Question About MA's Selling Palettes

[MACtastic]

Ok so I was at the MAC counter at the Stonestown Nordstrom in SF, and there was this semi-pushy salesperson. I mean, she was pretty pushy about everything, but she was being downright scary when it came to trying to get me to buy one of the new palettes. She went as far as trying to convince me that 2 potted shadows cost only $1 less than the palettes...sorry, but I know my MAC better than that . Anyways..do MA's get some extra commission or something for palettes?

 

[d_flawless]

at nordstrom, yes. they are actually paid on commission as well as salary and palattes are more expensive than say a single e/s, so i'm sure she was probably trying to jump on that...

i would ask who it was, but that's pretty lame of me...let's just say that counter is not my fav...there are some really nice girls who do work there, but i always seem to get the MAs i don't really favor

 

[mzreyes]

umm yea.. theres some weird ones at that counter. i've had my experiences. lol..

 

[MACGoddess]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MACtastic Ok so I was at the MAC counter at the Stonestown Nordstrom in SF, and there was this semi-pushy salesperson. I mean, she was pretty pushy about everything, but she was being downright scary when it came to trying to get me to buy one of the new palettes. She went as far as trying to convince me that 2 potted shadows cost only $1 less than the palettes...sorry, but I know my MAC better than that . Anyways..do MA's get some extra commission or something for palettes?

I want to say it is just Nordstrom MAC Counters that get a commission on their sales, (one reason why I always shopped at the store I work at now) but she really shouldn't have said that... For the 4 pan quads - 3 e/s is a dollar less than the 4 pan AND 4 e/s for it, so that is true. And the palettes for Holiday are even cheaper than the 4 pans... $36 versus $43.50...

She could have said that you could get 3 potted e/s for $40 or get a palette of SIX and a brush to put them on with for $36...imo that makes it a better deal, but she did sound way pushy.

 

[baby_love]

I don't like any of the MA's there. it's not even a matter of doing makeup for them, it's about selling shit. ughhh.

 

[SARAHluvsMAC]

its more about AUS than commission...
I dont think she cares about the couple of cents of commission she was gonna get, she cares about having your sale be over $50

 

[MACtastic]

*sigh* Thanks guys. I mean, I'm all for making the sale, I'm a salesperson too, so I know how it goes. But there's a fine line between trying to make a sale and being pushy as hell. Hrm...maybe I'll stick to going to the MAC freestanding store in Hillsdale Mall.

 

[k_im]

ooh that reminds me. I work for Walgreens and they were talking about a cashier in cosmetics who was trying to sell individual fragrances rather than the gift sets we got for Christmas because she gets higher commissions off of the individuals by saying that the ones in the sets are not as good. LAME~

 

[Cosmopolitics]

Quote:

Originally Posted by k_im ooh that reminds me. I work for Walgreens and they were talking about a cashier in cosmetics who was trying to sell individual fragrances rather than the gift sets we got for Christmas because she gets higher commissions off of the individuals by saying that the ones in the sets are not as good. LAME~

Haha, I work for Walgreens too (cosmetics), and she is all kinds of dumb for saying that.

Corporate is trying to make us be all pushy too, because all they care about is numbers and percentages. Whatever, I don't buy into that. They don't seem to get whether it be Walgreens or MAC, most of the time, people don't like pushy salespeople!

 

[amoona]

Aw that sucks! I totally love that counter, that's my spot. I always get my makeup done there cuz their artists are sooo good. I've never experienced pushy sales people there but I always go to the same makeup artists. I hate the hillsdale counter cuz their mas suck n the mac freestanding store at hillsdale as really rude n unhelpful people workin there. I guess its different for everyone.

If u do decide to go back go to bradley or hayliey they're awesome. I actually think I might know the pushy girl ur talkin bout ... not sure but she's the only pushy one I can think of. Hope u have a better experience at ur next trip.

 

[angela]

awww.. how awkward! I used to shop at that counter every week before i got hired at Macy's union sq. I noticed that 99% of those girls are NEW. Coming from an MA's position, I can see why she was so pushy. As stated above, she probably was pushing more for a high AUS/IPT than commission. At macy's in sf, the MAC employees dont work off commission

In my experience, I feel VERY uncomfortable trying to "push" people to buy things. I just try to read customers and get a sense of what they need as opposed to approaching them with dollar signs in my eyes. I think that if your an honest salesperson people tend trust you more and perhaps come back to you even if they only need to buy 1 item at the moment! k im done. thats just my 2 cents

 

[MAC_Whore]

I hate salespeople who push. I instantly tune them out and go to someone else.

When I worked as a MAC MA, I never focused on my sales goals or aus/ipt. Seriously, if you are listening to the client and providing good customer service and advice, you will always meet or exceed your "sales goals". Customers feel comfortable with you. They know they are getting value for their money. Too bad your MA doesn't practice that. Sorry for your bad experience.

P.S. I always hated them being called "my sales goals", as they weren't really "my" goals they were Estee Lauders.

 

[redambition]

a pushy sales pesron is usually a person who is not good at selling. they don't listen but have a preconceived notion of what you want, based on their training or product knowledge.

a good sales person will not push you to buy something you don't want, but will listen and suggest to you things that you do want and things that will improve what you want (thereby potentially increasing the sale)

an excellent sales person will listen to what you want, improve on it and then convince you that you do actually want the product you didn't want before... and if they are superb you'll think wanting that other product was your own idea.

in all honesty, if someone tries to push something on me that i don't want i'll immediately get suspicious and back off. someone who tries to tell me i want something totally different to what i'm looking for, but then can't demonstrate WHY i should want it without resorting to price/value for money arguments usually demonstrates that they aren't listening to me. (i might like to add that i rate service and product above price points. i rarely choose to buy something because it's the cheapest option.) sure, a quad may be better value than 3 eyeshadows, but if i only like 2 eye shadows in the quad then i've wasted my money.

i have to feel like i can trust the SA to give me good advice and good service. if i don't feel that, then they don't get my sale. end of story.

 

[MAC_Whore]

Well said, redambition!

 

[redambition]

thank you, MAC_Whore!

i could go on for hours about pushy sales people and how cranky they make me and how to deal with them. i've had plenty of exposure to them in my line of work - procurement. every girl's dream, i get to spend lots of (other people's) money every day.