Lack of enthusiasm and excitement at the AT&T store

falconeight#IM

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I would care if it were hiding behind a crappy rim device in a dark corner of the store. Wp7 is freagin sexy and Nokia is the king of hardware.
 

GMJeff

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It is possible that the reps were getting a commission on all iPhone sales until they lost their exclusivity.

Me: I'd like to see a Focus S or a Titan.
Rep: I don't know about those devices, how about a iPhone?
Me: No, I like the Windows Phone OS, had an iPhone don't want another.
Rep: You mean iOS, right? Come with me and I will get you an iPhone.
Me: No thank you, I'll just go look around and see if I can find one on my own.
Rep: Okay, but don't forget to look at the iPhones. If you want one just let me know and I will help you out. Remember, the iPhone accessories are all over the store, you might need a case with your new iPhone.

That is pretty much the scenario whenever I go into my AT&T corporate store. When I went in to buy my Focus S, the rep told me that he had one that he was given to him, but that he hadn't even set it up yet, and that he had heard some good things about Windows Phone. Obviously, not enough to actually use the phone.

The only thing to remember is that it is the customers that drive the sales of a device. Word of mouth on forums and social networking as well as face to face are what get the buzz going. Apple has a good product, but it is not a God phone per se, but it has the strength of a huge app store backing it.

Once more big named apps come to Windows Phone, people will jump the Apple and Android ship, but for now people are finally seeing Windows Phone devices as a viable, yet still young, alternative.:cool:
 

kevinrstruck

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My store here in Colorado (Littleton area) was one of a lack of enthusiasm to say the least.

When I walked in on Saturday to order my phone, I was met by a very nice rep. I told him I had an upgrade available on one of my lines and I was interested in the Nokia Lumina 900. He said that phone was not out yet and that he was not sure when it was due. He asked a couple other employees who were standing around playing with either their iPhones or their Android devices. Most said, sometime next week they think. He decided to look it up and told me it would be available on the 9th. I asked of I could pre-order and he said, sure. I asked the price. Again, looking at the terminal said $199. The girl standing next to him, said that doesn't sound right, it should be $99.

He looked again and said, no its saying $199. After a few more minutes, he said no, it is saying $99. I said great. Do you have one I can look at? He replied no. I then asked the 5 other employees standing around if anyone had one. They all said no. Then one girl who was one the phone, said she had one. I asked what she thought of it, and she shook her head in the affirmative and said she really liked it. She did not offer me a glance of it and in fact never even produced it.

I went ahead and ordered it, but my concern is the lack of knowledge and that out of 6 employees in the store only one had it and was actually using it. I was told that the store manager also had one, but he was not there.

This phone is supposed to be the flagship Windows Mobile device with a launch bigger than the iPhone. Yet, the employees don't know much about it, there were no demo phones, only one employee out of 6 had one, and I did not see one lousy piece of collateral or advertisement anywhere in the store.

There were ads throughout the store touting the Windows Mobile OS, but nothing specific about the 900.

Most people, save the geeks, don't know much about phones, besides the iPhone. It is up to the reps to speak to these customers and sell them on the 900. I hear about all training and seed phones to employees, yet saw nothing at this store.

Yes, this is a corporate store, I am 100% positive it is.

I really hope that when April 9th comes around, these people are versed in this phone and are actively selling it.

Tomorrow I plan on stopping in a store in Denver just to see what the situation is like there.
 

MechanizedSunrise

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It just depends on the area. In DC, the reps were fairly enthusiastic about the 900. Almost everyone at the store I went to on Saturday had a 900. When I mentioned I was thinking about preordering a 900, the rep immediately took her phone out and told me to try it out. Almost all of the reps had 900s as company phones. While some kept personal iPhones, they were enthusiastic about the 900 and solely using it while in the store.
 

iViz

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Wow - that was almost the identical experience to mine in the Tustin, CA corp store. Had me wondering whether there is truly any excitement outside of us phone geeks since the obliviousness was strong.

