Reply With QuoteI was in Florida looking at some bulovas and this girl came over and said ho I see you already have a bulova,its was a dssd ,she disappeared when I told her,I don't like dealing with people who don't no what there talking about,
In the Harrods watch room this afternoon I was admiring the Breguet Tradition models for a while, a sales person wanders over and the first thing she said was 'Do you like those? Breguet are a top make as they don't make quartz watches'.
I was in Florida looking at some bulovas and this girl came over and said ho I see you already have a bulova,its was a dssd ,she disappeared when I told her,I don't like dealing with people who don't no what there talking about,
Er, ...Originally Posted by mk1974
DSSD (deep sea sea-dweller) Im thinking
Yes, I got that bit.
You don't no what you are talking about!😄
Its me who never got it Tinker, but I think you worked that one out yourselfYes, I got that bit.
Ill just go back to where i came from
I Know you dont spell 'KNOW' using just two letters but Im sorry to have upset you anyway RAJEN
In Selfridges a little while back:
"Do you have any Omega watches?"
"Sorry, what?"
"Omega"
"Never heard of it. We only do well known brands here."
"Welcome. We are a Rolex main agent, chosen because we know most about the brand and are the best placed to serve you. Only buying from us can guarantee that you will get a genuine watch. Please, get yourself and your wife a bit tipsy with this free glass of champagne so that we can ingratiate ourselves and embarrass you by encouraging the lady to feel entitled to all the watches we put on her wrist in the next thirty minutes."
It's in the training manual, I'm told.
Last edited by Haywood_Milton; 11th January 2016 at 00:02.
Were you enquiring after Ohm'guh or OhMEEEgur?
Somehow find it hard to believe!
Incredible, yes, but absolutely true.
I tried Ohm'guh first time, which is my preferred pronunciation, then tried OhMEEEgur second time, a la Bond to Vesper in Casino Royale, thinking she might be more familiar with that option from (possibly) having seen the movie. Neither registered.
I have learned to live with it.
As someone interested in watches, we probably have unrealistic expectations.
Recently was at Tourneau in NY to pick up the blue Pelagos and decided to have a little fun.
The poor sales assistant (my regular) had come in on his day off just to give me the Pelagos.
I showed him the older version in black and the new Pelagos in blue and I told him this was a test. I asked him if he knew what the differences were other than the color. And, he had no clue until
I made him aware. And, this is a senior sales associate.
I don't feel superior knowing the details as we do and don't think any less of them for not knowing.
These are sales people often working on commissions and not great salaries.
I actually felt sorry for the guy as his wife who worked as a dental assistant was about to lose her job as the practice was being sold.
Agreed. It's just a job to get through for some. We can't expect ALL of them to share the same passion or experience. As long as there IS someone with knowledge and experience on site that they can refer up the line to.
Last edited by groyn; 11th January 2016 at 00:20. Reason: Typo
All I am looking for is lack of typical aggressive sales tactics and sleaziness.
Lack of knowledge or experience I can deal with.
I would hope that they would be taught/trained to have a greater knowledge about what they are hoping to sell.
Once, buying copper pipe in Wickes the sales assistant said 'is that chrome tubing'? Ridiculous the store doesn't teach them basic stuff like this.
Last edited by Kingstepper; 11th January 2016 at 00:36.
I've got to be honest - the lack of knowledge (and I mean really basic knowledge) exhibited by salespeople really irritates me. I'm not really interested in cars, but if I was selling cars I'd make sure I learned at least the specs, read the reviews, had an informed opinion - and I'd have to do that to find the job interesting. It just really bugs me - and the staff I meet in jewellers must have the lowest 'price of goods to knowledge' factor you can find. Can you imagine a car dealer not knowing the difference between diesel and petrol or automatic and manual, what ABS is or if the car they're selling you is 2 wheel or 4 wheel drive? - ok maybe a daft comparison, but most of the salespeople you meet in jewellers (most, not all) are totally, ludicrously, scarily, laughably and embarrassingly clueless about the product you are interested in. Praise the internet for shopping that allows me not to have to listen to their drivel and Ill informed lies. There, I feel better now.......
Usually a dealership sells only
One brand of cars with a few models.
A watch store can have several brands and far more models.
So, the car analogy is a little unfair.
Ok the analogy is a little unfair, but how can they fail to at least find out the difference between quartz and mechanical, a chronograph and a chronometer, a dial and a bezel - or how to remove a springbar out the back without gouging the caseback and lugs? - and learn a few brand and model names, an idea of trends and what's selling well whilst your at it? - not exactly rocket science is it?
I would like more product knowledge, that said the guy you dealt with came in specially to serve you so top marks for customer service
I went in to my local Chisholm Hunter and tried on a few Bremont models they had recently started stocking... I was quite surprised that the sales lady noticed the Fastrider I was wearing and commented on my 'lovely Tudor' before I'd even had a chance to take it off. Considering that branch wasn't a Tudor dealer, I was quite impressed.
