LEAKS: Best Buy's Internal Customer Profiling Document
Attention Profiled Shoppers: Consumerist is now in possession of an internal training document that teaches Best Buy blue shirts how to stereotype customers. While Best Buy's use of personas has been known for several years, our exclusively obtained document contains several brand-new Best Buy personas, including "Maria Middle America" and "Empty Nesters" Helen and Charlie.
Why do customers need to be stereotyped, you ask? Because some customers are good, and others are bad, and Best Buy employees need to know which ones are which.
Back in 2004, the Wall Street Journal announced that Best Buy had a new customer service strategy. The meat and potatoes of the new strategy was this: Best Buy would concentrate on outwitting pesky bargain-hunters (now known as "demons")and cater only to its most profitable customers, or "angels." This new philosophy was based on the work of Larry Selden, a professor at Columbia University's Graduate School of Business, and consultant to Best Buy.
Larry is all about the customer. He hates products, "...the obsessive focus on products needs to be replaced by an even more obsessive focus on the customer," he says.
One might assume that with this customer-obsessed guy directing Best Buy's strategy, there'd be an emphasis on customer service. Not so.
In fact, the first thing Best Buy did after adopting Selden's method was amend their return policy to include a 15% restocking fee. Too many "demon" customers were returning things.
The most important part this new world order is the "persona." Personas are essentially stereotypes that Best Buy's salespeople study in order to sell their most profitable services to different "types" of customers. Young urban males are called "Buzz." Upper middle class women are known as "Jill."
Each persona comes with a customized sales approach. Jill wants Best Buy to "help me find and fuel my new passions so I can remain true to myself," whereas upscale suburban Barry wants "premium brands presented as a total solution."
And what happens to those bargain-hunting demons? Best Buy CEO Brad Anderson told the Wall Street Journal in 2004 "that Best Buy will first try to turn its bad customers into profitable ones by inducing them to buy warranties or more profitable services."
"In most cases, customers wouldn't recognize the options we've tried so far," he said. Maybe this new document (which adds several new categories to the known Best Buy persona universe) can help.
NEW PERSONAS:
Meet Carrie (Young Urban Female), Maria (Middle American Female), and (Empty Nesters) Helen and Charlie!
Click on the pictures below to bring up the slides. navigate using arrows that appear (when moused over) at the left, top and right of the slide, or using the "previous" "next" and "gallery" links at the bottom.
PREVIOUSLY: Best Buy Profiles Customers
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Comments:
According to the company, you are a bad customer if you just buy the product on the shelf and not anything else....
"Best Buy CEO Brad Anderson told the Wall Street Journal in 2004 "that Best Buy will first try to turn its bad customers into profitable ones by inducing them to buy warranties or more profitable services.""
In the Words of Eric Cartman.... LAME.
"I want to stand apart - with style and newness"
- Carrie (Young Urban Female)
Oh lordy.
Nothing BB has in their arsenal suprises me, really.
"Ray is engaged in the shrewd pursuit of a more fun and exciting family life."
Shrewd pursuit indeed!
I think that is my new imaginary band name:
"Ray and the Shrewd Pursuit"
Correct me if I'm wrong, but don't most businesses do this? Isn't it an appropriate way to teach employees how to interact with different types of customers?
I mean, suppose you run a computer hardware store. You are going to pitch products differently to a techie than you will to a layman.
In a website design class we had cards like these (albiet less information). We had people like "Technical Tony" and "Stay-at-home Sara".
It's profiling like this that has made me actively stay away from Best Buy for the past couple of years now.
Grouping customers into narrow "slices" is a pretty common marketing tactic. While it seems kind of stupid, since not everybody can be put into pigeonholes, it can help in sales training for folks that simply do not have the "knack" to figure out sales strategies themselves. Catering to profitable customers is not exactly the height of evil, nor is trying to get unprofitable customers to shop somewhere else.
As long as everything is done without denying anybody any consumer rights, I don't see any problem with it, even if I doubt it is nearly as effective as marketing consultants think it is.
