If you believe all the hype it seems apparent that never before has the consumer /customer held so much power. With retail suffering and many business grumbling about tough times I wondered if switched on businesses would make changes or try new strategies, but it in all my travels lately it seems perhaps not?
Little to no service, Staff that are rude or more importantly appear untrained has been the norm and I’m starting to think that some businesses have just given up, or maybe its easier to complain rather than be proactive or try something new.
Yesterday I walked into several retail shops. Four of them had only one staff member at the helm, wisely paring back on staffing costs I thought and understandable as none of the stores were busy. The first store a major fashion chain, had a young girl who was applying make up as I walked in. I asked a specific question about something in the window and clearly annoyed this person who had to stop what she was doing and go and find the item…. Sad really on two counts. 1. Are head offices not training in customer service anymore or are so disengaged from the front line that they have no idea that their brand reputation is being diminished? Or have retailers just stopped caring? …. 2. This example is not new, but has mediocre service become the new normal? Have our expectations really been lowered that much?
A colleague of mine, a small business owner with not alot of time, recently wanted to get a new skirt. She wanted to be helped in a store by a switched on retail assistant and she set of for her local mall. She tells me that she walk into EVERY single clothing store and not at any time did anyone offer her any assistance… not one time. All of these store were large brand name stores and I counted 19 stores that she entered in her story.
The flip side of this coin is that I called a business this afternoon with a specific need and was delighted to find an engaged, friendly and informative person on the other end of the phone… I was so impressed that I placed my order on the spot and realized it had been so long since I had received great service and more importantly that I really wanted to give someone who is trying hard my business dollars.
What is your message to large retailers? Do you have a story to share?
Great food for thought. I often experience poor customer service and as a result (unfortunately), it is a change when I greeted by someone friendly and helpful. It doesn’t take much to smile and be pleasant, but it really makes me (the customer) feel good.
Rebekah you’re so right, in the ratio of good experiences we’ve vs those that we haven’t, the bad wildly out-weighs the good. Maybe we should start a good experiences blog rather than a bad!
Hi Andrea,
I found this article so sadly truthful. I believe that many larger retails have definitely lost their way in terms of customer service and support and felt compelled to share my mothers story.
8 years ago my mum, Gina and her husband, Chris, made the decision to move to the Mountains. At that time mum was working for a major department store in Burwood, and due to the lack of employment opportunities for her in the Mountains she decided to keep her job in Burwood and comute to work daily.
The department store in question was already undergoing major staffing changes at the time. They introduced more younger casual staff and reduced the number of qualified senior staff in all departments. I should mention that my mum is a fully trained and qualified professional Bra Fitter. She worked in the Lingerie department and was already starting to complain about the lack of training offered to new casual staff and how this meant more work for the trained staff in terms of customer service. Further, the young casual staff where not very interested in learning new skills, but rather the fact that they were getting a pay cheque. She also told us that customer complaints were increasing at the time, because customers who required fitting and advise had to wait for longer periods of time until trained staff were finished with the customer they were serving. In this particular the lingerie department is quite large and often busy, with only 1-2 trained staff on hand.
Over the next couple of years mum saw that even the number of causal staff was being reduced, and there were periods of time when qualified staff were not on the floor. Customer complaints increased further, as qualified staff were now not only serving customers, but also required to unpack and organise masses of stock. Finally, in frustration, mum quit her job. During her exit interview she made it very clear that the reason for leaving was the lack of customer service offered and how this affected the staff who had to listen to increased complaints and verbal abuse from frustrated customers.
She then chose to work for a smaller independent chain of lingerie stores which took pride in servicing their customers. But she still had a relatively long daily compute to work.
I don’t think mum could do any thing else but work in Lingerie, so last year she decided to open her own store in Katoomba (aBrasKadaBras), and the number one priority is customer service. She alway welcomes her customers with a warm smile and greeting and does the best she can to fulfil their needs and wants.
I occasionally work at the store myself to help mum out, and honestly say that we treat all of our customers with respect and as if they were extended family. It uplifting for us to see a customer show had a fantastic experience in mum’s store and walks out with a smile. This view is reflect in mum’s mission statement, which is “to exceed you expectations both instore and online”. She believes that this common courtesy is the reason why her customers back time and time again, and bring their family and friends also.
I know that many of the local Mountains stores still hold customer service as core to business success, but sadly the same cannot be said for many metropolitan stores and larger retailers. I think Walt Disney said it best “Do what you do so well that they will want to see it again and bring their friends”.
Karina, thank you for sharing your mum’s story. Im sure that the wonderful service that she provides will continue to increase her success in her new business in Katoomba. I think providing a great service and hearing gratitude from y our customers is a great guidepost to gauge how we are going in a business to consumer business.