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Podcasts Take Two
Do snobby salespeople make for higher sales?
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May 5, 2014
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Do snobby salespeople make for higher sales?
It's no surprise that salespeople at high end stores can be a little snobby. While you might expect that the a rude salesperson would turn customers off, in some cases, the opposite is true.
Scene from the film, "Pretty Woman."
Scene from the film, "Pretty Woman."
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It's no surprise that salespeople at high end stores can be a little snobby. While you might expect that the a rude salesperson would turn customers off, in some cases, the opposite is true.

If you do your shopping at high end boutiques, or even if you've just walked into one, you've probably encountered a less than friendly salesperson.

If you haven't, maybe you remember this scene from "Pretty Woman" when Julia Roberts' character Vivian walks into a Rodeo Drive boutique...

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In this case, she takes her business elsewhere. But in reality, when it comes to luxury stores, the snobbier the salespeople, the better the sales. That's according to "Should the Devil Sell Prada?," a new study from the Journal of Consumer Research.

Lead author of the study, Darren Dahl is a professor at the Sauder School of Business at the University of British Columbia. He joins the show to talk about the outcome of the study.