Lost sale, lost customer. B&M owners take a look, I'd like your input.

[Maurice Pudlo]

So I'm stopping in a B&M to get a battery or something, actually burning time because I was way early to pick up one of the kids from school, and I was able to watch one of the employees trying to make a sale to an older gentleman and I presume his wife, maybe in their late 50s to mid 60s.

In no uncertain terms they stated they didn't want to purchase any juice from China. The older couple said they wanted menthol tobacco for flavor to replace the light menthols he smokes now.

The clerk went on to say that the Chinese made the best tobacco flavors, better then any made here in the states (I really had to bite my tongue). The clerk suggested 24mg/ml to this couple after he stated he smokes a pack and a half daily when he drinks beer with friends (he certainly didn't reek of smoke like a heavy smoker).

I should have just walked away, but the whole vaper thing took over for a second and I recounted how I purchased my first gear at this shop and hadn't smoked since, pointed out an MVPv2 similar to the one that I purchased 120 some days ago, that I started out at 16mg/ml and am now at 6mg/ml, then the clerk sort of jumped in with another sales pitch.

Frustrated, maily because I could see how frustrated the couple were with the sales lady pushing China products, I left the shop.

This happens to be the exact shop I purchased my MVP and first bottle of juice from at a substantial markup, so I somewhat have a feeling of nostalgia for the place.

I don't like the hard sell type, the sales pitch at the shop made me feel dirty. Not to mention they sell Dekang 10ml bottles for $10.

I'm not a global economy hater, heck I just sent 358PLN via paypal to Mr. Frost for an atty. But I will always respect a persons choice to keep their money closer to home, I don't think there is a need to convince someone to do otherwise.

Unfortunately I don't think I'll be a future customer due to my observation of this particular sales attempt.

So, if you can't supply your customer with a product they want, do you send them to a shop that can? Or do you try to hard sell? Or is there even another option?

As a consumer I'd like to have seen a better response to this type of situation.

Ok, it's getting a bit long now so I'll just let it go as is.

Maurice

 

[Recycled Roadkill]

99.99% of people have heard of e cigs and have no idea what they want. They expect the retailer to steer them in a direction that will aid them in making an intelligent decision. Most customers want what their "friend" has and it's usually something in the way of a starter kit and a vape that imitates a tobacco flavor.

I would suppose that a seller advising anything beyond that would just be pushy but I also believe most of us know when we're getting the "hard sell" and would tend to leave and go elsewhere when a sales person gets that way.

 

[NiNi]

That's not cool. The customer is always "right" and accommodating their wants and needs is par for a successful business. (Ok, we all know there's jerks out there, but most customers are pretty decent) Quite possibly, this man's drinking buddies would have been interested in his MPV and brought in some more sales.

 

[wheelie]

I quit going to mostly all archery stores for that exact reason. Do research on computer and know what you want and ask if they carry it and they tell you it is junk and pick something off their shelf and say this is what you want. Now I order 98% of my archery gear online. Thought I was just becoming a grumpy old man but with Maurice Pudlo's post maybe it is not me. LOL Happens in all walks of life, or salesmen and saleswomen would not have a job.

 

[Bigflyrodder]

Makes me sad to hear of that experience but I know it happens all the time. All heard many stories of B&M experiences where shop owners and employees went way above and beyond to explain the basics of vaping, the gear, what to expect, etc. but there are almost as many stories like this.

I've been to more than a couple shops that I would go as far as to call "sleezy". You can tell immediately when you have walked into a low end shop where they will have nothing but entry starter kits, maybe some Kanger product, a few clone devices, and juice they either mix on-site or low end china or mass production juice. The guys that run these shops are often hit and run artist as far as sales go. They couldn't care less if they are actually helping anyone get off cigs, being a positive influence in the vaping community, or projecting a good image. They take advantage of the fact that vaping is gaining popularity quickly, there is a high demand and little local supply, and the product can be purchased dirt cheap and sold with very high mark ups. If you think buying from Fasttech is check, you should see what that gear costs if you buy it through a broker/supplier in bulk (pennies on the dollar).

Unfortunately I expect we will see an increase in what I call "bottom feeders" who will take advantage of the uncontrolled market while they can but only those who provide good service and good product will survive in the longrun.

