August 25, 2005

Best Buy means business

Association with local chamber groups seen as a win-win situation

By Lorraine Gabbert
Staff Writer

Early last Saturday, before many had their first cup of coffee, members of the Almaden and Cambrian business associations were utilizing their networking skills while power shopping at Best Buy—their new business partner. Shopping in a relaxed setting, association members enjoyed storewide sales, as well as personalized service and a continental breakfast.

ABA Member Lori Adam enjoyed Best Buy’s business association benefits. Photo by Lorraine Gabbert.

Proactively reaching out to the business community with its “Best Buy For Business” focus, the store is building relationships with the business associations and San Jose Silicon Valley Chamber of Commerce members. To their mutual benefit, Best Buy plans to promote these organizations as well as provide members with cutting-edge products and services.

“This kind of event allows us to build a stronger bond with business owners on an individual basis, as well as with business associations,” says Best Buy business professional James Stout. “It’s also a great opportunity for them to be able to spend a little more time asking questions without feeling any buying pressure.”

Even though she was on her way out of town for the weekend, the sale was enough incentive for Almaden Business Association (ABA) member Lori Adam to make time for. “I’ve been needing a back-up solution for a long time,” said Adam, delighted with the savings she received, along with her purchase.

Besides offering special benefits to chamber and business association members, Best Buy will act as a networking and referral system for these organizations, including them in its Business Community Directory. “We’re asking members to bring in information about their businesses,” says Stout, “and asking prospective members to join these organizations.”

ABA Member Rich De La Rosa enjoyed Best Buy’s Magnolia Home Theatre and appreciates its efforts to partner with the business community. Photo by Kymberli Brady.

Adam appreciates Best Buy’s business-related efforts. “I think it’s a great idea,” she says. “Especially for people who might benefit by advertising their business, as well as saving money for business tools.”

“We’re doing something Best Buy’s never done before,” says business manager Scott Turner, who planned this event. “We’re doing more than selling products. We find out what the customer really needs and make their businesses and lives better. We’re taking care of our community.”

In fact, Best Buy is so attuned to its customers that each store’s merchandise is specialized to reflect its community. “By year end, there’s a mandate at many of our stores to have 20 percent of our product mix defined by our local consumers, as opposed to our corporate headquarters,” says Stout.

Going hi-tech
In addition to its innovative Best Buy For Business approach, Best Buy used the occasion to showcase its Magnolia Home Theatre and Surround Sound Environments, as well as its newly expanded appliance department, complete with multimedia model kitchens.

In a plush setting featuring seductive leather sofas and captain chairs, elegant tables and décor, association members relaxed in the lap of luxury while enjoying the sensory experience of the Magnolia Home Theatre system.

Displayed on a coffee table, Microsoft’s Windows Media Center allowed the members to see how a remote control and wireless computer can be easily incorporated into the home entertainment system, allowing owners to watch movies, listen to music or surf the net, all from the comfort of their family room sofas.

Best Buy business professional James Stout shows off one of Best Buy’s model kitchens, featuring multimedia. Photo by Lorraine Gabbert

To aid customers in choosing accessories such as better DVD cables for instance, Best Buy played the same movie on two screens, demonstrating the audio and visual differences between them.

In an adjacent audio room, visitors stood before the latest streamlined wood-detailed speakers, experiencing firsthand the difference in hearing the same piece of music played through two speakers and the full surround-sound experience.

“By acquiring Magnolia a few years ago, we were able set up subsets of those stores in a corner of ours, and carry these brands of televisions and home theatre equipment,” says Stout.

Stout sees the convergence of high-definition television (HDTV), digital cameras, computers and iPods as elements of a digital entertainment experience or digital lifestyle. “At some point all of these things will come together and we are the glue that can make it happen,” he says. “iPods are being used today as educational tools. You can subscribe to lectures like subscribing to a newspaper, and carry around information for your personal growth, as well as music.”

“A lot of what we’re trying to do is to demystify everything,” adds Stout. “It’s more complex today to put all the pieces together, but it’s not an impossible task. We will arrange for installing it and show you how to use it so you can get full use of your investment.”

Best Buy for Business is strongly committed to providing computers and related services at competitive prices to the business community. It is also striving to offer a high level of expertise through personal consultants and “secret agents,” certified with Microsoft and Cisco, responsible for creating security and networking devices.

Geek Squad to the rescue!
In addition, through its Geek Squad service, Best Buy provides not only hardware, but also personal trouble-shooting assistance. “If you have a problem, you can call the Geek Squad and they’ll come out to your house and get you going again,” says Stout. The Geek Squad can also act as an IT staff for the business community or set up a wireless computer network and related security in a home. “We stand behind our work, making the customer happy,” adds Stout.

Best Buy also recently added demonstration kitchens called Appliance Consumer Expert or “ACE,” to its store, featuring premium brands usually associated with EXPO stores. They also now offer kitchen-remodeling services.

“You’re starting to see appliances with built in LCD televisions or hidden portable music systems,” says Stout. “The kitchen is not just for meal preparation anymore.”

The model kitchens are a vision of Appliance Supervisor Norm Finn, created to help a customer visualize what an integrated kitchen system would look like. “It’s a way to let customers know that we have an expanded offering,” he says. “Being customer-centric, we ask questions regarding the customer’s lifestyle while working within their needs and budget.”

Shoppers Frank and Suzanne Shao, who were interested in purchasing a new stove, were impressed with Finn’s approach to customer service. “He’s wonderful,” Suzanne says. “He already has a sale. He saw what our needs were, and recommended accordingly.”

Frank Shao appreciates that by attending Cambrian Business Association meetings, Best Buy has developed a personal relationship with them. “I feel comfortable coming in here,” he says. “I know everybody. It makes a difference.”

A beneficial relationship
“It’s great that a large company like Best Buy would want to do this. It’s mutually beneficial,” says Almaden Business Association member Rich De La Rosa. “We’ve had some nice partnerships with other small businesses, but this is the first time that a larger business has been so proactive, and hopefully it will catch on.”

Best Buy buys into the business community. Photo by Lorraine Gabbert.

Stout looks forward to growing the business through serving the community. “We’re committed to helping our customers,” he says.

Turner agrees. “Hopefully, when a customer needs electronics for their home and business, they’ll think of us first,” he says, “and not just because we have good prices, but also because we really try our best to take care of them.”

As a small business owner, De La Rosa says he would recommend Best Buy to others. “If someone was to ask me, ‘Where can you get this?’ who are you going to think of? You’re going to think of your partners,” he says, “and obviously Best Buy has become that.”

“This is a whole new Best Buy,” adds Stout smiling.

Best Buy is located at 5065 Almaden Expressway (near Hwy 85). For a Business Rewards Zone card and to speak to a business pro about adding your business to its Business Resource Directory, contact James Stout at 408-393-4779 or by e-mail at jamespstout@hotmail.com.