Attn: Telco Sales People - How Do I Get a Great Deal from You?

• 

  Unorthodox on 09/04/2018 - 21:31

  +1

  Yes you definitely can.

  Firstly, there's company owned stores and franchise/dealer stores.
  (I think Optus ended up buying back most if not all their stores).

  Generally you can get a better deal at the non-company owned stores as they'll be chasing the commission along with the KPI. Company owned stores pay a better hourly wage and have stricter guidelines on offers.

  That being said, if you talk to someone who is an assistant store manager or above, they have discretionary power to provide more.

  Sometimes it's about being nice and likeable enough that you'll get given that discount and/or extras because the sales person doesn't suffer, they just need to input more and lodge a system request/get the back end team to process it.

  You're also able to try get the online chat or phone support to do better. Each channel has exclusive discretionary powers.

  If you're not getting better than the advertised price/offering, you're not trying.

  Usually tier 1 - data 2gb - 5gb or 10% off plan

• 

  Xetrok on 09/04/2018 - 21:57

  When I worked at a Telstra Licensed Shop (non-company owned) years ago you were very much bound by what's an 'in market' offer/promo by the system.
  You had no power/authority to override or promise more than what is currently on offer.

  The best you could score (alone with no promos etc) was a free car charger or case if you were a new/port in contract - but at the discretion of a manager.

  The retention team generally have special plans for those threatening to disconnect and are often $10 discounts or free data etc. but you generally need to ring up or have a chat to someone on livechat and can be hit or miss if they're even offered at all based on the product.

  • 

    stirlo on 10/04/2018 - 14:22

    I second this, Telstra Store prices were fixed. Almost zero flexibility in the computer system to add discounts/extras, if there were we'd add them to pretty much anyone straight up as we just wanted the sale. Asking harder wouldn't get you anywhere, we'd either be able to and would freely give them out or be blocked by the system so couldn't do anything even if we desperately wanted to.

    Sometimes you might be able to throw in a cheap accessory that the store manager would write off but monthly costs were 100% fixed with no room for negotiation.

• 

  [Deactivated] on 09/04/2018 - 22:06

  -2

  yeah no.

• 

  Strahany on 10/04/2018 - 20:10

  +1

  It depends on the Telco, store, etc. As mentioned above, franchise stores would appear to have more leeway, but that isn't always guaranteed. In addition, I've found that telesales and internet sales staff have greater authority to offer such deals, which I've always assumed to be an attempt to nullify the downside of not getting the service/handset immediately, like you would in a store.

  Ultimately, a staff member can only offer what is either permissible from higher ups, or perhaps only what is possible (i.e some systems are such that plan offers, prices, etc can't be changed). My rule of thumb is that the more 'expensive' the Telco is, and the wider variety of products they offer, the more potential for discounts. This is because they earn so much profit from people on standard on sub-par deals that they can afford to offer a discount to close your particular sale.

  Keep in mind that some staff members simply can't, either because no capability to do so is afforded to them at that given time or even at all (according to the first hand account from one friend, one particular Telco never afford staff the ability to provide 'bonus offers' to close sales unless several hoops are jumped through to meet strict criteria, and even then said bonuses were miniscule). In the event that you've asked one or two times and have been told 'no', just give up because that frontline staff probably couldn't care less. Back in my McDonald's days, I had a customer threaten to 'walk away' from a sale because I wouldn't let them have a dollar off a burger, as if it mattered to a teenager behind a counter on minimum wage.