 

[stylemaster2001]

Been in a shop where the clerk was "selling" to a customer...the product was an MVP2, priced @ $60 something dollars. I had walked in with mine and was discussing with the clerk how I picked it up for 40 online before this sale, but didn't feel I had to tell the customer that. If they want to walk in and get one for 50 or 60, I wont tell them about online cause I figure the shop needs to make something on the sale. If the customer is savvy, they'll find stuff online...older folks, not so much. (I know my mother was terrified to buy online unless I came over and did it for her, she loved how stuff came right to the house, but she wouldn't do it herself) Now, if the price had been $100 I might've piped up and mentioned checking online first, but.....

That customer turned and asked me how I liked mine and then I felt like I was "selling" it for the shop, but that's ok cause I like promoting vaping,but the clerk was trying to push clearo's over glass and I feel the simpler the better for newer people. That's why I started my sister and her friend on glass tanks....no worry about "tank crackers". Im sure if you mention that to the newer ones, it would scare them right away, so....I just showed the lady mine and let her decide without contradicting the clerk.

Now, if the clerks are out and out lying about juice made in China....or charging way too much for their no-name, second hand juices, I might pipe up and say something...(and consequently never shopping there again). We want to promote the industry, not hurt it, and if I see a clerk purposely mislead to get a big sale, that hurts our overall community in the long run. Just my

 

[daviedog]

Interesting why op used his nose to ascertain whether someone he's never seen before is truly a 1&-/2 pad smoker..

 

[Paulytrout]

The place I went to when I decided I wanted to try ecigs made me really feel really dumb and out of place cause I had no clue what they were talking about. They sold me crap juice and setup. I felt like I was being taken advantage of even before I learned most of the stuff I know now later. They felt pushy and acted like they knew what I wanted and I couldn't even get a word in. I came home started reading on reddit and here and I haven't been to a store since.

Sent from my SCH-R970 using Tapatalk

 

[v1k1ng1001]

Open your own shop and you can pitch whatever, however you want.

 

[Elizabeth Baldwin]

I think people should know when you walk in any store they will try to sell you stuff. If their big money maker is a china juice then that's what the employees will be told to push. In a perfect world everybody would educate themselves before walking into a Vape shop. But that's just not real life. I just hope these two older people don't get a bad taste from this cheap juice that it turns them away from vaping. I think a good juice is what keeps a person vaping... That and a descent topper.

We have a lot of Vape shops in our area. Some really good ones and some so so ones, and some bad ones. My first Vape shop was a crappy one. I tested all their juices and found a couple I liked. Bought them and at home they tasted yucky. The next time I was in their store I ask why the juices taste so different from what you test and the girl looked around for her boss then said he uses the good stuff in the testers and the cheap stuff to sale. I never went back to that shop. This was way back when I first started and it nearly caused me to stop vaping. I finally ordered some better juice and things progressed from there.

I love some of the newer shops we have opened up lately. They have a wide variety of high end, well known juices. Good mods too! I've dropped a few hundred with them in just the last week.

 

[Ladiekali]

this is exactly why i just turned down a job. I wanted to work there so bad, but i didn't like the way it was being run. saying things like if you aren't ready to quit cigarettes your not ready to vape.... what??? you don't have to chose. the fact that many of us give up cigarettes is cool, but for instance my dad, he drives home every other week, it's a 4 hour car ride, I bought him an epipe since he doesnt' smoke in the car. He also vapes in the bar. we had a poker game, he brought his vape.
I still smoke when i want to. maybe a pack a week. sure beats the 7 packs a week i was smoking!

Now i just do consultations on the side. I have a train case with various tanks and carto's a few egos and chargers, and vv3's. I always have my provari and mvp2 on me. I hold on to the juices i'm not so fond of so they can taste or smell and get an idea of what this is all about.

I could not imagine starting at 24mg! I tried 18 recently and i can't stand my juice. I vape 12 and am thinking of getting some 6 for late night vape lol.

now i have a menthol liqua that i love, it most resembles a menthol cigarette out of everything else i have vaped, but the others have been crap, not to mention i paid $4 for 30ml from fast tech lol.

anyways. I feel you on this. i reffered my hair dressor to the place i was going to work for. they first sold her a ego with a ce4, she didn't like it so they sold her a knock off spinner with another ce4, some house blend crud to vape. I showed her my vv3 and a cheap carto tank and let her taste test it and she was ticked off... Now she can't afford more stuff and isn't happy with what she has.

the idea is to sell the cheap stuff when they come back cuz it's broken, they say oh you need a spinner, when that doesn't work it's the vv3, when that doesn't work it's the VTR, then they try to get you into rebuildables... what????

i think it's crazy imo.

i have spent well over $2500 in vape gear and juice... i'm lucky, some people don't have that to spend.
i don't usually, early tax return did it for me.

