Help me BoyCott BestBuy

RawAlex · 2006-02-01, 04:09 PM

bestbuy (and futureshop in Canada) make the mistake of having the extended coverage plans be too big a part of their employee compensation, and by spiking a target for the employees to hit each month for percentage of upsells made on this service.

I worked for 10 years in the car rental business, and one of the most popular CSR motivation programs was a cut of sales on "extras" such as class upsells, insurances, extra driver charges, etc. From a company stand point, encouraging the CSRs to offer these things to clients is a good bottom line choice, especially on things that might not otherwise get charged or forgotten.

However, at a point where the potential sales comissions exceed the salary of the employee, something weird but obvious happens: they become fixated ONLY on the upsell, and forget about the basic concept of the business (actually renting cars and making clients happy that they rented the car). You will actually see employees fighting to get shifts where more tourists come in (and less business travellers) because they know business men don't typically take extras. You will see them try to arrange breaks, days off, and such around the flow of the best potential upsells. Infighting and griping starts as a result.

In the end, the regular clients (weekly business travellers) get poor service, the one off tourist gets his or her ass kissed, and the business overall suffers.

Bestbuy and others have followed this to the nth degree, and have allowed the pursuit of upsells get in the way of basic customer service and actually just selling the product to the client who wants it.

Alex

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2006-02-01, 04:09 PM	#31
RawAlex Took the hint. Join Date: Mar 2003 Posts: 5,597	bestbuy (and futureshop in Canada) make the mistake of having the extended coverage plans be too big a part of their employee compensation, and by spiking a target for the employees to hit each month for percentage of upsells made on this service. I worked for 10 years in the car rental business, and one of the most popular CSR motivation programs was a cut of sales on "extras" such as class upsells, insurances, extra driver charges, etc. From a company stand point, encouraging the CSRs to offer these things to clients is a good bottom line choice, especially on things that might not otherwise get charged or forgotten. However, at a point where the potential sales comissions exceed the salary of the employee, something weird but obvious happens: they become fixated ONLY on the upsell, and forget about the basic concept of the business (actually renting cars and making clients happy that they rented the car). You will actually see employees fighting to get shifts where more tourists come in (and less business travellers) because they know business men don't typically take extras. You will see them try to arrange breaks, days off, and such around the flow of the best potential upsells. Infighting and griping starts as a result. In the end, the regular clients (weekly business travellers) get poor service, the one off tourist gets his or her ass kissed, and the business overall suffers. Bestbuy and others have followed this to the nth degree, and have allowed the pursuit of upsells get in the way of basic customer service and actually just selling the product to the client who wants it. Alex