LAS VEGAS, NV, United States – In the USA, there’s nobody better to sell a Windows Phone than Joe Komar, a T-Mobile sales lead. He’s a huge fan of Nokia and Windows Phone and has sold countless mobile phones in his seven-year career. He’s also won an annual sales contest in Northern California, so he knows his stuff. As a treat, Nokia scooped up Joe and took him to CES for a week to enjoy the show, as well as the party scene.
Former Nokia Conversations editor-in-chief Phil Schwarzmann spent some time with Joe to find out what makes him tick and hear about his phone-selling experiences.
When you work in a store, you’re meeting people face-to-face. It’s a real social interaction:
“The secret to selling phones is talking to people, finding out what they want.”
There’s no trickery involved in selling a phone to somebody. Ultimately, a person wants a phone that’s built for purpose, and intuitive to use. Sometimes, though, a customer may think they want a certain model of phone just because they’re told they should have one by friends.
“There are still a lot of people out there who haven’t yet had the time to play with Windows Phone. It’s not the same as the old OS, Windows Mobile. It’s totally evolved into something new, beautiful, streamlined and automatic,” Joe tells us.
We know that T-Mobile doesn’t stock the iPhone in the USA, but when it comes to the phones that they do stock, such as the Nokia Lumia 710, Joe says it’s no competition:
“Once people see how Windows Phone works and I show the differences between Android and iPhone I can get them to buy Windows Phone. I would say 7 out of 10 times.”
What about returned phones, ones that have gone faulty or just if people changed their minds? Of course, every phone store expects a certain amount of returns, but Joe tells us it depends on the phone they sold in the first place.
“When people come back in with a phone, it’s always something that’s crashed, or something. This usually ends in a master reset or sending it back for warranty repair. People don’t like being without their phones for an extended period of time.”
“This doesn’t happen with Windows Phone, that’s why I love selling it. People don’t come back in with Windows Phone problems.”
We’ve been following Joe’s CES shenanigans on Twitter – he’s @NokiaJoe1 – and it looks like he’s been having a great time. He’s met Chris Weber, seen Las Vegas from a helicopter, and is taking Limousines around town. We’ve heard he’s also been partying networking hard at several fancy gatherings.
Joe also dyes his hair dark blue, especially for the Nokia and Microsoft partnership. Now, there’s dedication.
The Nokia Lumia 710 is now on sale (in white and black) in the United States at your nearest T-Mobile store, costing only $49.99 on a two year service plan.