We have had a few office discussions recently about customer service disappointments, you know those times when the service that you receive was not what you expected to receive. It really got me thinking, that it is very true, that most complaints stem from not the way that the sale or transaction was performed, not from the actual shopping experience, but most complaints come from how a mistake is either ignored or corrected, or how a bad outcome was handled.
We are human, mistakes happen, we all expect something to go wrong at some time. You know the drill, the item won't scan at the checkout, a price check is called, the checkout operator has no idea how much the item is, they ask you, but I have no idea either, even though I would have looked at the price when choosing that item, I never buy anything without checking the price. For the time it takes to get the price, in labour costs it would have been cheaper for the supermarket to just give you the item! My time is valuable, the checkout operator's time is valuable, no one wants queues, or to wait in a queue, but they happen. How long would you wait before complaining? What is an acceptable time to wait? It all depends on what you are doing next, what you were doing, how many things you are buying. If I think back, I get the most impatient when I am only buying two or three things, don't mind waiting when I have a trolley full!
A recent situation highlight what drives people to make a complaint about the service they received. As we discussed the experience, each step from the outside, seemed reasonable, not great, but not too bad. What tipped the situation was the manner in which they were spoken to. Not what was said, but how the staff member addressed the customer. It is then that all the individual experiences get put together to make the whole experience not good enough and worthy of a quick email to customer service to get dealt with.
I must say in this situation, it was handled brilliantly and proved that with the right PR procedures in place, a "I WILL NEVER EVER GO TO THAT PLACE AGAIN" was quickly turned into a "They listened to my problem, apologised and I will see how they have improved next time"
I know that in my previous career, some of my most loyal customers were those that were at one stage my biggest customer complaints. If you fix it right, you will win them forever.
Keep looking after those customers!
Geoff
Monday, October 22, 2012
Wednesday, February 1, 2012
Retail careers
Why not a career in retail?
I was one of those kids that took on a casual job in retail, never thinking of it as a career option. It was a choice made at the time to earn some cash and buy a car, driven mostly by living in the bush, no public transport, and nothing to do. Money, your own money gives you choices, options to decide what you do.
30 years on, still involved in retail, now I am focused on helping those starting out in retail to have the skills and knowledge to be succesful and earn their employees plenty of sales. Looking back now, I have no regrets and have certainly enjoyed the journey. I am glad I did not listen to my career advisor at school, who at the time could not understand why I would be leaving school to work fulltime in a discount department store.
Why is it that many people do not consider retail as their first choice? I know that many people that have never worked in retail do not understand the many jobs and tasks that are needed to successfully run a modern retail business. There are numerous job roles behind the scene to keep the stock rolling in, the shelves full of the correct stock and to keep teh customers walking in the door.
Many people end up in retail jobs and make it a career after not finding employment in their chosen field, and go on to be Store Managers, Regional Managers and earn very high salaries. Unfortunately many people when you say that you work in retail, think of you as a "shelf stacker", or a "checkout chick". When without those postions being filled by people like me or you, we would still be out hunting for our dinner!
The retail industry needs to be proactive in promoting retail careers to raise the standard of retailing in Australia, improve store standards, and especially improve customer service standards. Many employees focus on hiring junior casual staff, never offering them permanent work, and not giving them many shifts as they get older. This generates turnover of staff, the hidden costs of recruitment and training, and reduces loyalty to the business. This gives the retail industry a bad image and does nothing for the previously mentioned standards.
With all that said, would I encourage one of my children to work in retail?
Too right, the wide range of skills learnt can be applied into any field you choose to move into at a later stage.
Good trading, keep those customers happy,
Geoff
I was one of those kids that took on a casual job in retail, never thinking of it as a career option. It was a choice made at the time to earn some cash and buy a car, driven mostly by living in the bush, no public transport, and nothing to do. Money, your own money gives you choices, options to decide what you do.
30 years on, still involved in retail, now I am focused on helping those starting out in retail to have the skills and knowledge to be succesful and earn their employees plenty of sales. Looking back now, I have no regrets and have certainly enjoyed the journey. I am glad I did not listen to my career advisor at school, who at the time could not understand why I would be leaving school to work fulltime in a discount department store.
Why is it that many people do not consider retail as their first choice? I know that many people that have never worked in retail do not understand the many jobs and tasks that are needed to successfully run a modern retail business. There are numerous job roles behind the scene to keep the stock rolling in, the shelves full of the correct stock and to keep teh customers walking in the door.
Many people end up in retail jobs and make it a career after not finding employment in their chosen field, and go on to be Store Managers, Regional Managers and earn very high salaries. Unfortunately many people when you say that you work in retail, think of you as a "shelf stacker", or a "checkout chick". When without those postions being filled by people like me or you, we would still be out hunting for our dinner!
The retail industry needs to be proactive in promoting retail careers to raise the standard of retailing in Australia, improve store standards, and especially improve customer service standards. Many employees focus on hiring junior casual staff, never offering them permanent work, and not giving them many shifts as they get older. This generates turnover of staff, the hidden costs of recruitment and training, and reduces loyalty to the business. This gives the retail industry a bad image and does nothing for the previously mentioned standards.
With all that said, would I encourage one of my children to work in retail?
Too right, the wide range of skills learnt can be applied into any field you choose to move into at a later stage.
Good trading, keep those customers happy,
Geoff
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