going to kill me. I just ordered her a Lumia 710 and she's a Youtube-a-holic.

Yes it has you tube, Pandora is coming, and so is skype,gps is awesome and so is the voice recognition. winterfang has a first gen phone.

 

[Winterfang]

Don't worry, I meant no official youtube app. You can still visit the site and the other youtube access apps.

 

[Mokonoko]

No Youtube?! Really? It can't pay videos from the Youtube site? Oh geez, I am dead. So dead. Wife's going to kill me. I just ordered her a Lumia 710 and she's a Youtube-a-holic.

There's no official Youtube App, but there are good alternatives like Youtube Pro

 

[freestaterocker]

Yes it has you tube, Pandora is coming, and so is skype,gps is awesome and so is the voice recognition. winterfang has a first gen phone.

I have a 1st Gen phone, and I have no problems with YouTube site, even though I use easytube anyways, and no problems with voice recognition. I don't know winterfang's issue...

 

[Winterfang]

I don't have issues, but I get get cranky when I don't see new phone announcements.

 

[jabtano]

I don't have issues, but I get get cranky when I don't see new phone announcements.

But you spent a whole lot of words proclaiming that WP7 doesn't do this or that when it actually does.

 

[based_graham]

Even I, a proud user of Windows Phone can't recommend the phone to anyone.

No Pandora, No youtube, no skype, no words with friends, more expensive-bad versions of games, GPS navigation is bad, so is speech recognition, phones aren't that hot, lots of features missing, nothing that other OS won't do better.

Basically, if you don't care about integration there's no need to had a Windows Phone. And you know every topic of new users is always about how they miss something, sometimes that something is important enough that they go away never looking back. Microsoft better step up this year, Nokia alone is not going to cut it.

I would recommend that you ask ppl what they want first not everybody needs to use Skype, Words With Friends, Pandora. If people need a bunch of apps and are willing to pay 99$ 199$ I recommend an iPhone. If somebody really likes tweeking, customization and having a portable PC I recommend and Android. If somebody just wants a phone that works and focuses on the key aspects of what a phone should do (communication) and doesn't want to pay top dollar for a iPhone then Windowsphone all the way.

About apps
- Pandora and Youtube you can get the Metroradio and 3rd party Youtube apps to fill your needs unfortunatley you have to pay but you can always download the official Youtube app and call it a day.

- Skype coming soon

- Words with friends probably coming soon but is it that critical I don't even play the game most people I know play Scabble but we now have Wordfued in our marketplace and maybe more to come.

- GPS nagivaton is bad then I would recommend a Nokia phone. Nokia drive helped me get to 5 guys burgers no problem very easy I got lost twice because my buddy was like oh I will do it on my iPhone and yeah that wasn't phone wasted alot of gas so I opened up Nokia drive and was like F' this and bam it got me there quicker. The good thing is that its free so shout out to Nokia for that excellent app and its only going to get better.

- More expensive version of games hmm 1$ isn't a big difference personally I don't really care a game is a game maybe others do but a 3$ isn't going to turn me away from this phone. Atleast you can try games before you buy them thats a key feature which you cant do on a iPhone and not sure about Androids but trying before buying is pretty sweet and it has killer games like Orbital.

- Speech recognition is pretty damn sweet who needs Siri the only reason why I would ever need Siri is to make quick calendar appointments but the basic features such as texting somebody or calling somebody on a WP is great. Even finding a restaurant is easy. For example I have to find 5 guys burgers in Surrey BC and I smoked my buddys iPhone all I had to say is Find 5 guys burgers Surrey and bam the location shows up right away with directions. Speech recognition on a Windowsphone is overrated even my buddy that was kinda pissed at his WP because the lack of apps went to Android and he couldn't find out how to get speech working.

- Phone aren't that hot maybe if your in Canada but Lumia is one of the hottest phones in the market and HTC Titan isn't that bad also the Samsung phones are pretty good but if you want hotness right now you get the Lumias if it wasn't a hot phone it wouldn't of won CES

- Lots of features missing hmm I don't know about that all phones miss key features here and there maybe if your coming from a fully customized Android rom you can make a case but the key features are there and the key features are better and more efficient from its Android and iOS counterparts.

- Nothing that other OS can do better. Well how about this on my Windows Phone my People Hub has a deep linking to history so I can see all the e-mails and MSN messages I get from my co-workers and you cant do that on a iPhone. What if you want to see all the recent e-mails you have from your buddy Tyler how would you do that on a iPhone do you have to search mail with keywords etc on a Windowsphone its nice and simple. So theres one feature WP can do better and theres alot more.

What people are missing are little things in my opinion but in terms of phone you can do the fundamentals and better than other phones.