The Salespeople
You will likely become more frustrated by the varieties of salespeople and their varying knowledge levels, than you will be by trying to find the right gear. Knowing how to handle these salespeople and what to expect at the many types of stores can help you find your HT gear better, faster.

Major Retail Chains
Mass consumer electronics stores such as Best Buy will usually have mediocre technical salespeople to help you with your questions. More often than not, these salespeople generally have little knowledge, and rely on perceptions and rumor to garner their advice. Chances are these salespeople will do more harm than good. It's best to ignore them, and instead rely on your own knowledge to find the right gear.

Dedicated Home Theater Shops
Specialty electronic stores, such as Tweeter or your local stereo/HT hut, represent the smaller chains or individually owned shops that offer a lot more knowledge, and usually more high-end gear as well. These shops tend to have salespeople that can actually help answer any question you may have.

Generally speaking you should be able to find at least 1 or 2 great salespeople in every specialty shop that'll actually answer your questions honestly. The key to finding the right salesperson is finding one that can explain their complex breadth of home theater knowledge in an easy-to-understand manner. That's not to say they should talk down to you, but they should be able to easily explain complex items to alleviate any confusion you may have.

Dedicated home theater shops are also the place where you may find more of the snobby, elitist type salespeople as well. Simply, greet them with the same rudeness they greet you and move on.

Store Myth and Rumors
Many people believe that if you want cheap to middle-of-the-road gear you go to a massive retail outlet for your electronics, and if you want high-end gear go to a specialty store. Truth be told, many of the dedicated HT shops offer gear at every price range. Specialty shops should be able to meet all of your home theater needs with unparalleled service compared to the mass retail chains.

Testing the Salesperson
The best way to test a salespersons knowledge and honesty is to ask them questions which you you already know the answers. Usually you can rely on your gut instinct on whether they're making an honest effort to be helpful. Once a salesperson proves their worth, then you've got a valued resource that you rely upon to ask any home theater question.

Upselling
Salespeople make their living off of how much they sell, so it comes as no surprise that many will try to push you into more expensive gear. The general rule with almost all home theater gear is that you get better quality when you pay more. It always comes down to what you really need, and salespeople that dishonestly try to upsell to you without regard for your needs should be left out in the cold.

Downselling
The best salespeople that you can find will be the salespeople that see you looking at an expensive piece of gear, and still point out a less expensive model that can do the same job. These salespeople are truly interested in helping out the customer in anyway possible, even if that includes downselling.

The Right Person
Finding the right salesperson will add to your joy of going out to test and buy HT gear. A great salesperson will be able to:

• Easily explain technical items in an understandable nature
  
  
• Find out what your system's needs are and suggest gear based on that
  
  
• Let you know what options and benefits you have among different models in your price range
  
  
• Looks out for what your needs are
  
  
• Tries very little or no upselling and possibly downsells
  

Summary
Finding the right salesperson can make a night and day difference in your home theater buying experience, and finding one almost always ensures a repeat visit to that store. Feel free to be rude, ignore, or simply leave any store where the salespeople you find don't stand up to the guidelines listed above, and save your time and money for those that care.

What's Next
This is the step where many people simply buy what they think is best. This couldn't be further from what you should do when buying HT gear. Simply put, don't buy anything yet without finding out if what your looking at is worth your money.

Step #4: Research, Research, Research>>