Service vs Product: which is more important?

Back to school shopping can be exasperating for anyone. We are all looking for the same things (i.e. school uniform khakis, notebooks, dividers, shoes) and the closer we get to the finish line, the more likely stores will be out of what we need.

Added challenge: meet Sasquatch

My 13 year old Sam has always had big feet. I remember when he was born, the doctor, nurses, and my husband all gasped, “look at those tootsies!” As he now wears a size 14, it has become more difficult to find him shoes.

How important are your looks?

How do I look?

Is it so bad, then, to be misunderstood? Pythagoras was misunderstood, and Socrates, and Jesus, and Luther, and Copernicus, and Galileo, and Newton, and every pure and wise spirit that ever took flesh. To be great is to be misunderstood. – Ralph Waldo Emerson

How important are your looks? Do you spend hours each day ensuring not one hair is out of place? Will you be seen at the grocery store without makeup? Or do you just roll out of bed and put on whatever smells the least?

At some level, we all follow a dress code (and I hope hygiene) every day at work, play or just lounging at home. Self-esteem is linked to how you think others perceive you. When you are shopping in a store, chances are that if you walk into a shop wearing mismatched pajamas, you probably will have little luck getting service. Like it or not, how you dress matters.

Challenge!

Now for the hard stuff! As a mom, leader, and a woman over 40, I tend to dress a certain way. I don’t resemble a frump muffin and I don’t want to look as though I have taken over my daughter’s closet either. For this prompt, I wanted to get way out of my comfort zone by dressing like a hooker on 4th Street (a Reno thing).

It is OK to ask for the sale

My reaction to a sale being lost due to ineptitude.

I just had one of those experiences that as a sales person and a leader, made me cringe. I visited the grocery store with my son to pick up a movie at Red Box and decided to take a detour to a shoe shop in the same shopping center. I have driven past this shop countless times on my way in or out of the parking lot and they never seemed to be open whenever I passed. Today must have been my lucky day!

Baby Needs a New Pair of Shoes

 Walking into the store with my son, we were immediately greeted by a friendly sales associate (good sign) and she asked if she could help me find something. I explained that as a retail manager I am on my feet all day and was looking for some new shoes for work.

The moment should have given her a clue (a house falling on her head may have worked too) that I might be a paying customer. That is until she asked me what type of shoe I wear for work (still ok to ask qualifying questions). She proceeded to tell me that for about $20 I could buy an insert for my existing pair of shoes and avoid buying new ones.

What, What, What!!

Urgh! Did my ears deceive me or was she trying to talk herself out of a sale? The girl was probably trying to be helpful but the first rule of sales is ask for the sale! By sending me out of the store without trying a pair of shoes on, she lost a sale and worse, a customer.

Was it the associate’s fault that she blew a chance to make a buck? Truthfully, I would lay blame on her manager, as I am sure this was not the first time she sent a customer away empty-handed. People can be so concerned with the customer experience that they forget why they are in business in the first place. I may not have bought anything had I tried the shoes on, but we will never know.

Lesson Learned

No, I will not go back into the store and teach her how to sell me something while maintaining a high level of customer service. That ship has sailed. I probably will not go in there again. The lesson I learned is that I cannot take for granted that my associates are asking for the sale every time they interact with a client. It is my duty to continue training and coaching the associates to ensure that they do not talk a customer out of a purchase.