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MasterDRD wrote:You see, FLGS's don't have this problem... Which is why when GW wanted to put one of their stores in Minnesota the FLGS's banded together to keep them out. Gotta love 'em!

Now if only that happened in Australia.

Pushy Salesmanship isn't bad as long as he isn't in your face the whole time. Carsalesman nobody minds, so why do people mind the GW dudes?

Cadichan Support wrote:Pushy Salesmanship isn't bad as long as he isn't in your face the whole time. Carsalesman nobody minds, so why do people mind the GW dudes?

Probably because if you're at a car dealership you're looking to buy a car? It's not like they expect you to buy 2 cars, and if you're there without at least a slight interest in buying then you're a nuisance to them.

Ok, didnt want to start a new thread just to vent this, and this topic seems most suited..

I just officially decided that Im rarely going to buy things first hand anymore.

GW have always been a rip-off but I didnt mind cuz I valued the minatures. Now its just disgusting.

I was drawing up an ork armylist last night, and I worked out that I needed 20 orks, 20 gretchin and a truck. Thats £68!?! WTF.

I need more Dark Eldar raiders and I dont want to buy them new cuz the new minatures are coming out soon so I checked ebay, and there was some for like £7, theyre £20 new!? I dont know what theyre playing at but thats just completely stupid.

Itl nearly be worth buying battleforces just for 1 uinit at this rate.

I want to ring them and tell them!

IMHO, I feel having pushy salesmen is better than having bored, uncaring salesmen like the goons over at Gamestop for example.

I do tend to notice that staff at FLGS don't follow you around as much as GW staff but whenever I talked about buying things to build my first Empire army in WHFB he pointed me to things I'd actually need (Empire Battallions, Hobby Starter Kit, Empire Army Book and relevant paints) rather than trying to get me to buy an Eldar 40k set.

But I don't know, I've only been to a GW a few times because it's farther than my FLGS and it was kind of full during those times so maybe they thought some 13 year old kids were easier marks than a grown man.

But anyway, GW's insane price gouging is issue number one for me. Why do they charge more if they're the official shop? Why do indy resellers get better prices?

Guys ever been car shopping? If not, cut your teeth in the GW stores and let those sale people have it! Welcome to retail.

Remember, something only worth what your willing to spend for it. If I/you don't want "it" and they continue to push, ask if they are going to buy "it" for you, cause your not using your money.

This isn't rude. This is the retail environment and a appropriate counter to the upsale approach.

pushy selling in any corporate setting? pfffft...

A smart and i need to emphasize this " successful " sales man , will never leave you feel like he hass pushed you into buying something you dont want.

This isnt about whining of the staff wanting you to buy MORE MOAR and MORE ( MOAR = profit for company! Im not complaining here! ),
its about their lack of training in their "attempt" at pushing sales.

And which often results in something unpleasant. And im pretty sure that it has NOTHING to do witih the customers been socially challenged. What ever the **** it means.

As someone who sold cell phones (on commission) for several years, I can say that if you feel like you're being pushed, that's sloppy salesmanship, not good salesmanship.

These people are obviously amateurs who have been instructed by their manager to upsell as much as possible, and they become very obnoxious. That's the result of not only poor training and inexperienced salespeople but also poor management.

Luna's point above is very much correct. A good salesperson will never make you feel like you've just made a bad purchase. The worst thing that can happen to your commission is buyer's remorse. Even if you have to settle for a smaller commission to keep the customer comfortable and happy with his or her purchase, it's better than the gamble you take when you start pushing.

I've found that if you actually help the customer and get them what they want versus what will make you a few more dollars, they WILL come back and spend more money with you. I had people come back and see me who I'd sold phones to TWO YEARS ago who were up for another upgrade, and wanted to buy their phone from me because I'd helped them last time.

My cousin and I went in there while we were waiting on a flight in Atlanta, and my cousin ended up sleeping with the GW employee's girlfriend, who was painting in the store (I later found out THAT's why he went out to my truck...). Hence, we are not invited back to that store.

I hate it.

It's kind of funny though. you say that your army is already set up and you're just there to play and they usually leave you alone.

Well, I use a bunker store [GW mt Gravatt for anyone who knows it] and I'm a pretty good customer. I've bought more then one big box that made their eyes light up, but I'm moving off onto the discount products. it's just getting to expensive.

Oh my god.

A combat squad costs £15 now?!

....

I remember it being £5.

The GWS I go to rarely asks if I want anything new. In fact, most of the time, the staff is painting, talking about rules, even playing! I love it where I go. Soon we'll be doing a planetary empire campaign(with a bit of pushy selling. You need to buy a battleforce, but I'm fine with that, since I want to start an IG army anyways).

I remember a TAC squad being $35...

Captain Solon wrote:I remember a TAC squad being $35...

Yeah, I remember that too...and the fact that it was a price hike

Newt-Of-Death wrote:Oh my god.

A combat squad costs £15 now?!

....

I remember it being £5.

Is that the 5 man Marine box set? If it is they were indeed £5 around the end of 2004. Yep just checked, that's the fellas. So GW have increased the price 300% since then? I really can't understand how people can still be so blinded to the rip off. I've got a bridge to sell, anybody interested?

Wolfstan wrote:
I've got a bridge to sell, anybody interested?

