I am an employee of this company working on the landline side of the company. Recently I was in a Retail Store with my wife upgrading my iPhone. The sales rep was awesome in her job for sure. So after deciding our devices etc she stated she would be back with our phones after she saw a member of management. So when she returned I asked was she in trouble for having to see a manger? She explained to me something called the “ABC” process! I was like really? Your a sale rep but yet you have to see a manger to discuss what we had already discussed and what I needed!! She’s like yes we have to do this regardless of or get a write up! So I am like why are you here as a sales rep if you have to discuss to a manager everything you do and the management is no were around the table during the sales?’! She told all the details! Like really AT&T you do this to sell a phone? But yet we have a CEO that buys DTV, Warner etc and make bad investments! Seem like he needs a good “ABC” himself and learn the sales process!
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Don’t believe it is just AT&T. My area has Verizon stores close to AT&T stores and their parking lot is just as empty. Actually stopped by a Spectrum store and saw the same thing. Seems almost like a game of chicken to see who closes first. Wonder what type of financial justification they are using to keep them open. If the Apple launch and upcoming holiday season doesn’t improve traffic I see a lot of closures or at the least downsizing the store sizes.
its all about documentation. Everything. Management has been told to document everything as it's easier to get rid of someone for something caddy. Then they hire someone new, train them, and go through the whole process over and over and over again. Management is on mandatory conference calls covering the same issues day in and day out. All this with the same results, no improvement. Do you see a common denominator here ? Doing a process with the same mundane sequence of order - knowing the results will be the same. Insanity is putting it mildly. The store experience is the worst I have ever seen in over 10 yrs. And that's not addressing the fact the traffic is down 35% over the last 3 yrs. That's because everyone was taught just like you and I - to purchase goods online, that's all, a sign of the times. But the upper management and the inept ways of managing the business are running it into the ground. We have paper check lists with columns to check off, 4 pages of them, check in the sale with management, get them involved, bring on the hard sale - customers love that. Only to do a lousy upgrade and do all that for 5 bucks. Randall the vandal left us with this.
If the stores were busy like the old days the Mgrs wouldn’t have time to micromanage every possible sale. If they are actually tracking that info (the real responses, not the Mgr covering their behinds) it sounds like a fishing expedition to see what works in that setting. What do they need in a store and how much? Yes they can get a lot of info from sales figures but can they increase that by being proactive? The few corporate stores I have been to lately have little or no business and a lot of empty wasted space.
Ot to me tonight the $4 Billion TMobile fiasco.
Loser leaders sank AT&T, not employees.
This is absolutely correct. We go thru a very weird, clumsy process and then we have to sell the transaction to management before we are allowed to get equipment. It makes the job absolutely impossible.
“ The company wants your to do this online. They're making the store experience worse to encourage you to avoid it.”
Correct.
ABC, it’s a sale process. So when one the reps has talked to the customer and found out all there information for reason of visit., the rep then goes to a member of management and explains the purpose of the customer visit. So for example if the Cust didn’t need tv and Cust says no, the manager is gonna ask you “why not”? If the Cust says no to “insurance” why not? If the Cust says no to accessories and say I can get cheaper on Amazon, it’s the reps fault! And still if the Cust refuses tv service and the customer dosent wanna do demo with the tv, it’s the reps fault! So in short, what the rep has done by going through the sales process, it’s then repeated again to the managment before a sale can continue! Now days it so bad that when a repeat customer comes in, first thing they say is, I am here for a phone, no TV ETC!
Sounds like buying a car.
"what is abc process?"
It precedes the 1-2-3 process. They are both equally easy.
what is abc process?
Then you have people who are in management in retail that were only sales reps less than 6mths and have no clue! Really sad in retail for sure! And people wonder why there’s such a turn over rate or can’t get people to apply !
The company wants your to do this online. They're making the store experience worse to encourage you to avoid it.