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My Local GW; Just a laugh
Topic Started: 1st March 2012 - 11:16 AM (2,051 Views)
izmerul
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4th March 2012 - 07:35 PM
3k is the minimum Apocalypse army. I teamed up with another Chaos player and we fielded 7,5k of models. Not ALL painted mind. But we *have* the models already. Seriously, quite a few people have waaay larger collections than they could normally field. The Ork player could plonk down a foot slogger army, Speed Fraks and an IG mechanized company (of Orky vehicles) alone.
8 feet is only 2 feet more than the standard table, indeed many tables are already 8x4.

For the record. The big stuff came first. Apocalypse more or less is a response to demand for a game where FW models could be used.
That seems to confirm what I'm thinking:"it's just that instead of having 10 players with 2000 point armies you have 5 players with unpainted over-priced 4000 point MEGA FORCES."

they ARE loosing players and customers, but the people who still play make enough dough to compensate the loss. So they are moving out of the middle class market and focussing on where the money is.
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Nurglitch IX
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Beregond
4th March 2012 - 10:22 AM
I had become rather tense until they spent 5 minutes trying to sell me a pot of glue at the end of our visit, at which point I relaxed and all was back to normal. Apparently a DE Hydra, box of CoK, a doomwheel and a bunch o' paints weren't enough :P that one pot of glue MUST BE SOLD! Funnily enough we did need glue, but we picked that up on the way home at a model train shop for half the price and over twice the amount. And it even had a decent applicator.
I used to do sales work at AutoZone, which as you may guess, sells auto parts. I have lots stories, but only 1 is relevent: We had sales goals. IT wasn't a paid thing, just bragging rights, I think the managers may have gotten something if our store stayed in the top 5% but here's how it worked:

If you sold a Battery, you got 1 point for also selling felt post pads, post lubricant, post terminals.
If you sold a spark plug, you got 1 point for anti-sieze, plug wires.
If you sold a lightbulb you got 1 point for bulb grease.
If you sold anything you get 1 point for hand cleaner, paper towels...

you get the idea.

So yeah, you could walk in and buy 4 battallion boxes, and a pair of fincast HQ units for each of them, and that poor sales guy only gets a point if you buy the stupid glue. This is also why whenever I go buy my car stuff, I make sure to pick up all the little extras, even if I don't need them. The difference being my up-sales were all 99 cents each, and the glue is like $10.
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izmerul
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5th March 2012 - 06:19 PM

If you sold a Battery, you got 1 point for also selling felt post pads, post lubricant, post terminals.
If you sold a spark plug, you got 1 point for anti-sieze, plug wires.
If you sold a lightbulb you got 1 point for bulb grease.
If you sold anything you get 1 point for hand cleaner, paper towels...
If I reach my goal of becoming the evil overlord of the world, i will get the people who enforce these practices tied up and have their families burned in front of them ...

if a product needs to be "sold" then it isnt the right product.

(buy selling I mean actively bullying potential customers into buying them or lying in oder to make it sound good)

I might add:

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'nuff said
Edited by izmerul, 6th March 2012 - 02:36 PM.
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hannanibal
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The bread that satisfies all hunger... the peanut that reverses time...
"if a product needs to be "sold" then it isnt the right product."
Good point! I've never been in sales so I don't have that much sympathy for pushy sellers.
I am fully aware that if I was a salesman I'd change this perspective at the drop of a hat!
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izmerul
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hannanibal
6th March 2012 - 02:41 PM

I am fully aware that if I was a salesman I'd change this perspective at the drop of a hat!
I wouldnt actually, because even though sometimes a salesguy annoys me, if I really think about the problem it's not him who's causing this, it's the management and marketing over him!

sales guys are just dudes (who granted have the ability to do it) who need a job and need money and that's what their boss' expect from them. can we really blame them for it? well perhaps a little bit ... but they need the job!!!
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SlashSlash
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izmerul
6th March 2012 - 02:47 PM
hannanibal
6th March 2012 - 02:41 PM

I am fully aware that if I was a salesman I'd change this perspective at the drop of a hat!
I wouldnt actually, because even though sometimes a salesguy annoys me, if I really think about the problem it's not him who's causing this, it's the management and marketing over him!

sales guys are just dudes (who granted have the ability to do it) who need a job and need money and that's what their boss' expect from them. can we really blame them for it? well perhaps a little bit ... but they need the job!!!
unfortunately there are the guys that do it for a job, and the guys who seemingly devote their lives to forcing products down your throat.