 

[lansens]

I hate to hear stories like this. I work part time at a local shop and do it for free. Well really for juice and cost but mostly because I want to contribute to my local community and the vape community. Now, as we all know the cost of anything is going to be higher at a B&M than it will be in shop. With that said as a policy we have no issue pointing a customer to the internet if their main concern is to save money. If we don't have something in stock we also will point them in the direction of other vape shops in the area. Personally I've been to most of them and wouldn't shop there unless I didn't have another option. It's always about the customer and helping them move gracefully into vaping...period! After all, we are collectively a community.

 

[RebelGolfer72]

I think what you are seeing is the overall shift in the retail workforce today. Years ago, you walk into a music store (make mom and pop store, not a corporate mega-mart), and the staff were all musicians. Working in the store during the week, and playing in bars on weekends. Walk into a sporting goods stores, and you see people working there who spend the rest of their time in the woods or on the stream selling guns and fishing tackle, you see the guy selling golf clubs that is also a PGA pro. Walk into pet store, and you see people whose lives revolve around pets.

Today, you can walk into mega sports store and buy golf clubs off of the same "expert" that sold you your computer at best buy 2 months ago, and will be selling you guitar strings at Guitar Center 6 months from now. most likely, this same person will also sell you cat food a year later at PetsMart, and if you are really lucky, is the chef at the national food chain a few days after that. Store owners now basically hire anybody that will take the job for the low wages. You played guitar hero at a buddies house once? great! You are hired as the guitar sales associate at Guitar center! You watch Duck Dynasty? Great! You can be the new gunsmith at ....'s Sporting Goods -also good to know you played putt-putt golf once when you were 5, so you can also fill in as the resident golf pro!

 

[Racehorse]

Without China, there wouldn't even BE any vaping.

There is nothing wrong with Dekang juice. Have you ever seen the youtube videos of their production facility? Looks like a *clean room* in a computer chip factory or medical facility.

Having not been inside any US juice makers, or seen any tours of their facilities on Youtube, I have no idea why the OP came to the conclusions they did?

Why is the salesperson not allowed to give their opinion on ejuice?

The funny part is about "keeping the money close to home". Where do most B&Ms get their inventory to sell?

Personally, I wouldn't sell an older couple an MVP2, but again, vaping gear is all based on preference.

 

[Tinben]

I totally understand the local shop has higher prices. That's not a big deal. They probably got a higher overhead than someone just selling online. But what I do hate with a bloody passion is ignorant salesmen or store owners. At least know the products they sell.
I have been visiting a local shop so I can support them. I made my last visit there friday night. The store was full of riff raff and burnouts. I am not going to buy from someone that is high or has people behind the counter that are high.

If your gonna own a store then act like a darn professional and know your products.

 

[ImperfectFuture]

Without China, there wouldn't even BE any vaping.

There is nothing wrong with Dekang juice. Have you ever seen the youtube videos of their production facility? Looks like a *clean room* in a computer chip factory or medical facility.

Having not been inside any US juice makers, or seen any tours of their facilities on Youtube, I have no idea why the OP came to the conclusions they did?

Why is the salesperson not allowed to give their opinion on ejuice?

The funny part is about "keeping the money close to home". Where do most B&Ms get their inventory to sell?

Personally, I wouldn't sell an older couple an MVP2, but again, vaping gear is all based on preference.

I'm half way to 60, and I bought 2 MVPs (though still enjoy some from the halo g6 starter kit). What makes you think older folks be not literate enough for trial and error, nor have the ability to research the interwebz and earn stuff?

 

[Racehorse]

In order to shop online, you have to know what you want in order to place an order.

People go into B&Ms because they have no idea what to buy. I know it's hard to believe but MOST people out there do not go to vaping forums. A lot of people don't even hang out on the internet at all.

So, it's okay to suggest a chinese mod (MVP2) to a customer, but not chinese ejuice? From what I read on the forums, people love their MVP2s. So I guess *we* are pushing "products from China* too.