Should have gone to where I work in Orange, CA. I'm excited about this phone and so are a few others using it along with me.
 

iphonemilk

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Having already preordered one last Friday online, I have yet to actually seen one in person since the closest store was about half hour away, the one in my town closed a couple of months ago :( .
So, took my two sons out for lunch (Spring Break) and decided to drop by the AT&T store to take a look at it.
Walking in, was greeted graciously by a nice rep. I then asked if they had the lumia 900 demo to look at. His face then contorted, the smile was gone and said not for another week. He then asked around if any of the other reps had one. Finally found one rep who said she had one, but it was in the drawer. LOL.
He brought the black Lumia to me and was trying to tell me about it, but he had no clue what to say. Guess the training hasn't been really enforced.
I broke his awkwardness by saying that I already use a WP7 (Focus) and I just wanted to take a look at it. He was relieved.
I then asked for the sake of conversation if it will be available for sale on the 9th. He looked up for help and a "supervisor" holding an iPad said the 14th. I then defended saying that it said the 9th on the AT&T site. He said that's only for online orders.
I let that roll...
I left with mixed emotions, thanking the rep for his time.
Happy to hold the unit and loving how beautiful it was, frustrated that the sales reps are going to be one of the biggest obstacles for Nokia and MS to succeed.
Oh well...just 4 more days....
Happy April everyone!!! :D


My ATT Store was the same way, actually 3 of them all had Lumia 900's and each one of them was trying to talk me into Buying and waiting for the HTC One X.

The truth here is the REAL Reality distortion field is from Android users right now.. and it seems even these ATT Employees were caught in it.
 

drusand810

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I pre-ordered my 900 at a store in NYC (Soho) last Saturday. A few reps had theirs out and one had a "beautifully different" 900 Nokia blue t-shirt on. The guy who actually rang me up didn't seem too enthusiastic or anything (he was just wearing a generic 4G fireball shirt), but I did get to see the black and blue ones. He took out the box to get the SKU and I thought he was going to let me walk out with it! Unfortunately, he did not.
 

inteller

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My experience with a rep here is categorized as "ok". I dunno if it is ATT policy but I noticed that none of the reps had their phones on them. Like the OP stated this rep went and got his out of a drawer. I would think that as part of the agreement with Nokia for buying out their existing phone they'd have to at least carry it and flaunt it. It could be though because the accessories aren;t available yet so they dont want to hurt them. Anyways, the rep was nice about the phone, didn't push other devices other than one passing mention that he had come from a SGII.

I've come to the realization that WP7 will never create the zealotry that iOS and 'roid devices do. I think it is because WP7 "just works" and doesn't need reality distortion fields or a kabillion cores and other high specs to get excited about. You aren't going to see reps going gaga over it because it is just a boring dependable OS that does everything without futzing and crashing or having to hold it a certain way.
 

iphone4convert

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I have a theory why some representatives might be hesitant to share their phone with customers. If the representative is using the phone as their personal device, and it has live tiles, e-mail, messages and photos, what happens if some of the stuff is very personal and they don't want a stranger poking around their "stuff". Considering some of the "stuff" I have on my phone, I love all of you here on WP Central, but I wouldn't want you poking around my phone. Does this theory make sense to anyone?
 

LaNiQuE

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I went into a store last Sat. and a rep had one in fact he was listening to music on it and took it out his pocket and let me play with it he told me a little about it but since i said i had already preorded it dont think he was in selling mode the next day i went to a at&t booth and met probably the coolest at&t rep he told me he wasnt a corprate rep and thats why he didnt get a Lumia 900 for free but as we talked to each other and realized both of us knew what we were talkin about he thought i should sell phones and i thought it was a bit wrong that a guy who had the focus since it came out and knows all about WP doesnt have the device in his hand he's a guy who could probably sell anyone this phone we need more reps like him so all and all i would say keep going into diffirent stores cause im sure you'll find someone thats very enthusiastic about this phone
 

krayziehustler

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I have a theory why some representatives might be hesitant to share their phone with customers. If the representative is using the phone as their personal device, and it has live tiles, e-mail, messages and photos, what happens if some of the stuff is very personal and they don't want a stranger poking around their "stuff". Considering some of the "stuff" I have on my phone, I love all of you here on WP Central, but I wouldn't want you poking around my phone. Does this theory make sense to anyone?

I agree. The times I have gotten to play with a Lumia the rep was using it as their corporate phone and had no personal stuff on there.
 

phirefly

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I was shocked when I walked into a Corporate store in Mason OH and a couple of the sales reps had them and one was very excited to show it to me and really tried to sell it. It was nice to see someone, other than myself, actually excited about WP.
 