SirWired
Oh wow. Just.. wow...
Can we get this as a download in a simple package like the walmart powerpoint that circulated a few years back. (I'm just a little lazy today)
Can I just say that I'm glad Best Buy hasn't profiled me yet. That makes me feel better about myself. Thanks Best Buy!
Ah, ya gotta screw with these guys. Marias, go get your noses pierced and don't take the kids. They'll think you're a Carrie. Now, go outta your way to behave like a Helen. Fun times, people!
They messed up Buzz's profile. He does not in fact like Best Buy. He uses Best Buy as an very last resort.
Buzz in fact likes Newegg.
Ominous - But Buzz's bonehead cousin, BeerBong, is a very loyal Best Buy customer.
Do they have any hot young female profiles? Carrie sounds like she'd be high maintenance. :-\
This is basic sales education. For a store that doesn't have commission it's a bit unnecessary but it probably is good for Best Buy's bottom line. I can't fault them for this one.
Anyone who thinks they aren't sized up like this when they walk into a car dealership or high-end electronics retailer is fooling themselves.
"customer coaching" -- what a depressing idea
I can't imagine what they cast me as...I tend to be more unkempt than I should be. They probably have some secret list of customer profiles for people who should be followed around the store.
Poor Carrie--they think she's pretty shallow. "ME ME ME"
I like how all of their profiles pretty much say that the person is cheap. "does not want to pay full price"
I don't see the problem here. For the most part, these profiles / stereotypes look about right to me. A good salesperson will know when (s)he is dealing with someone different, of course.
if there truly are demons out there, the entire SD/FW/etc community must be satan themselves. ::reaches for pitchfork::
Funny thing about 'Ray' - he would never shop at BestBuy because their prices suck.
So you don't make commissions but they will train you as such. Fucking Best Buy. Die already. DIE!!!
Is there a profile for 30 something who only goes into Best Buy to take 3 hour lunches and play their free video games in the nice gaming chairs.
Remember when "bad" customers were ones that shopped anywhere else but your store?
I'm not sure if this is supposed to be surprising, or what. There are tons of companies out there specializing in similar "customer segmentation" products, which are just sets of consumer profiles in different permutations. Acxiom, Claritas, Buxton, Cohorts, Yankelovich, etc etc... They all make money profiling consumer groups and selling the data to marketers and retailers. The fact that Best Buy uses a similar product isn't particularly surprising, nor is it offensive, nor does it affect my opinion of them.
".......Larry is all about the customer. He hates products........"
Funny, isn't that what we want?
When I worked at Best Buy, we were quizzed over this information in order to keep our job. No joke. I worked as a service technician.
It's called "Demographics", and it can mean anything from cultural to societal to "common shopper types", and there is nothing really wrong with it. How else do you prepare Joe Schmoe trainee blue-shirt to do his job? You give him examples which he may come across. Heaven forbid that there might be moms aged 35 to 40 with kids aged 8-12 out there...how dare they!
Also, when did it become wrong for a company to attempt to know it's best customers? There is such a thing as a bad customer, the one who only comes in on super sales to price match and such - they just arent profitable, and you cannot blame a business for attempting to make profit...
/rant.
Usually I side with the Consumerist on these things, but now you're just condemning capitalism...
@sleze69: Oh I wouldn't doubt it. I bought a laptop from BB a few months ago. They were ignoring me. I went with my bro and he told me to stand next to the most expensive laptop. Lo and behold someone came to help me.
If I could have just taken a tag to the register for the laptop I would not have needed help, I knew exactly what I wanted.
It was hilarious, though. The guy was trying to convince me I was certifiable for not purchasing their additional services. I've set up dozens of computers before and the stuff he was telling me was silly but I tried to humor him.
My nephew was so entertained by it, he nicknamed the laptop after the guy who sold it.
Well Consumerist you're a few years behind here. Not only is this something Best Buy actively promoted publicly but they've been doing it a long time. They redesigned their stores a few years ago and publicly pointed out these personas they were trying to attract. Next you're going to point out internal Best Buy documents that tell us HD-DVD is dead.
