Circuit City Increases Reviewers' Job Security

By Shane Buettner • Posted: Apr 6, 2007

I'm sure all of you have read by now that in a move to improve its financial performance, Circuit City canned 3,400 sales assistants and will be replacing them with lower paid employees. If you haven't, check out Mark Fleischmann's take here.

Although it's been said that the laid off workers can reapply for their jobs at reduced pay (I'm sure they appreciate that!), it's hard to imagine that this means that CC's going to be getting a higher grade of employee for less money. What does this mean to me? Job security of course!

Sure, the next time I need a digital camera or a printer it will suck dealing with someone even less knowledgeable than the guy who was there last week, but on the other hand, if you can't hope to learn anything from the sales people in the store, you're going to have to read more reviews and read them a lot more carefully. They're not giving you a choice.

This trend dovetails with what a former colleague once called the "Costco-ization" of the CE industry. The bulk of electronics are now being moved by stores that aren't even trying to offer knowledge or any semblance of customer service. They move boxes, and lots of 'em. Your only choice will be to read as many reviews as you can, and go grab your boxes and hope for the best.

I hope like Mark that at some point, as these electronics get complicated enough that more sophisticated buyers go back to specialty retailers. But in the meantime, we'll keep our UAV shingle up here on the Web so people know where to find the best review of that new plasma, that new Blu-ray player, and all those other boxes...

Comments

Submitted by David Vaughn on April 6, 2007 - 1:41pm.

When Circuit City had a commissioned sales force, you could actually get some decent advice there (granted, this was over 4 years ago). Now, they are just like Best Buy or maybe even worse. Just a bunch of uneducated kids that for the most part, don't care enough to learn about the products they are selling. But I don't blame them, I blame upper management and store management for not training these kids about the products that they are selling. It's really too bad, but like you say Shane, good for our job security!

Submitted by Shane on April 6, 2007 - 2:34pm.

Just a comment to anyone reading this. A not so well kept secret is that even the non-commissioned sales person works on "spiffs." A spiff is when a manufacturers gives credit of some kind to sales people for selling a lot of its product. Sell a ton of Brand X, and get credits toward buying Brand X stuff. So, the non-commissioned sales person can still have incentives for getting you into products that offer the best spiffs to him/her rather than the products best for you. Beware. It's one of the oldest tricks in the book for the sales person to say the product you want is out of stock, but man can he/she give you a deal on the big spiff product.

Submitted by GlennH on April 7, 2007 - 10:16am.

Just business as usual for me. I haven't relied on the advice or suggestions of store sales people for electronics products for many years. Finding one who knows even the basics of what they're selling is almost impossible as it is. So this doesn't really affect me.

Submitted by David Vaughn on April 8, 2007 - 9:10am.

Shane, I still think there is a difference between a commission and a spiff. A spiff is a discount, a commission is actual cash which will draw a better employee from the pool of skilled employee's in the workforce. The old saying, for $8.00 an hour, you get an $8.00 an hour employee who is just looking for another job to pay him $8.25 an hour. Where if you have someone making $50,000 a year with commissions, then they will more likely take some pride in their job and try to make $51,000 by being a better sales person and being more informed. The spiff only allows an employee of said electronics store to buy a really cheap product even cheaper!

Submitted by Shane on April 8, 2007 - 10:50am.

Oh, we're in total agreement. I'm totally in favor of commissioned sales for the reasons you cite, among others. Some people think there's something more honest or even pure about non-commissioned sales people. Spiffs can allow salespeople to get products for free or at huge discounts, not just at a run-of-the-mill discount. I'm not attacking that practice either, merely pointing out a hidden reason that non-commissioned sales people aren't a good idea. In my opinion. Some people I''ve related this to have been surprised by this practice so I thought I'd share it here.