Nataku4ca

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why do i get the feeling the face change was because the sales rep in the store got the notice to do the training and got lazy and didn't do it, lol... sort of like "ah, ill leave it for tomorrow" then when customers comes in and ask their mind goes "oh crap... what do i say that won't make me look stupid"
 

DocSc00teR

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Just ordered mine at the corporate store in Manassas, Virginia. It was a disappointing experience. The sales rep that greeted me seemed cheerful enough until I mentioned the Lumia 900. (Puzzled look.) You know, the new Nokia phone being released on AT&T this weekend. (Nokia? Oh, I don't think we have that yet. You should check back later.) Actually, I came in to pre-order the phone. (Oh, is that the funny blue one? I heard about that.) Well, I was really hoping to get it in black, but yeah, that's the one. (No, we don't have that.)

Another employee overheard the exchange and actually had that look in her eyes that indicates she knew what I was talking about. I asked if they had any in the store that I could look at, and said again that I wanted to pre-order one. The seemingly aware employee said that no, they didn't have any in the store. Then the original rep mentioned that she thought her co-worker had been using "that funny blue phone." An awkward moment later and the co-worker pulled a Lumia 900 out of her pocket. She handed it to original sales rep... Who proceeded to take the next several minutes figuring out how to turn the phone on (I finally showed her). I asked the phone's owner if she liked it, but she replied that she is really an iPhone user but she guessed it was "okay."

It took a while to finally place my order, mostly because the rep was trying to figure out how to make sure my grandfathered unlimited data plan would convert over to the equivalent LTE plan.

By the way, there were NO displays for the phone. Or Windows phone of any kind. In fact, the demo Windows phones they had on the wall were all conspicuously turned off (in comparison with the iPhone & Android models running eye-catching, colorful demos.
 

chrise2

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I don't ask people technical questions in an electronics store. That's what the Internet is for. The only things I ever ask at a store are:
- I need to by x phone (This is only if I can't order it online or over the phone)
- My phone broke, replace it
- Take me to your screen protectors, cases, whatever random accessory I need right away and can't wait to come in the mail for.

I also only goto actual carrier stores. I've been burned too many times by "authorized retailers" when I was a n00b. Good luck returning anything to an authorized retailer.
 

garbanian

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Weren't they waiting until the release of the phone to start doing all the advertisement? I know I read that on a few sites.

Anywho, I went to an authorized retailer of the phone (ended up cancelling to get the free one online) and the fellow who was there was very excited about the phone! He didn't have one yet, and I didn't even have to ask if he had one, he just kinda stated, actually sounding a bit sad, "Hopefully they'll send me one soon"

This was in a small town near Cleveland Ohio.

That being said, I'm excited to try out a Windows phone, I've never seen anything more than the tiles in pictures so it's a bit of an adventure. I absolutely HATED using my Android for the past year and felt relieved when I cancelled my contract a year early.
 

Curtieson

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- Take me to your screen protectors, cases, whatever random accessory I need right away and can't wait to come in the mail for.

:straight: I am hardly a grammar nazi but it really seems like you threw the 'For" onto the end on purpose.

Weren't they waiting until the release of the phone to start doing all the advertisement? I know I read that on a few sites.

Nope, they aren't... I saw an Intro to the http://www.smartphonebetatest.com/ on TV. Basically the dialog was "Have you had the feeling all your phones for the last 4 years were just a test for something better? It's because they were..." and popped up the Nokia logo and the web address.

This phone is supposed to be the flagship Windows Mobile device with a launch bigger than the iPhone. Yet, the employees don't know much about it, there were no demo phones, only one employee out of 6 had one, and I did not see one lousy piece of collateral or advertisement anywhere in the store.

There were ads throughout the store touting the Windows Mobile OS, but nothing specific about the 900.

Step 1) disconnect WM from WP! Even on the fan sites!!!
 

larrynj

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I went into the store today in Newark De with my son. My goal was simply to see the blue and black so I know which one to get. (there's now no doubt it will be black) What I thought would be a minute or two visit turned into a a 15 minute demo from the rep. He was more than excited, he couldn't stop showing me many of the features. He started with translator, they give them sample menus to demo the feature. After that he really got rolling, starting with the camera he walked around the store snapping pictures saying look how fast this is. I'm sure he caught everyone's attention in the store. He continued with facebook, contacts, office, groups ect. I couldn't have left even if I wanted to. :D When he was done and I thanked him he stopped us as we walked out. Wait check out this text while walking feature, onl;y windows phone has it you must try it. 2 minutes later after we walked around the store texting we left. :)

Being in sales myself I love to see professional's who are having fun while selling.
 

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