Thursday, March 11, 2010

Product Pushing

Holla,

*quick note: The following is an update to my previous blog posting. If you missed it;
1) What are you thinking?
2) Are you intentionally trying to hurt my feelings?
3) You can find it here, so that you are fully up-to-date when reading this entry.

On Tuesday, I went in for my second interview with the advertising/marketing company that I interviewed with last week. After arriving in the same drab waiting room, I was quickly whisked away to the wonderful world of Home Depot. There was sawdust in the air, and the color orange dominated my vision. The interview took place as we walked around the store, offering unsuspecting customer the opportunity to receive a free kitchen remodeling consultation. Most people didn't want to be bothered. They made it very obvious, yet my interviewer didn't seem to mind burrowing deeper under their skin. Here is an example of a conversation that took place:

Interviewer (I): "Are you a home owner?"
Customer (C): "Yes..." (said as they turned back to their task of finding screws or light bulbs)
I: "Great! Are you aware of the promotion that we're offering?"
C: "No, but I'm not..."
I: "We're offering a free consultation on kitchen remodeling."
C: "Thanks, but I'm not..."
I: "It's free!"
C: "Really, I'm not..."
I: "Oh, come on. Have you ever thought about remodeling your kitchen?"
C: "It may have crossed my mind, but I'm not..."
I: "Then why don't you come have a free consultation?"
C: "Because I'm just here to find some nails. Not to remodel my..."
I: "It's free!"
C: "Again, thank you, but I'm not..."
I: "What's the harm? It's a free consultation. No pressure."
C: "Can you please just leave me alone."
I: "If you don't come get a consultation, I will follow you home."
C: "You're starting to scare me."
I: "I will follow you home. Maybe I'll give you a free consultation, or maybe I'll do something else."
C: "Like what?"
I: "I'm not saying that I am going to hurt you...But I'm not saying that I won't hurt you either."
C: "Ok, fine. I'll have a consultation! Just don't kill my family!"
I: "Great! Lets sign you up."

I was uncomfortable with the process. While I haven't found many job prospects in my week of searching, I knew that this wasn't the position for me. I didn't want to push cabinet refinishing on people that were simply looking for a leisurely stroll through the aisles of the Depot. I'm not a salesman. I enjoying fulfilling the needs of customers, but I don't want to push anything on them either. Let me offer a couple of examples:

1) I worked at TGIFridays for a portion of my life. Part of their training involved an extensive exercise in upselling. Say the customer wanted a mixed drink. Maybe a vodka tonic, or a beer. Instead of just taking their order, we were instructed to try and push an Ultimate Mango Mai Tai or a Patron Cosmo Rita Shaker (these are actual drinks that Fridays sells). Our introductions were always supposed to be, "Welcome to Fridays. Can I interest you in a refreshing _____ or some delicious ______?" The blanks were supposed to be filled with more descriptive adjectives and a specific food product.

I was not comfortable with this, and would leave my customers alone. This did not please my manager.

2) I spent a summer at Abercrombie & Fitch. I did it for the clothes discount. That's my excuse. You're allowed to judge for the remainder of this paragraph, but not any further. Agreed? Okay. While at Abercrombie, we were instructed to leave the customer alone, unless we were approached. Then, we were supposed to suggest clothing items that might match the article that the customer had chosen. "Oh, you want to try on those jeans? Why don't you match them with this shirt? And maybe these sandals? You know what would bring the whole thing together? Some cologne. And also this hemp necklace."

It grossed me out. I didn't want to have anything to do with it. Instead, when I would see a customer approach me, I would turn in the other direction, effectively avoiding any potential interaction and product pushing.

This tactic lead to my manager placing me in front of the store, welcoming customers. For 8 hours, I would stand in the entryway, listening to the overbearing Abercrombie music (Smashmouth was particularly popular at that point) smiling at people that passed by. Needless to say, I wanted to shoot myself. And, my manager was not pleased.

My point, you ask? It's that I don't really enjoy pushing things on customers. This must have been overly apparent to my interviewer. By the end of my hour in Home Depot, while I was making a I-just-smelled-a-fart-face, she told me that she had some concerns. She said that she thought I would fit in really well, but that she was worried that I wasn't very excited about the job. I hesitated for a moment before telling her that she had made a fairly accurate assessment. We said goodbye, and I headed back to their office.

I met with the office manager when I returned. We had a brief discussion and I told him that I wasn't interested in the position. Despite the inflation of my ego during the first interview, I managed to avoid the trap during the second. We shook hands and parted ways.

He and my interviewer went back to pushing product.

I returned to the unemployment line.

More to come...

No comments:

Post a Comment