wristtwister
Member
- Joined
- Mar 28, 2008
- Messages
- 419
I work in a gun shop now, and we don't work on a commission... all straight salary. Yesterday, one of the guys I work with just got totally incensed that I sold "one of his customers" a gun from stock... and then proceeded to tell me that I shouldn't wait on "his customers".
Well, after the initial shock of this, it started to make sense... he and one of the other guys "up front" are running their own games in the shop. They have "their customers" come in and either sell them their own personal firearms, or take things out of stock and set them in the layaway bin and sell them for a commission. The way they do it, is to put money down on the gun in layaway, and then simply transfer that money onto something else when they sell the firearm they're holding for "their customer". Evidently, "their customers" are giving them money off the books related to the sale, and still paying the retail price of the guns to the shop.
Most of "their customers" are regular buyers in the shop, and well-heeled, so it's not like they miss the extra money... but it's causing problems within the staff. My take on it is that unless they're selling something personal, it's "shop material" and any customer is welcome to it.
Right after chastising me for selling something to "his customer", this same guy butted into a sale I was making and sold "my customer" (one I had spent an hour showing guns that simply walked through the door) a gun when I walked over to the other side of the room to answer the phone... Nobody makes a commission (except through underhanded means) and nobody's sales are chased or monitored to see who sells what in the shop, so it's not like there's a job at stake. The owner, however, absolutely doesn't want his staff members selling items "out of stock"(personal firearms) in the shop, and will fire you for it.
I think the guy is going to get a conversation this morning that goes something like this... "Since you butted into my sale yesterday after telling me not to sell to "your customer", all stops are off... If you have a problem with it, go see the shop manager, and we'll have a discussion about what's going on up front, and let you identify "your customers" to the shop manager".
I think everybody that walks in is a "shop customer", and anybody on the staff can help them. If they ask for a particular salesman, that's a different situation... but nobody owns the customer... other than the shop owner.
WT
Well, after the initial shock of this, it started to make sense... he and one of the other guys "up front" are running their own games in the shop. They have "their customers" come in and either sell them their own personal firearms, or take things out of stock and set them in the layaway bin and sell them for a commission. The way they do it, is to put money down on the gun in layaway, and then simply transfer that money onto something else when they sell the firearm they're holding for "their customer". Evidently, "their customers" are giving them money off the books related to the sale, and still paying the retail price of the guns to the shop.
Most of "their customers" are regular buyers in the shop, and well-heeled, so it's not like they miss the extra money... but it's causing problems within the staff. My take on it is that unless they're selling something personal, it's "shop material" and any customer is welcome to it.
Right after chastising me for selling something to "his customer", this same guy butted into a sale I was making and sold "my customer" (one I had spent an hour showing guns that simply walked through the door) a gun when I walked over to the other side of the room to answer the phone... Nobody makes a commission (except through underhanded means) and nobody's sales are chased or monitored to see who sells what in the shop, so it's not like there's a job at stake. The owner, however, absolutely doesn't want his staff members selling items "out of stock"(personal firearms) in the shop, and will fire you for it.
I think the guy is going to get a conversation this morning that goes something like this... "Since you butted into my sale yesterday after telling me not to sell to "your customer", all stops are off... If you have a problem with it, go see the shop manager, and we'll have a discussion about what's going on up front, and let you identify "your customers" to the shop manager".
I think everybody that walks in is a "shop customer", and anybody on the staff can help them. If they ask for a particular salesman, that's a different situation... but nobody owns the customer... other than the shop owner.
WT