Lots of advanced vapers here vape dekang, hangsen, joyetech eliquid. For years. There are actually some pretty good ones.

 

[Maurice Pudlo]

I quit going to mostly all archery stores for that exact reason. Do research on computer and know what you want and ask if they carry it and they tell you it is junk and pick something off their shelf and say this is what you want. Now I order 98% of my archery gear online. Thought I was just becoming a grumpy old man but with Maurice Pudlo's post maybe it is not me. LOL Happens in all walks of life, or salesmen and saleswomen would not have a job.

I own some straight up junk archery equipment LOL, I suppose it looked cool at the time, or I was just broke, I don't even remember.

ECF here has been a big source of info for me, I think I joined shortly after I made my first vape related purchase at that very B&M. I believe I shelled out a bit over $110 that day for a couple of bottles of juice and the MVP. I know I was taken as far as price goes, but it worked.

I like to support local, I like to keep my money closer to home if I can, but it isn't a huge all consuming thing to me. I think it was very important to the old couple maybe more so for the guy than the lady but still it was really clear.

I think seeing this was a lesson to me that no matter how passionate you are about getting a sale, you need to listen to the customer.

For example the whole 24mg/ml thing really got to me, all based on the number of packs per day. The lack of a professional series of questions that would lead to a better suggestion I suppose does not surprise me as much as it makes me wonder, is there better way?

Say your choice of tobacco has 0.5mg nicotine per cigarette and you huff down 30 a day, that gives you the potential to consume 15mg of nicotine in a days time. That's what you most likely want to replace, 15mg/day

At 24mg/ml to get your 15mg of nicotine you would need to consume 0.625ml
At 16mg/ml to get your 15mg of nicotine you would need to consume 0.937ml
At 8mg/ml to get your 15mg of nicotine you would need to consume 1.875ml

The device one starts out with would be a big factor in the juices nicotine level just as much as anything else in the equation. Many folks drop nicotine levels when the find RDAs and RBAs that can produce far more vapor than the typical clearos.

I know the customer will ultimately be the one to decide, but being new it would be nice if the folks at the shops could get pretty close from the outset. It seemed pretty clear to me the staff didn't have the knowledge and/or thoughtfulness to help this guy meet his own personal goals within the criteria he was going to be pleased with.

I wanted the guy to be happy with whatever he was going to purchase that day, I guess because I'm so happy that I quit smoking, that even with the few mishaps I've had I can say I really do love vaping more than I ever did smoking. It just didn't seem like it was going to go that way for the couple.

I'm not even sure the clerk was intentionally doing anything, I'm more inclined to think it was just plain old complacency and lack of a deeper understanding of what vaping is and what the market consists of in terms of products. The failure to listen is more par for the course today than I would like to think is possible, unfortunately it seems to be just getting worse as I get older. I'm sure every generation says the same thing.

Maurice

 

[Nermal]

I quit going to mostly all archery stores for that exact reason. Do research on computer and know what you want and ask if they carry it and they tell you it is junk and pick something off their shelf and say this is what you want. Now I order 98% of my archery gear online. Thought I was just becoming a grumpy old man but with Maurice Pudlo's post maybe it is not me. LOL Happens in all walks of life, or salesmen and saleswomen would not have a job.

Lots of sales people have been able to tell me 'what I want'. None have sold it to me.

 

[Maurice Pudlo]

Without China, there wouldn't even BE any vaping.

There is nothing wrong with Dekang juice. Have you ever seen the youtube videos of their production facility? Looks like a *clean room* in a computer chip factory or medical facility.

Having not been inside any US juice makers, or seen any tours of their facilities on Youtube, I have no idea why the OP came to the conclusions they did?

Why is the salesperson not allowed to give their opinion on ejuice?

The funny part is about "keeping the money close to home". Where do most B&Ms get their inventory to sell?

Personally, I wouldn't sell an older couple an MVP2, but again, vaping gear is all based on preference.

I'm not saying there is anything wrong with DeKang juice. I'm not particularly fond of their offerings myself, but that's subjective.

People have the right to decide who gets their money, the couple didn't want to buy Chinese e-juice, does it matter why, I think not. It would have been ok to ask why they were not interested in purchasing the Chinese juice.

Maurice