Fotograffiti said:
I am interested in DirecTV but am confused about everyone getting different deals from them. They offer one thing to one person and not to the other. They have deals that they give to people based on how many calls you make and how good of a day the CSR is having. I did call a few times to different numbers about the free HD-DVR, and got responses varying from "I don't know what you are talking about" to "That is just for people who are current NFL Ticket subscribers". Even though I have read stories of brand new signups getting that deal.
Everyone seems to have accepted this as the way it is but it seems like a shady way of doing business.
There really isn't much to be confused about if you learn about human nature and how things work. Go out and hire 100 people and you'll get good, dedicated ones and ones that suck as well and then some "in between." Also, all 100 people won't be equal because some will be assistant managers or a higher level salesman than the other. Some people are just there to collect a paycheck while others care about their job and may have more flexibility to make a sale than others.
Is it a shady way to do business? Yes, but almost every company in the world does the same thing which is a lack of training. Companies won't spend the money to train people right. I would spend the money with my business but I put quality before profit which is rare. Then if you hire a turd then no amount of money or training will do any good. Most business models are profits first and try to get away with whatever they can without it hurting the bottom line too much. Quality is a distant priority to most. Good people are hard to find and DTV and E* aren't willing to pay what it would cost to get quality like many of the fine members here to work for them.
Quality in the long run will win you more business and money than trying to be cheap. People like to be treated well and good experiences will reap you repeat business while sour experiences may cost you a customer for life. My pet peeve is the pizza business. Here, you have some morons who think they are saving a dime by skimping on the toppings (especially sauce) when in fact if the pizza sucks then I won't be back again for at least 6 months. Hello, Wake up! Give me a good pizza and spend that dime then perhaps I'll do business with you two or three times a month instead of you saving that one dime by cheating me out of a good product thus losing my business for at least 6 months at a time.
Let's assume that the GPM of a sucky pizza is 70%. So a sucky pizza that cost $10 will gross you
$7. You skimp on the topping to save a dime so the pizza sucks so I only buy two per year so you gross $14 from me per year. Lets say that the toppings (pizza) are good from another parlor and their GPM goes down to 65% for a gross of $6.50 per pizza. I decide that I like that pizza and buy 24 for the year (not to mention my good word of mouth--advertising) from the good pizza parlor so their gross profit is $156 from me instead of $14 for the bad guys. So it doesn't take a rocket scientist to see that these pizza skimmers are dickheads and are screwing themselves by skimping. They may think they are saving a dime but in reality losing hundreds of dollars.
Profits are nice but I'm old school or whatever the hell you call it and spending the extra money for quality in the long run will reap you more money. But I guess greed blinds most.
Speaking of pizza, did you ever walk into a local shop and the person that handles or makes your food also runs the cash register? YUCK!!!! Germs!!!!