My Brother is in sales, hes good at it but as soon as he has a viable alternate option hes getting out.
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Nurglitch IX
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izmerul
6th March 2012 - 02:21 PM
if a product needs to be "sold" then it isnt the right product.
It's a fine line a lot of times. The hand cleaners and towels are a great example. You NEED them, but only once in a great while, and they're the sort of thing you forget about at the store, and regret not having when the time comes. Same goes for the glue too really. Nothing is more annoying that sitting down to put together a box of rats, only to realize your out of glue.

The problem comes with the quality of the sales man. I've always been of the opinion you're better off asking 100 people if they need glue to sell 1 bottle, then to badger 1 guy 100 times to buy your stinking glue.
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Sleboda
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izmerul
6th March 2012 - 02:47 PM

sales guys are just dudes ...can we really blame them for it? well perhaps a little bit ... but they need the job!!!
No they are not...and yes we can.

People take certain jobs because they can do them and want to do them. Yes, I know, in some cases beggars can't be choosers, but sales is generally not one of those jobs that you take as a last "man, I need the money" resort. You sell because you _enjoy_ selling. You _enjoy_ manipulating the mind of a customer to get them to do what you want them do as opposed to what they thought they wanted to do. It's all about dominance. It's why most of the great ones don't even give a damn what they are selling. Birdfeed or buckshot, it's all the same to them - customer walks in wanting a slice of apple pie, customer leaves with a case of orange juice and doesn't even remember that they wanted pie. Hell, you'll even have salesmen who wanted to sell X but when they found out the customer actually came in to get X, they decide to sell them Y instead, just to prove they can control the customer.

Sales is an ego-driven power trip for a great, great, great majority of salesmen. Not all, but damn near all.

The ones who don't like to it generally move on to something else pretty darn quickly because their souls scream at them all day, every day "This is wrong. These people have free will and opinions. Don't try to be their god."

True scholars have more than just one book to study.
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izmerul
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Sleboda
7th March 2012 - 07:29 PM


The ones who don't like to it generally move on to something else pretty darn quickly because their souls scream at them all day, every day "This is wrong. These people have free will and opinions. Don't try to be their god."

aye ... well

that's probably true as well, lets show some respect for those who havent quit yet =P (in this economy there will be more)

a minute of silence for their screaming souls -_-
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Rizzo
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Now a word in defense of the Games Workshop folk in my area. I only have a few nice things to say about living in Memphis, TN, and the nice stuff that is not about food is about the local GW store here. Our Battle Bunker is also the North American HQ for GW and if you show up on the right day wearing closed toed shoes (they are oddly picky about this part) then you can even tour the factory. They run on considerably less manpower than I expected and the machines that do the injection molds are SWEET. The folks that run the gaming store are the same staff for both the tables sides and the sales side and are all genuinely nice guys. They remember the names of all the regulars and even most of the been in a few timers. They remember what armies we play and will talk strategy or army comp with you even if they aren't supper jazzed about your 12th minor tweek to an all mauraders list. They let you use store models for proxies while you work out a new list and with only a reasonable amount of "we can get that for you for only x bucks today" AND they don't get all crazy if you have a few non-GW paints in your box even if you use them in the store (Oddly enough my favorite warpstone paint is by Martha Stewart - no really). They run the tourneys and will settle a rules dispute and even show you where and how they got that ruleing. In short they are a great bunch and I enjoy hanging out there even on the odd occasion that I can't find a pick up game.
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Kimzi
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Wow, that sounds like a dream, Rizzo. :D

When I enter a GW I usually don't get a lot of attention due to being a female accompanied by one or more males. I guess they figure I am just being dragged along. I kinda like it that way. Let me do my shopping in peace. ^_^
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Rageaholic
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I can't really blame them for trying to up sell at the till. AFAIK the staff aren't on commission but I know the managers are. (Well not commission but they get a bonus for growing sales year on year).
Everyone does it these days, even my local pharmacy, which I find way more annoying.

