Whats it like working in a hifi Store

[Eggmeister]

I have often wondered what it would be like working (sales) in a Hifi Store (or for a distributor)

 

Any members here like to share their experiences, give advice etc ?

[PositivelyMusicallyGeared]

I don't have the experience, but from what I can see, amongst other things, one needs to be physically fit, to be able to move heavy stuff around, and there's a lot of squatting to get things connected. 

[aussievintage]

 

From the receiving end, my impression is that many people working in these stores have no idea how to be nice to customers.   I have never seen such rudeness as some stores regularly dish out.   I have worked in retail myself, and above all, you need to be tolerant.  The worn old adage, "the customer is always right"  is still worthy.   

 

So, I would suggest that working in a hifi store will be quite frustrating.  You will find yourself explaining the same stuff over and over again, and dealing with opinionated customers, nudging them towards the best outcome, for both themselves and the store (a compromise)

 

It won't be fun and games playing with techo toys all day long.  There will be hard work as well.  I remember moving my Osborn lead-lined speakers up a single flight of stairs !!

[MrC]

Yes it would be a difficult task ... with so many so called experts out there.  I think an ability to work with people is crucial, tolerance is a must and the ability to impart your knowledge in a non-condescending manner.  Often when I enter a "hi-fi shop" I will ask a question (to which I have the answer), just to gauge the expertise of the salesman.  If this experience is positive, then this is the first step to a possible sale.  Rudeness would not be part of this.

[MrC]

In addition to my last post, I can say that I have had very positive experiences at Frank Prowse HiFi in Nedlands and at both the Osborne Park and Cannington franchises of West Coast HiFi.  I think it is important to give praise when, in forums like this, negative experiences tend to be emphasized.

[aussievintage]

8 minutes ago, MrC said:

I think it is important to give praise when, in forums like this, negative experiences tend to be emphasized.

True, much as I'd love to name the really rude ones.  

[PositivelyMusicallyGeared]

In an environment where products of a diverging range of prices are sold, snobbery and rudeness breed easily.

[Eggmeister]

1 hour ago, aussievintage said:

True, much as I'd love to name the really rude ones.  

How would you have liked to have been treated ?

[Eggmeister]

1 hour ago, MrC said:

In addition to my last post, I can say that I have had very positive experiences at Frank Prowse HiFi in Nedlands and at both the Osborne Park and Cannington franchises of West Coast HiFi.  I think it is important to give praise when, in forums like this, negative experiences tend to be emphasized.

Why were your experiences good ? How were you treated that makes you say it was positive ?

[aussievintage]

12 minutes ago, Yngvi said:

How would you have liked to have been treated ?

Eh?  Not rudely of course ???

[Eggmeister]

2 minutes ago, aussievintage said:

Eh?  Not rudely of course ???

OK, a different approach.

 

How was it rude ?

 

 

[aussievintage]

Just now, Yngvi said:

OK, a different approach.

 

How was it rude ?

 

 

 

One example perhaps.   I was looking at a particular item while browsing in the store, so the sales person offered to demo it for me. Not in a big demo room or anything, just in place where it was in the shop. They had lots of trouble getting it to work, and even when working it there were further problems.  I could see they were getting frustrated.  At the end of the demo,  I declined to purchase it - due the problems that I witnessed.   I was told I was a time waster.   

 

Of course you are only hearing my side of it, but I really don't feel I should be pressured to buy something, just because they took the time to demo it.  They actually talked me into the demo in the first place.  You know the routine, "you just have to hear it, you'll love it - just let me put some music on"   They must not be used to not making a sale...

[Eggmeister]

1 minute ago, aussievintage said:

 

One example perhaps.   I was looking at a particular item while browsing in the store, so the sales person offered to demo it for me. Not in a big demo room or anything, just in place where it was in the shop. They had lots of trouble getting it to work, and even when working it there were further problems.  I could see they were getting frustrated.  At the end of the demo,  I declined to purchase it - due the problems that I witnessed.   I was told I was a time waster.   

 

Of course you are only hearing my side of it, but I really don't feel I should be pressured to buy something, just because they took the time to demo it.  They actually talked me into the demo in the first place.  You know the routine, "you just have to hear it, you'll love it - just let me put some music on"   They must not be used to not making a sale...

Aside from knowing what it's likes working in a hifi store, I am just curious to hear peoples opinion on the way they have been treated whilst in a store as well.

 

 

[MrC]

54 minutes ago, Yngvi said:

Why were your experiences good ? How were you treated that makes you say it was positive ?

I was not talked down to, I was not rushed into making a decision, they asked me questions about my requirements .....  its quite obvious really.