When discussing the relative prices in Europe:
"You wouldn't want to buy a watch from Greece or Italy would you"
Why not?!
Ant
This is a sensible, realistic expectation.
With 85 staff (many of whom now need to be legally conversant with consumer credit law, FCA PRIN / CONC, TCF etc), trying to cover the full range of jewellery matters means that i can never expect all to be specialists even though we deal with a very limited number of brands. At best there might be 10-15 who could hold their own with even a small amount of forum-member chatter. A similar number might be specialists in other areas while everyone else is trying to work their way up with greater or lesser success!
It is important to realise that members of all watch fora combined comprise less than 1% of the buying public and a quite unrepresentative one at that. They set a good target, of course!
Haywood
Often said on here about Italy.
I've never worked on commission but I thought this would be motivation to understand your products better? But then again if we are indeed such a tiny percentage of buyers and we're the only ones listening to it then most likely a waste of their time.
I think this is why brand boutiques are becoming prevalent, certainly in London - they are able to train their staff to know the products as they only stock one brand - the car analogy then becomes relevant.
In Chopard, Breguet and Blancpain on Bond St, I have received information and education which is very nice. In Watches of Swizz, Selfridges or Harrods... not so much. In fact, not at all.
But then I wouldn't buy anything without having done a huge amount of research myself anyway so the salesperson is simply there to show me things, direct me towards a mirror and strike a deal with.
I am sometimes pleasantly surprised about the knowledge some mainstream ADs have. First to mind would be the guys at Ernest Jones in Kingston. The manager Farrokh in particular knows everything, and I mean literally everything about the stock he carries, technical details, new developments etc. I sometimes go in there just for a chat one geek to another.
I would say those guys stand apart from other ADs. I have also often been impressed at just how much the guys at Blowers know about watches compared to the competition - as an example I sold my Speedmaster Silver Snoopy to Watchfinder and when I took it into their Burlington Arcade location for the deal to be concluded the chap didn't even know what the watch was!
I do agree with that in general, especially for the independent retailers.
But I can't help but feel with a company the size of Harrods where a sales assistant won't generally have extra responsibilities, that the sales staff should have a better level of knowledge.
My personal feeling is that if you are taking money for doing a job then you should be making the effort to be the best you can be at that job and for me knowledge is a big part of that, especially when you are dealing with items of the complexity and value of high end watches.
I cant' argue with that nor would I wish to, but we must also be conscious that there are MANY shoppers (dare I suggest largely female?) who are much more likely to buy if the assistant is chic, polished and attentive --- and can give an opinion on whether the strap goes with her skin-tone or summer wardrobe. This sort of buyer is far more common than those showing the level of interest that forum members might have. The knowledgable sales-person may in fact be less likely to sell to these clients.
H
Most shop assistants I have dealt with have either been ok(ish) with some knowledge, a few have learned a thing or two from me, the odd couple have basically been over made up eye candy.
But one, and only one was a young chap, younger than me, in Ernest Jones many years ago.
I popped in to take a look at the McQueen re-issue back in '05, he clocked (see what I did there?) that I was wearing an original pre-chronometer Breitling Blackbird, i think he actually funned his pants, asked to have a look, as he's heard of them but never seen one. We spent a pleasant half an hour over coffee discussing the watch and others in my collection at the time................................... never did buy the Tag.
Ha-ha, that's the problem with us forum types. All that knowledge and half an hour's chat from the assistant but it was for nought, while the air-head dolly with the legs on counter three took £5,000 from Mrs. Partridge, who thinks it so kind that the shop sends her flowers each year a month before her birthday.
H
And there it is, the above knows how to sell someone something. Irrelevant of in depth technical product knowledge, they gauge the person, appeal to their likes. Sure some product knowledge does help, but not WIS levels of nerdiness. As H has said that would turn most buyers off, as many buy the high end watches as part of a 'lifestyle' and would rather be chic, then a geek
There again, I wouldn't expect an assistant in a lower end store such as Samuels or Hinds to know much about watches, but if I was buying an expensive watch from a high-end store, I would expect the assistant to know something about what they want me to pay £x000 for. After all, isn't the reason we are supposed to use ADs as opposed to anonymous internet sites the enhanced buying experience? For a physical retailer to survive in these days of internet transactions, they have to offer something more - especially for higher end products. And if the sales people are just plain ignorant or unhelpful, I'll stick to the net, or buy something else.
Its to do with Asymmetrical information - as others have said, let's say you are a fan of a particular brand or even a specific watch in a specific brand - it's unrealistic to expect someone in a shop selling multiple brands to know very much about all of them - especially if you were researching it further prior to going to the shop.
