"Nobody buy's a Windows Phone"

[justin_b]

"Nobody buys a Windows Phone"

I walked into an AT&T store yesterday looking to try the Samsung Focus since I had never used the Windows Phone UI. I walked around for a minute or two looking for any WP7 devices and I could not find one. A employee finally emerged from the back room and I asked if he had any WP7 phones that I might be able to try out. He looked completely confused and proceeded to go grab an unopened Focus.

Just as I was about to touch the screen for the first time he said "nobody buys a Windows Phone". I didn't even get a chance to ask why when he started blurting out all kinds of Android keywords like "more apps" and "larger screens". It was obvious why he had been in the back room; he was snorting Android by the handfuls. He wouldn't stop and finally after he ran out of air(about 4 minutes later) he ran into the back room and grabbed the new Samsung Infuse 4G to try and further entice me into buying an Android phone.

It all just seemed a little too staged to me. I'm not claiming Google is paying AT&T employees to push devices with their OS on them but what gives? Most people would assume because the guy works for AT&T that he must know what he's talking about and those people would never even have the chance to experience the other choices out there and that is just wrong.

I finally got a chance to play with the Focus and I loved it instantly. The UI just feels right, and the AMOLED screen is stunning.

 

[jalb]

I wonder if they have internal goals/contests, and the like. Like maybe they dont officially get a better bump for selling an iphone or Android phone, but I could see a store manager having contests internally for whomever can sell the most <insert device>.

 

[jimski]

And AT&T is sending people to BestBuy stores to train them in how to sell Windows Phones. What am I missing here.

Sent from my HTC Surround using Board Express

 

[Duvi]

First off, congrats on an awesome device choice and welcome to WPC!

There have been a few threads and posts on this topic and not until this post did I finally come up with a big reason why employees may choose to try and sell Android over Windows Phone!

Tethering! I actually was texting one of my homeboys who works for AT&T and remembered while reading this thread that he even tried selling me the tethering plans for the Atrix I purchased. Lmao. Since there isn't any tethering on WP yet (officially), there is no chance in selling those plans to a customer who gets a WP.

Accessories! There are more accessories for Android devices because of their popularity.

These two reasons are big factors because they make a lot off commissions with rate plans, features, new activations, upgrades and accessories.

When I purchased my atrix, I realized why my boy was so hot for me to buy one... he ended up winning one! He sold the most. Guess how many? 2! Lmao. Heck, he sold that many Windows Phones to me as I bought my Focus and the Quantum for my nephew.

 

[Kibosh]

A friend of mine had got the same experience here in Belgium when he went out for his HTC Trophy. The salesman also tried pushing an Android device with no luck...

 

[foosball]

Of course there is the money component but after seeing this same scenario play out at various stores across all carriers it doesn't seem to just be the money which is driving Android.

Android exploded in 2009 as the long awaited alternative for those who wanted an iPhone or at least another smartphone experience. It does offer alot in terms of functionality and specs and the public doesn't seem to care too much about its inherent UI design flaws. It quickly was adopted as the defacto smartphone platform relative to the iPhone. Especially since most of the other carriers couldn't push the iPhone they had to have something to push to remain competitive.

Now if you are a salesman and everyody who has walked in your door for the last 2 years has purchased either an iPhone or Android phone what do you associate with your bread and butter? And on top of it you as a salesman probably own one of these 2 phones so your experience, preference, and perspective is entirely skewed by your phone choice.

This is essentially the sales environment that WP7 is up against and MS is going to have to change this dynamic if it wants to compete.

 

[Kibosh]

On top of that, if you go to the normal cellphone review sites, it's all about Android these days. It's like everyday a new android device come's out. It won't be untill Mango puts WP7 besides the others in terms of functionality, WP7 can sell more.

And there are off course the smaller items that need to be fixed. Being able to do all the same as Android or the iPhone is not enough. It has to do these things also better.

We have to face it, at this time, the only thing that WP7 is better at, is the simplicity of the OS (in my eyes that is big) and the smooth operations. In terms of functionality WP7 is lagging behind. I guess I can understand the salesman not pushing WP7. When you read the review sites, they also are pushing Android phones, if we can call that pushing off course.

Being said, WP7 has a bright future, it will all depend on MS themself.

 

[cdook]

Any idea if this was at a corporate store or an authorized retailer? From what I noticed authorized retailers only buy what they think will sell and try to push the older cheaper Android phones on people. When I went to a Verizon authorized retailer they were trying to sell me a year old LG Android rather than showing me the (new at the time) Droid X.

