GameStop’s suggestive sales technics are annoying to customers and employees alike
When I was an employee suggestive sales was my least favorite part of the job, and customers always seemed annoyed when I had to sell these things to them. I always did my best to find a middle ground to meet the company’s standards and the customer’s expectations of what the customer experience should be like. But by GameStop’s standards this is what an ideal customer visit should look like:
Customer walks in the door, and the employee walks up to customer and says, “Hello how can I help you today”? Customer says, “Oh I am just looking”. Employee replies, “Okay great, just so you know we have this (insert GameStop weekly trade-in promotion or sale tag line) deal going on and here is a flyer to show you everything going on this week.” (Customer either begrudgingly takes flyer or says no thanks) and employee leaves them alone for the time being.
Customer finds a game to purchase and walks up to register. Employee says, “Did you find everything okay?” Customer replies, “Yes thank you.” Employee starts suggestive sales technics (below is ideally what the GS expects you to offer to every customer making a purchase):
- PUR Loyalty Card: “Do you have a Power-Up Rewards Card?” (If customer does, you ask for their phone number or card and if customer doesn’t have one you have to try to sell them one). Employee starts sale, “The Power-Up Rewards card is something I highly recommend, it saves you 10% off all pre-owned games for an entire year, and gives you 10% extra store credit for any games that you trade-in, and in addition to that, you get a year’s worth of Game Informer magazine for only $14.99. Would you like to sign up today?”
- Pre-owned Sales: (If the customer bought a new game) “We have this game in-stock pre-owned for only (insert price that is typically $2.00 to $5.00 cheaper), would you like to buy it pre-owned instead?”
- Reserves: “We are now taking reserves on tons of exciting games coming out later this year, games such as Call of Duty, Assassin’s Creed, and Madden are now available for reserve and they come with bonuses for doing so. Are there any games coming out this year that you would like to pre-order?”
- Game Play Guarantee (GPG): “Would you like a warranty on your game (also known as a GPG) for only $3.00? It will cover your disc for a year in case it gets scratched.”
- Customer Survey: “If you could when you get a chance, please take our customer service survey and tell us how I did today.” (Employee highlights area of receipt that tells customer how to take the survey.)
- Trade-ins (if customer didn’t trade in anything): “One last thing before you go, if you have any games or devices at home that you don’t use anymore you can get cash or store credit if you bring them in to GameStop. Thank you, have a great day!”