It's horses for courses isn't it? It's pretty rare I go to a watch shop without knowing broadly what I want - and its all down to price, I don't give a crap about the 'buying experience' although obviously many do.
Last edited by Alansmithee; 11th January 2016 at 13:13.
Most ADs I have visited also sell a lot of ladies jewellery from Pandora up, and most sales assistants (and most are female) in these places are more clued up on that than the watches.
I usually try to deal with the watch manager.
Honestly, I find that when buying nearly anything I know more about the product than the person trying to sell it to me...
I don't, I'll have to admit, have a very high regard for sales people, on the whole (There are exceptions, before anyone takes offence).
Helpfulness and a lack of BS is what I look for - On the odd occasion I get the two, there's a high chance I'll buy!
M.
You are not wrong and perhaps I was over generalising,
but a level of knowledge (in a fine watch department) that thinks "Breguet are a top make as they don't make quartz watches" is genuinely quite worrying to me.
I previously worked in sales and agree 100% that being too technical with some customers will put them off, but the reverse can also be true which is why I think it is important to treat each customer as an individual while retaining the knowledge so that it can be used when required.
One of the reasons I left the multiple I used to work for was their insistence that all customers had to be approached with the same greeting and that during the sale you had to (without exception) try and sell up or link another item to the sale. Indeed sales training took priority over any technical training.
I read that at the high end of the market, the buying 'experience' is absolutely crucial- price ceases to matter when you can afford everything! Obviously I don't speak from personal experience - price is too damned important for me!!!
I guess - of course the flip to all of this is when you go in and you know what you want to buy but you have to wait ages because the person in front of you is boring the staff to death with his detailed knowledge of spring bars from 1975.
Ive told this story before, but I had a sales assistant repeatedly pressing the red button on the new PloProf looking at the dial waiting for something to happen .......
I attended an MBA introduction day a good number of years ago...one of the sales and marketing lecturers was a PP fan and gave us a talk on his experiences 'dating' a PP watch over a period of years. He also gave a great example the excellent experience he had with a PP sales assistant who managed to convince him that the watch he eventually purchased was excellent value on the leather strap compared to the bracelet.
Off topic, but he also concluded his talk by telling telling us that we had a choice, invest in our future via an MBA programme or use the same money to purchase a PP...... :)
If the watch is already here, that makes no sense and is a comment born of your standard common-or-garden stupidity. However, buying a watch from Italy in particular can be risky, as its postal system is famously bent, with far more reports of high-value items going walkabout (on the way in as well, which is why private sellers often refuse to ship there) than other countries.
...but what do I know; I don't even like watches!
Why is this remark so distressing to you?
At the highest end of the market the retailers tend to come to you. Cartier, for example, sell most of their limited edition pieces of jewellery (not watches, I accept) away from prying eyes in the hotel rooms of St. Moritz, St-Paul de Vence, Dubai and Tokyo. If you are a good friend of the brand, they'll travel and work around your schedule.
SGR
Owns a Breguet? Thin skin? Laughable 1st-world-problem purview? Who knows.
There's a good example of the crap that some customers come up with on another page 1 thread.
Also bear in mind that on several shopkeeper forums right now, there's a thread about the garbage that unlikeable, know-all, supercilious, point-scoring customers come up with in the attempt to win their stupid, tiny little battles.
...but what do I know; I don't even like watches!
To me it shows a real lack of understanding and or training about watches and brands, to me this should be very basic stuff for anyone selling watches.
Especially coming from someone who could, working in Harrods could be selling things like AP, Richard Mille or even MB&F I don't have 100k to spend on a watch but if I did I would certainly want the seller to know about the watch.
Most watch buyers lack the knowledge of forum members and are trusting the salesperson to be the expert for them so sweeping incorrect statements like that help no one.
If top brands don't do quartz watches then Omega, Rolex, Audemars Piguet, Jaeger LeCoultre, Cartier, F P Journe and Patek Philippe could not be good watches by that reasoning.
It could be that the customer wanted a watch that keeps very accurate time and that they don't have to fiddle around with to set the time and wind because they only wear it at weekends. in which case a quartz watch could make more sense.
Last edited by animalone; 11th January 2016 at 16:33.
Rolex don't make quartz watches, not since the Oysterquartz was discontinued. The other sure, especially ladies models, so they can be thinner, more suited to the dainty wrist of ladies who lunch, and don't work for a living
It's not just what they say....
I had a girl stab at some buttons on a JLC world timer thingy in white gold. When things froze a bit she said she'd get one of the techies up to show me how it worked if I was "really" interested in the watch. Funny enough I was no longer interested in "that" watch.
I had a lad in another shop show me how "easy" it was to change and adjust the bracelet on an IWC diver while scratching the bejesus out of it.
I sometimes wonder if they are still there knocking thousands off the value of the stock.
Last edited by gray; 11th January 2016 at 16:40.
Gray
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