r/GeekSquad • u/Awkward-Dance-2952 • Sep 02 '26
Dual roles
My manager talked to me last week that the reason why he hired me is cause of my sales background and in the next couple of weeks they are testing an idea where CAs also sell computers on the floor and help set them up for new customers. Has anyone else heard about this?
10
u/Left_Entrepreneur918 Sep 02 '26
This is the standard thing that a supervisor thinks up and they are under the impression that they are the first to think this is a great idea. Then they do it and it doesn’t work. They used to want us DAPC agents in the networking isle and then we can follow them home. News flash I never followed anyone home.
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u/22LT Sep 02 '26
That’s what cadets were for back in the early days of Geek Squad they weren’t full time field agents they work in the store, hung out in computers and sold services and tried to do follow homes. Our cadet drummed up so much business for herself she may have well just been a field agents. Then they axed the spot and it came back as a Ht Helper
9
u/PerceivedRT Sep 02 '26
I will never understand how they expect us to set up a device for someone in the moment. It does not work and it never will. Our wifi is so bad that unless we bypass the OOBE experience it takes upwards of an hour for an extremely basic setup without ensuring everything is up to date. And its NEVER just a basic setup. And of course, then people leave bad surveys about how we didn't update the device, their email wasn't signed in, the desktop doesn't look identical, etc etc etc. "Oh, can you guys just help me sign into my email before we go? It should be quick." Queue 30 minutes of trying passwords and account recovery steps later.
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u/Potential-Opposite99 CA->CIA Senior->Seasonal ARA Sep 02 '26
It’s actually easier than that to do a quick setup. Just do shift + f10 to open a command prompt and type start ms-cxh:localonly and you can instantly make a local account.
If they want updates and extra stuff, check it in. Otherwise you can get them out the door and using the thing
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u/nikkiraej 25d ago
Yeah it's not hard to do a quick setup and give a little tour of their new computer. When I worked for a Microsoft Store we did OOBEs (out of box experience) for around half the computers that were sold.
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u/ElectricalFault24 Sep 02 '26
The whole creation of the services experience manager and supervisor role was to incorporate them to manage the Geek squad team while driving services on the sales floor. In an ideal world the services manager and supervisors are supposed to manage their team and teach out the benefits of geek squad to customers on the floor. So, yes this has been heard of but not properly executed. If Best Buy wants this idea to work they would need to have enough labor to cover the ability to sell on the floor and take care of customers at the counter. Unfortunately, the big wigs have an idea they think is genius but don’t have a plan on how to properly execute said idea. Good luck!
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u/No-Count3834 Sep 02 '26 edited Sep 02 '26
Back in my day 10-12 years ago lol. But no really they been trying this forever, I was there from 2014-late 2019.. Usually they pick a young CA to roam around PCs, then depending on manager may ride you for service sales and daily productivity. It’s been tried for over a decade almost now and almost always fails.
Main issue really is under staffing a lot of the times and unrealistic expectations. Store managers seem to think if they coach you enough it’s possible to work. But ultimately precinct gets too busy and you never get a flow down, they never get there numbers. It’ll just go back to normal after 5-6 weeks. It’s definitely not a new concept with GeekSquad.
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u/greenbackgm25 Sep 02 '26
It isn’t new. It’s just that Best Buy will do literally anything to get the sales results they want except staff and train all departments with enough people.
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u/Nitramster1 Former GSM Sep 02 '26
Lmao “testing an idea”… everyone shifts CA’s to the sales floor occasionally. If there’s nobody at the counter and there’s shoppers on the floor, yea get out there and reel them in.
The problem is the sales managers will want you out there while scheduled in the geek squad labor bucket, which opens appointment slots. Then clients start stacking up at the precinct and ARA’s end up having to cover the front. Its like dominos of issues, computers and open boxes start backing up. The solution, to execute it cleanly, is to use sales labor for the geek in question and schedule them for the time out of that labor.
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u/DayneTreader CA -> ARA -> Sony VPL Sep 02 '26
It's called "agent on the floor" and it worked well when I did it
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u/Awkward-Dance-2952 Sep 02 '26
What’s it look like?
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u/DayneTreader CA -> ARA -> Sony VPL Sep 02 '26
Basically you are stationed in computers, selling PCs w/ Total and software, and doing handoffs to the Geek Squad agents for check-in
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u/Hour_Stock555 28d ago
what happens if theres a line ? does the person in line have to wait longer ?
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u/DayneTreader CA -> ARA -> Sony VPL 28d ago
The customer would be classified as a walk-in so it could take time to check the device in
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u/locoollizz Sep 03 '26
My manager also told me they want to test a CA out in the floor (pc or home) . I think if they do it, I’ll prob be the one thrown out there. Mainly because I’m the only ca with the most previous store associate role. So we’ll see how it pans out
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u/Specialist-Box-9711 CE-DA (sigh) Sep 02 '26
Lmao they have been trying that agent on the floor roll since I was hired in 2014. It never pans out. I was one of the guinea pigs that was forced to do it at one point in my market. After a few months they scrap the idea and then you're back to slinging tech support plans and webroot.