Congrats on the phone choice. I've had a Focus for 4 months now and love it. It's a lot more of a PC replacement than my BlackBerry.

 

[canesfan625]

dumb salesman. Larger screens = less battery life and android already sucks on that front, and android may have more apps but like 199,000 of them are all worthless trash. I use to spend quite a bit of time scrolling pass rip off alarm clock number 200 or pointless app number 700 etc

 

[jimski]

We have to face it, at this time, the only thing that WP7 is better at, is the simplicity of the OS (in my eyes that is big) and the smooth operations. In terms of functionality WP7 is lagging behind.

Gee, I don't know. XBox Live integration and Zune Pass are two features you cant find on any other platform. And then you have Live Tiles and integrated Facebook. Point is, there are enough special features available today, aside from the missing expected features, to draw users to WP. Isn't that why we all have a Windows Phone (well except for Verizon customers, but hopefully very soon).

Sent from my HTC Surround using Board Express

 

[emark858]

The ATT store I went to, 3 out of 4 employees there (including the store manager) were using Windows Phone personally.

 

[Devilstar]

^ I had the same experience in my Corp sprint store... An auth dealer in the mall though is full of Android fanbois

 

[disposed]

My sister in law LOVES my arrive and she went in to buy one only to have the salesman talk her out of it with misinformation and ignorance. This was a corporate sprint store too.

So she walked out empty handed. What kind of moron salesman does this? Had he just grabbed the phone and kept his mouth shut he would have had the easiest sale of the day...

Fanbois are on all carriers.

 

[jimski]

The ATT store I went to, 3 out of 4 employees there (including the store manager) were using Windows Phone personally.

That's the best news I heard all week.

Sent from my HTC Surround using Board Express

 

[1jaxstate1]

My brother just got his HD7. He's in love. I seen rumors that at&t is about to start a big wp7 push.

Sent from my Samsung Focus using Board Express

 

[Winterfang]

To be honest as a salesman I'll probably push the things that are easier to sell. It's hard to sell a Windows Phone so you won't want to waste your energy trying to get somebody to buy a phone when they might say no.

It's much easier to just push android/ Iphone for easy sales.

 

[foosball]

To be honest as a salesman I'll probably push the things that are easier to sell. It's hard to sell a Windows Phone so you won't want to waste your energy trying to get somebody to buy a phone when they might say no.



It's much easier to just push android/ Iphone for easy sales.

Hard to sell a Windows phone? Aside from the smoothest mobile OS on the market, live tiles, best looking OS available and the fastest growing app store ever, what else is hard to sell?

 

[wolf1891]

To be honest as a salesman I'll probably push the things that are easier to sell. It's hard to sell a Windows Phone so you won't want to waste your energy trying to get somebody to buy a phone when they might say no.

It's much easier to just push android/ Iphone for easy sales.

as an experienced salesman myself I would say that there is only SOME truth to what you say. Push the things that are easier to sell is the lazy way out for a salesperson and generally only applies when you have a customer that doesn't know what they want, just that they have to have "SOMETHING NEW". But, I suspect that a large % of WP7 buyers are coming into the store looking specifically for a WP7 phone, in which case the "easy" sell is to show the customer what they are already asking for and let them sell themselves. Trying to switch a WP7 customer to Android or iPhone is likely to just piss them off and make them leave without buying anything (same basic rule applies to all of the major smartphone O/S's). Why would it be hard to sell a WP7 phone to someone who is specifically asking for it?

In my experience, the easy sale is the one where I take the time to talk to the customer, find out what they really want/need, show them the options available (without bias), and let them make the right choice for themselves. Is it as quick as shoving the model down their throat that has an extra spiff on it because the mgr ordered too many and we're overstocked? Probably not, but I tend to not have my customers coming back in a day or two later complaining and/or returning the item they never wanted/don't need but were fast-talked into taking anyways (unlike many of the other salespeople I have worked with over the years).

 

[eric12341]

if a salesperson ever tries this sh!t on me I'd call them an or a worse equivalent in Spanish and then leave the store.

 

[starblade876]

To be honest as a salesman I'll probably push the things that are easier to sell. It's hard to sell a Windows Phone so you won't want to waste your energy trying to get somebody to buy a phone when they might say no.

It's much easier to just push android/ Iphone for easy sales.

Only problem is it doesn't explain why many seem to be trying dissuade people clearly interested in a WP7 device and persuade them towards Android (e.g., my experience and Disposed's sister's experience). It seems like an easy sale to get someone who's already interested in a device to go for the device (just explain the features). If you give them more options, they'll be less likely to make a decision either way.

This really is a ****** problem.