Is it over swampland?

filbert wrote:A pretty common complaint for GW staff - they are trained and told to aggressively sell, up sell and push new releases.

this must be a UK thing. every GW shop i go into here in canada, it's super chill and laid back. they say 'hey, how you doing?' and leave me to my browsing. but i don't look or act like a typical tabletopper, maybe i intimidate them =P

in fact, my biggest complaint is that they don't stock witch hunters stuff.

Captain Solon wrote:I remember a TAC squad being $35...

I'm not that old, but when I started, they were $30. Granted, the sprues got redone to give me more options, so I'll not complain about that price hike. But the current price for a tactical squad is just stupid.

I was talking to one of the old heads at a LGS I used to/still frequent when I'm in town, and they were talking about the days when you could purchase 2 land raiders for 20 bucks.

Whats funny to me is that these newer kits aren't as expenive as some of the older kits that GW has released. Just look at the Venerable Dread, yes it's $50 but look at the options it comes with, you can almost make 2 models out of it.

When compared to an older kit like the Tactical Squad, it just doesen't seem right. GW seems to be suffering from the Good Idea Fairy syndrome.

hemingway wrote:

filbert wrote:A pretty common complaint for GW staff - they are trained and told to aggressively sell, up sell and push new releases.

this must be a UK thing. every GW shop i go into here in canada, it's super chill and laid back. they say 'hey, how you doing?' and leave me to my browsing. but i don't look or act like a typical tabletopper, maybe i intimidate them =P

in fact, my biggest complaint is that they don't stock witch hunters stuff.

Not over here in Ontario. It's rediculous. The worst was the Oakville battle bunker. It was a nightmare trying to go in there and buy just one model. The one in Burlington is horrid for it as well with half the staff. The other half are laid back, but the one half, it's rediculous trying to buy what you went in there for. Also, I have heard some of the absolute worst advice I had ever heard in my life coming from those two stores. I actually had a GW employee tell me that the White Dwarf Chaos Mortals list for fantasy that was out a couple of years ago when they got rid of the hordes of Chaos list was the best army book they ever had.

The way I get around pushy GW salesclerks is to point out that I own more GW product than they currently sell, and the fact that most of my army is older then they are usually shuts them up very quickly. Then I spend some money on stuff I don't need, and I'm on my way. -A shout out to my RT Era Brothers!!!

To a person first time going to GW yes it would seem pushy, to me going there were almost everyone knows me (employees and customers) the rule book thing is a joke is you laugh at things like that they will quickly learn you are not an impulse buyer. You have to think about it there are a lot of people who buy battle forces in my store, most don't even have price tags, just think the position of the GW worker, war gaming is more of a community then a business, if GW workers seem to pushy you need to learn to put your foot down

Just say you are collecting khador, sometimes you can just smell them fuming!, it's funny!

You did walk into the store yourself, ya know.

When I walk in to Walmart, I dont get a Pusshy Sales Pitchman trying to get me to Buy String Cheese and Cool Whip.

If you are a Regular, they don't get pushy. When I went into GW Dallas, I got the small sales pitch over the Manticore. THAN he asked me if I even played 40k. I said yes, and said that i wanted to get the rulebook. He tryed to get me to grab the AoBR set. I shut him down quickly by Telling him I played guard, and walked over to a table.

I was in the Chicago Bunker Yesterday, and had a guy ask me about what I played. I told him Guard, and than he asked what army I played. I told him Cadians, but highly based of off the Falklands War. He went on to say how he studyed that war in Collage. He asked me what style of Guard I played. I said Air Calv, and he runned over to the valkyries. I toldhim that I wasn't taking Valks, as they didnt fit my Fluff. I said Im using 1/42 scale Super Lynx Helicopters and OH-6 Little Birds. He culred his lip and Walked off.

All of the GWs I've been to have been much more friendly places, and I have never once been suggested a product for purchase.
I've had, for example recently, a GW staffer say, "Hey, we've got a painting competition coming up for the new Daemons release," but he didn't try to sell me the model or anything.

eledamris wrote:My cousin and I went in there while we were waiting on a flight in Atlanta, and my cousin ended up sleeping with the GW employee's girlfriend, who was painting in the store (I later found out THAT's why he went out to my truck...). Hence, we are not invited back to that store.

I don't know if I should say 'Score!' or 'Epic Fail'

I have never had this roblem at the store I go too even though it is now only a one man store. If anything the guy is too nice, e.g a person came in showing their collectors edition rulebook had a damaged spine so the manager gave him a whole new army, another example is the other week I was sent the wrong thing twice by mail order so he gave me a full box of cavalrry to convert it out of.

Epic score.
There is more GWs in the world, but not female wargamers.

My new manager is nice enough, but if I am thinking about buying something (i,e, shadowsword)
he encourages me to buy it, but he never nags me to buy something I don't want.
GW has a big plan about getting us to trust them by slowly bringing up their prices and then quickly bringing them down again, so they seem like they are being nice.
I have a list of these scams somewhere!

Overall most GW staff are not pushy, but there is always that one bloke you just want to drop kick. If you are a regular, then you are generally left alone.

40K is like crack, GW staff are like pushers. Once you are hooked, they raise the price, and you still keep buying it.

Side note, if she was hot, then Epic Score!!!

Yeah, I've never had this problem at my local GW store in Chatty, they're pretty good. Sometimes they feel a little too enthusiastic though, but I reckon that comes from having to deal with little kids all day, and after they calm down and remember they're talking to an adult...(or at least a bigger kid) then they're cool!