[Bill125812]

@rantan

[RankStranger]

I worked at Encel in Richmond from 2003-2011 and I’m happy to answer any questions you have. 
 

The big picture is that I liked the job but not the company so the less said about them, the better. That was also the time period of probably the steepest decline Of electrical retail due to the influence of online shopping and the internet so it got tougher and tougher to make money. I have no idea what it’s like now but I can’t imagine it’s smooth sailing. I might be wrong though. 
 

That said, I got to play with some really cool $#!+ before anyone else did and staff pricing was pretty sweet. 

Edited January 15, 2020 by RankStranger

[rantan]

On 15/01/2020 at 6:43 PM, Bill125812 said:

@rantan

 

Thanks Bill. I had seen this thread earlier and was pondering whether I should get into it....or not.

 

I spent about 25 years in the wholesale and retail audio trade and I met some of the pioneer designers of gear, the brands of which  are now iconic among audio enthusiasts.

I had a wonderful, blessed and enjoyable time and the customer and audio anecdotes are legion.

 

(Almost ) everything we now take for granted was new and exciting. Many iconic brands and designers were like travelling roadshows back in the day and despite the long prequel, our customers were a vital part of the momentum.

 

People who had lived with AWA all-in ones were suddenly confronted by companies and designers who challenged the collective thinking process into something that made you realise what was possible and attainable.

 

I recall customers walking into places where I was employed with magazines under their arms and a plethora of spec sheets and magazine reviews of the time and the challenge was to disarm them from the baggage and actually sit, listen and compare.

Of course this concept was both new and somewhat disturbing at the time and people felt that they should audition gear only with the help of an expert,who could make the choice for them ( or reject it entirely ) because they were experts, although I never managed to find out why they were identified as such.

 

I had a radical approach in that I encouraged people, whoever they were, to listen, identify what they liked ( or did not like ) and give me some perspective into what they were trying to achieve and to trust themselves in the decision process. This may seem almost amusingly obvious to most people here, but was not so in 1982.

 

The word of a salesperson was powerful, then but I  strived to never make myself a as principal in the decision making process. I figured that I was a facilitator in bringing certain aspects together which I knew would work and the key was my product knowledge and knowing what worked with what else.

 

I actively encouraged people to participate in auditions, with their own music, at their own pace and I always left them knowing that they themselves had made their decision, even though they never thoughts of themselves as experts.

 

One thing I always said was that the two most important things to use in making a decision were on the side of their head ( their ears ).

 

Although audio was both my hobby and my job, I never tried to sell people anything other than what appealed to them individually and I never knowingly sold anything to anybody that I would not use myself, in their circumstances and with their budget and I never treated anybody in a way other than which I would  like to be treated.                   Empathy.

 

Being possessed of knowledge is relatively easy, but the trick is in distilling this and presenting it to the customer in a coherent and non condescending way is/was they key to building trust and this was borne out in customers coming back time and time again.

 

People need to believe in themselves when choosing audio systems and good sales people are guides and facilitators who respect and identify their needs and not their own.

 

I guess I could ramble on forever but selling audio gear should be fun and the key to this is to understand the customer, observe their body language and walk a mile in their shoes.

Edited January 23, 2020 by rantan
typos

[RankStranger]

2 big highlights for me were: 

 

- unboxing the first Sonus Faber Stradivarius Homage to land in Australia. They immediately became and remain my unattainable endgame speaker. It was still a comparatively small reward for having to manhandle them up 3 flights of stairs, though. 
 

- one of the many nights we stayed back after work, we spent a few hours drinking beers and playing video games on a 120" screen with a newly dialled in full Klipsch THX ultra II system with a kilowatt of Rotel power driving it. The Klipsch wasn’t as clean or accurate as the best m&k s of the day but dang was it good fun. 

[betty boop]

.for many it must be fun as they spend many years in it ?

 

what can say though is some years ago, buying something on ebay and heading out to outside a regional area to pick it up, only to find it was a retired hifi store owner. was very interesting to hear his perspective.

 

basically he told me it can be quite a boring job...hours can go by not much traffic to other times where run off feet....

 

also have to be very good with dealing with people.... (probably similar to any retail and many jobs). people with all sorts of expectations and you can get all types off street. some are indeed complete and utter time wasters.... you also come across people with genuine issues (the hobby seems to attract or perhaps society is full of them he wasnt sure - and they just seem to keep coming back ! 