My local store always ask about glue and paints if you buy models but they don't push it if you say no. As for claiming their stuff is the best, well I'm sure most experienced modellers have their faves but I've bought stuff on eBay stuck together with all sorts of crap. You can't blame them for reccomending their own stuff, in my case "I already have glue" means I have the appropriate glue from my preffered manufacturer. But I'll bet that from a lot of people it means "I have some inappropriate glue from a stationary shop that won stick them properly and may well mean I come back in complaining, or quit in frustration when my £36 model looks like doodoo because I stuck it with pritt stick".

Amazingly enough I bought some stuff on Saturday (army book and undercoat) and wasn't asked about extras! Not sure if they forgot or made an intelligent choice, but I'll give them credit for it.
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Unwanted
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2nd March 2012 - 12:50 PM
The staff in the Copenhagen GW store are way, way too pushy.

I used to come in to have a look when new stuff arrived, and do most of my shopping there, but approximately a year ago they started being a lot more pushy and I decided to take my shopping to an independent game store 400 meters further down the street.
That I get a 10 % discount on all miniatures (including GW), and that they have a large stock of the older metal blisters is just an added bonus :)
I completely agree that some of the guys there have changed for the worse recently, though some are still great. I haven't seen the worst of 'em in a while, but the manager gets on my nerves, which is odd as he used to be pretty great. He tried to push a Screaming Bell on me (which I genuinely can't afford right now), when all I wanted was a replacement for the piece of crap Finescat Queek that I'd gotten the day before.

I, too, exclusively go to the independent stockist, unless it's my mate who's manning the store, and it's a slow time of day where he can chat.
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Sleboda
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I visited the Copenhagen store on a cruise a year or two ago and found them to be pleasant, as far as GW store staff go. Then again, once they found out I was traveling, they pretty much knew I was a walking 'no sale' sign.
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Nurglitch IX
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SO I spent 9 hours driving to San Diego today, (for those of you in England, a bit farther than London to Glasgow) and since I needed a dinner break with some leg stretching, and it was on route, I dropped into the LA Battle Bunker. First impression, none of the red shirts were wearing red shirts. I was VERY disappointed. Second is that they have TERRAIN! Awesome Terrain, massive terrain, Full on Blarog in the hall of Pillars against the fellowship, a 6 foot wall, almost a foot high, that goes back 2 feet to table edge, a dozen houses behind it. There was a Necromunda Factory table, 6x4 and not a single place that was more than 3 inches wide. Easlily 5 or 6 levels with catwalks and rails and stairs. They had about 20 tables, most with notices that you needed 75% painted models and no unprimed models to play on them. the staff was friendly, listened to stories, they did more pushing of upcoming events than of products. But if they have you in there every weekend, you'll buy something right?

I think they had one of every model in production in the store (just for you hanners I looked at all the Skaven Finecast. 1 for 6 were good, though only problem I found on two were super excessive flash.) There were a dozen display cases with amazing samples of every army. I saw at least 3 titans, including a Chaos one. The Skaven case was all one guy, and there were at LEAST 200 Giant rats. A whole 2ftx2ft BRICK of giant rats. Three Bells lined up on next to the other. At least 3 VerminLords one in a Raggedy Anne Dress.

The playing room was decorated with awards, a couple of game boards, and a complete set full sized weapons. I saw chain swords, bolters, the end of the room had a Firewarrior helmet, with two pulse rifles. The fantasy side had some faux brickwork and shields. It looked like a few were made by local gaming champions. There was painting room as well, with a half dozen life sized banners that looked like they were made by fans. There was a "True Scale" Dark Angel by the Door by the way. By the back there was a paint table with house paint where they were making one of those magic circles from the Tor, which was 5 foot across. it had a giant skull in teh middle.

Now as I was leaving we did have a discussion about giant skulls, he pointed out a couple of buildings that didn't have them if I liked. Then he made teh big pitch, they specialize in terrain, and if I bought one of the full table kits, and the paints for it, they could have it professionally finished and ready for pickup before I needed to head back home. They took a simple no though.

All in all it wasn't the biggest store I've ever been it, and Iv'e seen better stocked (They only had CURRENT items) but I have never seen terrain even 1/10th as cool as they had. Wish I had thought to take a camera with me.
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