I used to go to phone retail stores with a disturbing regularity.
It was always interesting to look at new phones and ask salespeople what they really, really feel about those phones.
COVID-19 has somewhat curtailed my forays into the outside world. This hasn’t, however, stopped carrier store employees from getting in touch and, well, telling it how they see it.
Today, let’s listen to Gordon — not his real name, for very good reasons — who recently left his job at a Verizon store after being, in his words, “in the top 1% of the company for multiple years in sales.”
Gordon contacted me in a particular spirit. He told me: “I’m not a disgruntled ex-employee but someone who legitimately believes that people are being ripped off just because they don’t know any better.”
It sounded like there was some vehemence attached here. So I asked Gordon to explain.
“The company is directing employees to only offer a $17 a month insurance offer called Verizon Protect,” he said. “This is a product that is made up of a bunch of individual products sold as a package. If someone wants coverage on their phone for lost or stolen stuff, there is an option for $6.85 a month. However, it was forbidden by leadership for retail employees to offer this to customers.”
This sounds a touch peculiar. There’s a product you have, but you don’t want customers to know about?
Gordon believes the more expensive product isn’t so good: “Verizon Protect includes features like Tech Coach, which is a third-party technical support line that’s absolutely horrible.”
Well, yes, but upselling is part of the game, isn’t it? The company wants to make more money, so it gets salespeople to push the more expensive items.
Offer You Service? That Could Cost Us.
It was another aspect highlighted by Gordon that made me stop and wonder about the meaning of (commercial) existence.
Gordon explained that previously it had been possible to make “fairly attractive money” by “behaving with dignity and without pushing customers into items they don’t need.”
But then came COVID-19.
“During COVID, they decided to make the commission a team model,” he said. “They also took out upgrades as a form of compensation altogether.”
Instead, explained Gordon, in order to get commission salespeople had to either sell new lines or accessories, watches, tablets, and insurance. There was a new, third way to qualify for commission.
“They also added in a new component that directly affected commission — based off of customer satisfaction surveys,” said Gordon. “If you open an account, the customer got a survey. If that customer gave you an eight or below that would lower the pay for…
Read More: An ex-Verizon employee explains why it’s not worth helping customers