 

it did wear him down after many years... especially time invested and turns out some folk are just "show rooming" ie demoing in store and using their services to just buy online cheapest price somewhere else or 2nd hand.  cant beat em join em. he closed the shop and moved his selling online... I think a few shops moved to that model over the years... a bit of a shake out. many still remain though so no doubt it still remains a profitable business for some.... and a good career and lively hood for those that continue to work in the industry.

 

I worked in retail over 9-10 years (non hifi) through my younger years putting myself through school and uni. it can be fun, learn a lot about people and can be hard work too. i could have kept working in retail easily but never pursued as a career....

[joz]

Did a small tour of duty with a box mover while I was in mental limbo.

i remember talking to a potential customer about our TT offering was akin to a wire brush on vinyl.

others in the store would have pushed the MP3 converting TT .

Just remember your job is about sales sometimes.

[Eggmeister]

15 minutes ago, joz said:

Did a small tour of duty with a box mover while I was in mental limbo.

i remember talking to a potential customer about our TT offering was akin to a wire brush on vinyl.

others in the store would have pushed the MP3 converting TT .

Just remember your job is about sales sometimes.

Good point. Its about making sales at the end of the day. No one will pay you a wage if you dont sell.

[RankStranger]

9 minutes ago, betty boop said:

.for many it must be fun as they spend many years in it ?

 

what can say though is some years ago, buying something on ebay and heading out to outside a regional area to pick it up, only to find it was a retired hifi store owner. was very interesting to hear his perspective.

 

basically he told me it can be quite a boring job...hours can go by not much traffic to other times where run off feet....

 

also have to be very good with dealing with people.... (probably similar to any retail and many jobs). people with all sorts of expectations and you can get all types off street. some are indeed complete and utter time wasters.... you also come across people with genuine issues (the hobby seems to attract or perhaps society is full of them he wasnt sure - and they just seem to keep coming back ! 

 

it did wear him down after many years... especially time invested and turns out some folk are just "show rooming" ie demoing in store and using their services to just buy online cheapest price somewhere else or 2nd hand.  cant beat em join em. he closed the shop and moved his selling online... I think a few shops moved to that model over the years... a bit of a shake out. many still remain though so no doubt it still remains a profitable business for some.... and a good career and lively hood for those that continue to work in the industry.

 

I worked in retail over 9-10 years (non hifi) through my younger years putting myself through school and uni. it can be fun, learn a lot about people and can be hard work too. i could have kept working in retail easily but never pursued as a career....

There were certainly boring times but I think that’s true of any job.  Equally true, I think, is that a workplace is made by the people. While some of them were bloody awful, I’m still in touch with a few of the people I worked with and two of them I’d count as my closest friends.
 

Being a bit of a hifi nerd helped to fill the quiet times. How good can I get these speakers to sound if I spend every few spare minutes I have for a week tweaking and dialling them in? What do these $600 speakers sound like with this $12,000 amp? These projectors are sharp but not very bright, what happens if we try shooting two of them at once at the same screen? Why should someone really spend $800 on these interconnects instead of $100 on these ones?

 

The problem with these little diversions/experiments is that they take you away from the shop floor, meaning the next customer that comes in gets served by someone else. 
 

Being the retail arm of a wholesale company had its benefits and its drawbacks. We (I say we, I was never in management but we had some pretty inclusive managers over time. As well as some that very much weren’t) would’ve run the store very differently if we had had more autonomy but there were a lot of advantages too in terms of getting priority on stock and access to repacks and things. 

[joz]

A little anecdote.

i was called up to the boss’ office fearing the worst.

i was asked why I had sold a record number of Yamaha BT/CD clock radios.

All it was, was a custom CD that I played for customers of certain demographic.

The other guys were trying to pump doof through theses as loud as they could.

mine was Vivaldi, Eva Cassidy. Folk or Blues.

to the disgust of the other sales guys they had to use copies of my disc.

[RankStranger]

11 minutes ago, joz said:

A little anecdote.

i was called up to the boss’ office fearing the worst.

i was asked why I had sold a record number of Yamaha BT/CD clock radios.

All it was, was a custom CD that I played for customers of certain demographic.

The other guys were trying to pump doof through theses as loud as they could.

mine was Vivaldi, Eva Cassidy. Folk or Blues.

to the disgust of the other sales guys they had to use copies of my disc.

A good demo disc is like a magic wand. And always a delicate balance because you want songs you enjoy, because you’re going to hear them a lot, but not songs you love, because you’re going to hear them a lot 

[RoHo]

To the OP there is a fascinating thread somewhere about Melbourne retail Hifi in days gone by.  In it is a fabulous story relating a competition between sales staff to sell a cheapo cartridge for the highest price.  Very funny and very illuminating.