Confessions of a Former Dell Sales Manager

Posted on June 15th, 2007 by Liz

The Consumerist, one of many consumer awareness sites on the internet posted a very interesting article on the inner workings of computer sales at Dell.

Since I know many of you order or use Dell for your library computers, I thought this article might be a helpful read.

Some of the high points:

• Small business is better than home and home office – Small business typically runs a few dollars more than the home office, but you stand a better chance of getting domestic tech support rather than non-native English speakers. As an added perk, small business promotions are occasionally better than home. (This is something I’ve been preaching for a while, just from experience!)
• Tech support phone - If you do go with the home/home office/direct route, tech support is outsourced (duh!). The tech support instant messenger typically provides a calmer, more understandable conversation due to the fact that accents are taken out of the equation. Think back to high school Spanish. It was always easier to translate the foreign language you were reading than if you heard it. Same concept applies here. (I have had excellent luck with the chat support, especially since I am an avid IM person anyway)
• Promotion cycle dates – Thursday is the first day of new promotions. If you go to the web site at 11:45 p.m. on Wednesday night and again on 1 a.m. on Thursday morning, the promotions are different. The catalog promotions run from the start of the month to the end. Additionally, on holiday weekends (Memorial Day, 4th of July, etc.) there may be special sales/coupons for the three-day weekend.
• Dell’s internal fiscal calendar is different from other corporations. As their fiscal year ends in January or February (I honestly don’t remember), the best deals will typically be found in late January and all of February. Also, buying during the last week of any quarter typically means free or deeply-discounted 2nd day or overnight shipping, and the quickest order turnaround. There are no steep discounts for the holidays, though they will run a few weeks of consecutive percentage off promotions during the back to school season in August.