[TrunkCom] Technical Knowledge

[Kevin Gallagher]

I'll skip a lot of details but in 1984 I wanted to take a part-time job at Radio
Shack.
Had bought a house that year and at Christmas time money was tight. Interviewed
with the store and an area manager and both were upbeat and wanted to hire me.
I have a degree and full time career in a high tech field, and knew their products.

I had to travel 25 miles to interview with the regional manager. He rejected
me because of my technical background. All of what I saw as an advantage
he saw as a disadvantage. "The problem with you technical guys ...."

The bottom line was he wanted salespeople. Technical guys get caught up in
discussions with customers, he wanted someone that could sell!

Didn't get the job, never held a grudge, continued to be a customer.

Kevin



Marcel wrote:

> So when do you start at Radio Shack?
>
> Your wife is in the small minority of sales persons who have a electronic
> background. In a 2000 report from the Yankee Group ( http://www.yankeegroup.com )
> they found only 18% of Radio Shack sales employees had any formal electronics
> training and only 2% held a  degree in a related field.
>
> Larry Williams wrote:
>
> > SJ wrote:
> > >
> > >  It's hard to be impressed with the knowledge of RS employees sometimes. You
> > > would think they would require some minor technical knowledge.
> > >
> > In defense of "RS employees", SOME actually know of what they speak.
> > However, most are minimum wage employees who don't give a damn about the
> > customer.  Some think they know of what they speak but know absolutely
> > nothing.  My wife has worked there for 12 years and believe me, I keep
> > her informed of technology. If she has a customer ask her a question she
> > doesn't know the answer to, she will call me long distance, different
> > state, and sometimes put the customer on to talk to me. When she started
> > there, we had a hour ride each way to work. I gave her electronics
> > classes everyday.  If she had a new question, she would save it for the
> > ride home.  Therefore, when one of the men she works with tells the
> > customer something she knows is wrong, she gets all bent out of shape,
> > but unfortunatly, sometimes it is hard to straighten them out in front
> > of the customer.  By the way, they require merchandise to be returned or
> > refunded within 30 days of purchase, not 11 months.
> >
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