I think it'd be funny to go into Best Buy and act exactly like one of these stereotypes.
What percentage of associates would "get it"?
Not pictured: the pirate, the noble savage or the candlestick maker.
@OminousG:
Not exactly... Buzz likes looking at things at best buy... he likes buying things from online.
Oh, BROTHER. They think I'm a Helen, when I'm really a BUZZ.
Bad enough when they address the Monster Cable sales pitch to my spouse on the rare occasions we visit, when I'm the one who's wired the house systems (and buy from Monoprice, of course).
Grandmothers love technology, too, Best Buy idiots. Only thing you got right is that we also HAVE MONEY.
I went into the new local BB this weekend (late Sunday, about an hour before closing) just because I was bored. They had *way* too many people working there and trying to help me. Must be because it's a new store. Or maybe they pegged me as "Barry."
@sleze69:
Hell, banks do this exact same thing, especially now that the focus of banks is to push their retail products. I worked for a bank up until a few years ago, and they had been doing exactly this for some time and were really getting big into it when I left.
I see this thread is well-stocked with the anti-demographic demographic.
''Time to respect your elders'' : I love the title!
Does that mean that employees were disrespecting elders BEFORE?
Or all employees left, are kids without any concept of respect?
@JackAshley: If you read what they wrote for the employees :) It looks like it was written for kids out of kindergarten, who do not know how to sustain a polite and professional conversation.
Just for fun : go on Best Buy website and APPLY for a job.
The questionnaire is moronic and insulting. We were ROFL reading questions. I would never want to work for a company who treats potential applicants like this ;)
The part of me that thinks I'm a unique snowflake hates this sort of crap, but honestly this isn't anything new nor surprising.
What I don't really understand about the whole thing though; when I go into a Best Buy (or any other electronics retailer) I go with a purpose, and I know exactly what I want. I'm not looking for a 'lifestyle'. I want X, and I know what it should cost.
Are there really people that just sort of wander into Best Buy that aren't sure why they are there - but are hoping to find a TV that defines them?
I ought to go in there dressed as a redneck and see how they react. First sales droid that comes up to me will probably point me to appliances, the smucks!
My initial thought - "Maria" is the last name I'd pick for Middle America. It sounds, at the very least, Catholic, possibly even Hispanic.
Ugh, they think I'm a Carrie. Which is pretty accurate, except that I'm a Carrie that prefers to shop at Amazon or Newegg or...well, just about anywhere but Best Buy. I don't even have to get all self-righteous about "I'll pay more to avoid them," either, because their prices blow.
@JackAshley: because it's mostly fluff - sales fluff designed to extract maximum profit. Real customer benefit comes from knowledgeable product information. If it improves friendly service techniques, that's about the best you could hope for from this drivel.
@JackAshley:
Agreed.
If you don't like that companies try to profile their customer types, don't bother shopping anywhere. This is all about identifying your core customers and improving the chances of making a sale. There is nothing discriminatory in the presentation. The fact that Best Buy was "caught" doesn't mean almost all retailers do the same thing. As long as a group isn't being discriminated against, it's perfectly fine. Business 101.
I will now shove an icepick into my eye for defending BB.
@girly: Best Buy doesn't work on commissions, actually... so standing next to the most expensive laptop wouldn't really mean anything to the salesperson.
About 3 years or so ago I worked at CompUSA (argh). When I first joined salespeople were on commission, which made for some decent dough to get myself through college. Then the stores went through "Oh shit our company is failing" retraining. They got rid of commission, which pissed lots of folks off.
Anyways, point of the story is that they had something like this, except in a much more offensive manner. For example, the top-tier buyer was called a "pig" or something to that affect. I forgot what they called the lowest-tier buyer, but the whole thing was overall offensive in its approach.
So glad that company is dead.
Gee, I wonder how much Larry soaked Best Buy for this load of steaming dog-doo ?