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I think the newest bunch are leaning towards the Chaos Spawn route. I've noticed them turn on each other, guilt each other into buying more because of poor sales for the day.

Quixote wrote:I think the newest bunch are leaning towards the Chaos Spawn route. I've noticed them turn on each other, guilt each other into buying more because of poor sales for the day.

Damn...

They are indeed very variable. I'm sure we've all met the ones doing the hard sell. Lets not apologise for these tactics, yes they are sales people makes a sales pitch under the guise of hobby talk but often it gets to the point of uncomfortable pestering that makes me want to avoid the place. If I skip a visit to GW it's usually for this reason.

I've met good staff too, and usually they are good to talk to when the place is quiet on a weekday, forget busy weekends. I've met a few that have talked genuinely about the hobby and about the older games, even stuff I had little experiance of like Call of Cthulhu. He was a real gamer and hobbyist, and you know what? He got a sale out of me, I had been toying with getting some Steel Legion and he dug around and got me a box and some other stuff, strewth I dropped nearly £50 without planning to spend. Others of the 'good' sort talk about painting and modelling with you, engage you as a person rather than a mere a target for sales, and make you feel welcome. I have felt they are more forthright and honest rather than disingenuous in their hobby conversation with you. I can't give examples, but you can usually gauge a person's motives and genuine enthusiasm in a converstation simply by body language.

Sadly I don't think the "good" sort last very long, GW seem to have a high turn over in staff but many of the "good" ones I've only seen once yet they are the very ones that have got sales out of me.

I'm not a fool, the way you are engaged by the "good" sort is still part of the customer-sales service. It's just directed in a different manner, to make you feel comfortable about browsing and make an atmosphere conducive to buying things.

Maybe some of us are just too old for GW, their sales pitch is aimed at excitable kids looking to quickly part with their money and the "hard-sell" works on them and their parents but when you get a bit older that kind of crude suggestion to buy things is merely irritating and staff are incapable or prevented from handling people in any other way. Look at bookshops the absolute other end of the specrum. These are places where usually mature individuals tend to shop, the worst thing you could do is pounce on them at the door and try to hard-sell something, most people would run off. An atmosphere for quiet browsing with knowledgeable staff is the way to sell goods here because that's what works for the majority of customers.

This is what is better on a personal basis for us slightly more mature sorts and experianced collectors/gamers, but I would guess that the generally higher sales achieved through applying the "hard sell" tactics on a wide basis more than makes up for any collateral damage through the loss of sales to the likes of me. And that's why they do it.

Last time I told them I refuse to buy mini's because of the stupid price's but come to check out the Codex's for art. 8)

EDIT: Oops, nope, last time I told them I only buy mini's online because its half price. I love messing with those guys. Then I bought some white paint.
They didn't like that.

OoieGoie wrote:Last time I told them I refuse to buy mini's because of the stupid price's but come to check out the Codex's for art. 8)

EDIT: Oops, nope, last time I told them I only buy mini's online because its half price. I love messing with those guys. Then I bought some white paint.
They didn't like that.

Well done sir! Clearly such witty repartee as that with a minimum wage drone will have your knighthood for services to comedy in the post anytime this week! I bet you showed them, eh! And doesn't that warm feeling you get inside you when perform such acts of hilarity make it all worthwhile?

Leigen_Zero wrote:The staff at GW Swansea are pretty sound, never pushy involving sales and I've never seen them be 'unfair' with respect to selling more to a new starter than necessary, although they do occasionally try to get me to buy some GW superglue (but that's because mine is A: rubbish, and B: causes mild burns if you drip a load on your skin ) They know what they are doing, and always happy to offer advice

To be fair I don't think it's the staff at GW stores that are the problem with the company currently, it's those in finances etc that have had to slap the place around a bit to get it functioning efficiently as a business.

Hah, trying to work out who you are Leigen_Zero but yea, the guys from Swansea have always been ace, of course they do the sales pitch, but they know what I'll come in and spend at least a good £50 or more on. They treat their vets well as they know its their vets who spend the most - not the £20 or £40 starter-gamer.

It's annoying sometimes that people express their opinions too much on how annoying the GW Sales Staff are, these guys are just doing their jobs - we all have to do that, but once you get past that sales bit you find that the other person is actually interested in the same thing as you hobby wise, then maybe music and other interests...

You can't generally classify all the GW's in one class of human. My usual store has employees that are very nice and helpful, and the only sales pitch i've heard was one about the vindicator vs the predator tanks. I visited my friend and we went to different gw shop and the employees were like vultures. Right when i entered and they assumed me for a beginner the tried placing a fortress of redemption and a necron battleforce in my hands in about 30 seconds. They would snap at me whenever i asked a question and when i refused to buy the battleforce (with good reason since i don't even own a necron army) they would constantly ask me why not start a new army and so on. I'm glad i didn't go to that shop when i was a naive little initiate to the world known as warhammer 40k

The Ghoma wrote:You can't generally classify all the GW's in one class of human. My usual store has employees that are very nice and helpful, and the only sales pitch i've heard was one about the vindicator vs the predator tanks. I visited my friend and we went to different gw shop and the employees were like vultures. Right when i entered and they assumed me for a beginner the tried placing a fortress of redemption and a necron battleforce in my hands in about 30 seconds. They would snap at me whenever i asked a question and when i refused to buy the battleforce (with good reason since i don't even own a necron army) they would constantly ask me why not start a new army and so on. I'm glad i didn't go to that shop when i was a naive little initiate to the world known as warhammer 40k

I don't appreciate the way they speak to women either. They assume every women that walks into the shop is buying presents for their boyfriend or child and patronise them by asking if they know what paints are. Ok that's a little exaggeration but if I go into a shop with my wife they nearly always talk to me first and blank her.

Ketara wrote:

OoieGoie wrote:Last time I told them I refuse to buy mini's because of the stupid price's but come to check out the Codex's for art. 8)

EDIT: Oops, nope, last time I told them I only buy mini's online because its half price. I love messing with those guys. Then I bought some white paint.
They didn't like that.

Well done sir! Clearly such witty repartee as that with a minimum wage drone will have your knighthood for services to comedy in the post anytime this week! I bet you showed them, eh! And doesn't that warm feeling you get inside you when perform such acts of hilarity make it all worthwhile?

*ahem* check his age on profile Ketara...

Ah. Explains a lot.

The redshirts are in an unfortunate position.

They join GW to work where there hobby is. only to find out they are there to run demos, cram product down people's throats, and paint for the store. But that is hardly different from a gamestop or other specialty retailer that has pre-orders and trade-ins etc.