The short answer is: your employees!
From June 2007
By
Susan Reda, Executive Editor
It turns out the same people you’ve trained
to welcome shoppers with a smile and assist them
in finding what they need are actually
sabotaging your customer-centric initiatives.
Shoppers relay story after story of store
associates who avoid eye contact, hide in the
stockroom for fear of being approached by
shoppers and shrug their shoulders when asked a
question.
And if you don’t think your employees would ever
behave so poorly . . . think again. According to
data compiled exclusively for STORES by
BIGresearch, apathetic, ill-mannered and
poorly-trained sales associates are driving
shoppers out the door and to the competition –
where, they say, they’re likely to experience
more of the same.
The study, which includes more than 7,000
verbatim responses, explores shoppers’ view of
what constitutes poor customer service.
Consumers were asked to write in the name of the
store that they believe provided the worst
service. Then, a follow-up question allowed
consumers to explain why; we’ve chosen to
eliminate the names of the retailers.
Analysis of the consumer input was performed
using a proprietary methodology for the study of
open-ended comments that combines natural
language processing with advanced statistical
modeling. This technology was developed by
Science Applications International Corp. (SAIC),
one of the largest companies in the IT service
industry.
Topping the list of gripes are employees who
“don’t know or don’t care,” cited by 21 percent
of those polled. Nearly as many describe
front-line employees as “rude” and accuse
retailers of either understaffing the selling
floor or populating the space with employees who
don’t know the merchandise and are ill-equipped
to provide answers.
One respondent writes, “Salespeople have no
desire to help customers. They ignore shoppers
and appear to be occupied.” Another says, “They
never listen to what the customer’s saying. Even
if you walk away, it doesn’t matter because
you’re just a number to them.”
Granted, customers are more cynical than they
were even just a few years back. Tempers seem
shorter, patience appears thinner and shoppers
are quicker to bail on a retailer when they feel
they’ve received poor service. And whether
retail sales associates are as bad as the survey
suggests doesn’t really matter: The bottom line
is that the collective wisdom of the crowd is so
overwhelmingly negative that refusing to pay
attention to feedback on customer service could
hasten a company-wide stint in financial rehab.
“There’s just not enough customer service; I
often just give up and leave,” says one shopper.
“Their prices are good, but trying to get
someone to answer a question is like a grail
search,” grouses another.
Like it or not, perception is reality. If
shoppers’ take on customer service is more
negative than positive, there’s a good chance a
retailer’s long-term financial profitability
will follow a similar path.
Now, with gas prices creeping toward $4 per
gallon, the economy slowing and interest rates
inching upward, it’s a safe bet that consumers
will be looking for good deals when it comes
time to spend their hard-earned money – and it’s
better then even-money that they’ll walk away
from a store that doesn’t treat them the way
they expect to be treated.
Don’t know, don’t care
The biggest complaint shoppers have is that
employees don’t know about merchandise and don’t
seem to care that the shopper can’t find what
they’re looking for. Admittedly, the devil is in
the details here. Retailers invest heavily in
training, have explored various methods of
long-distance learning and often require the new
kid on the selling floor to shadow a veteran for
a few days.
So it’s understandable that seeing these
findings makes merchants cringe. Still,
something is getting lost in translation
because, from where shoppers sit, knowledgeable
and helpful sales associates are few and far
between.
Consider these comments: “I have had problems
finding help there, and when I do find someone
to assist me, they don’t know where things are
or how to answer my questions.”
“The staff at the front counters look like
high school dropouts. I’ve made a game of seeing
which one can stall long enough so they do not
have to wait on the next person in line. …
Management can be right behind the counter
looking at the line of shoppers waiting to check
out but never considers opening another line.”
Let’s be honest. Shoppers don’t expect — or
necessarily want — hand-holding. Their customer
service expectations generally reflect the type
of retail store they’re shopping in. At Target,
they want someone to be able to tell them where
products are located and for the checkout line
to move quickly. At Nordstrom, it’s a different
ballgame: If a shopper is willing to spend a
premium for a dress shirt, he expects a sales
associate to be able to do something beyond scan
and bag.
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