Yesterday I had a gap in my schedule so I went for a wander through Castletown Shopping Centre in Townsville. I enjoy doing this – and often get insights as to what is “working”, where the people are shopping/not shopping, seeing what is ‘hot’ at local level.
Sometimes there are lessons based on what shops have ‘gorn’ from a high rent precinct.
While it is true that being located in a high traffic place like Castletown does mean higher rents – it is also true that if retailers don’t create systems in their team to “harvest” the traffic – they are doomed or are simply leaving money on the table.
So – as I wandered around looking at trends – I remembered that I needed a new belt. (Because our new puppy ‘Albert’ had a wonderful time chewing my favourite one. ) I wander into a menswear shop – past the ‘salesman’ who did not look up from whatever ‘admin?’ he was doing at the “sales” counter.
Oh well – I head over to a rack of belts and start looking through them. After a minute or so I note they are ‘budget’ looking and move to the next rack. They all appear to be too long for me. I look hopefully over to the “salesman” who refuses to look up. Oh well. I don’t really need a new belt now, not really. And I walk out past the “salesman” who still has not in any way communicated with - apart from the feeling of disinterest.
Chances are that with even a little service I would have spent about $200, right then. I may even have come back again if I were invited. I would have freely given my name and details so that they could contact me with ‘special offers’, and I would have accepted a ‘frequent purchaser’ card. But no – I missed out on some great service.
Even the awful “Kin I help you?” script would have produced some revenue for this business from me. Now I will do my shopping elsewhere.
What are your retail sales team doing to your ‘potential’ customers? I only hope that the “salesman” in this case was not the owner.
Cheers
James
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So true. Retail organisations must realise the impact an individual customer service employee, and their complacency towards customers can have on the long term success of their business, particularly if they’re small to medium retail. It is interesting to note, the same poor levels of customer care is often seen in larger retail organisations, yet, unfortunately the impact is not as severe.
I experienced a similar fate when visiting one of the supermarkets that make up the ‘supermarket duopoly’ here in Melbourne. After deciding upon the ‘human interaction’ option over the ‘self service checkout’ option, I was bewildered to find myself being completely and utterly ignored, no greeting, no smile, no acknowledgment – wow, I would have received a bucket load more of personality from the self service checkout. Like yourself, I will do my shopping elsewhere, but unfortunately the options are wearing thin. In hindsight, I would have asked her manager whether that’s how they now train their employees.