Best Buy IdeaX

[#1]

Back in 2006 (while in college), I worked at the Best Buy in Covington, LA as a "Wireless Sales Expert". Yep, Apple iPhones were just entering the mobile tech scene at the time. We had an amazing GM (Tom) who emphasized the importance of maintaining each employee's ongoing training, ensuring our specialized/ technical expertise within our respective departments. He inspired and encouraged us to learn as much as possible about our merchandise, the new market trends, and our competition. When our customers entered our doors, they came with high expectations... They chose to buy from the experts... From our store... Even if it meant spending a little more . They trusted us.

I love Best Buy but I don't see the employee expertise or the strong leadership like it once had. I think it's a mistake to commoditize yourselves like Walmart ...you'll lose. You'll lose the heart of your brand if you continue to sacrifice your employees' training and team building.
As a former employee and a BBY Elite member, I extend this feedback to your company because I believe in your company .... In your ability to revive the strength behind your brand recognition ...and your capability to invest in your greatest resource - your employees.

For what it's worth,

- Brittany {removed per forum guidelines}

[#2]

Thanks for your thoughts on this. All our stores should still be making sure each of our sales associates are as knowledgeable as possible with the products they sell.

[#3]

I have to agree with the OP; Back when I worked at Best Buy, you knew everything in your department. It was a highly-competitive environment when it came to knowledge and sales. Meanwhile today, I go in and ask if they know the release date for the new Apple TV and they "have to go ask their Apple guy." This is another down-side to in-store representatives. Associates use them as a crutch instead of as a training resource. Why be trained when you can take the lazy route and just send customers over? Sadly we live in a world where cutting corners and putting more effort into doing less work is more common (i.e. the latest Volkswagen scandal - it probably took more effort to come up with that complex system of tricking the emissions test than just fixing the problem, but it was more expensive and required more work - so cheating won!).

[#4]

@Allan-BBY perhaps it would help to elaborate on the current standards, mandatory training, mentorship programs, and employee incentives in this area, rather than simply stating that 'stores should be making sure'.

[#5]

I know that it's been a few years (5 to be exact) but I feel like it's important to know that people are actually a lot better because it's very important. I have been going to different Best buys in the past few years and I feel like people are missing from that store. I understand that for the store it's a way to save money but I feel like human experts are a lot better.

[#6]

I agree. I feel like it's important to have good human experts. They are a lot more helpful and a lot nicer to talk to and overall the experience is a lot nicer when you interact with humans and nit with a tablet. I really think we need to have people back in Best Buy. If you need money saving tips you should probably cut back on some expenses especially since best buy is doing fairly good these days. (there's a really nice article that you can use if you need to cut back your expenses. You can check it here: investedwallet.com). But yeah I feel like it will be useful to have human experts