A job change has given me valuable insight in life. I've done a few different jobs in my life and learned something from each of them. Today, we will briefly go over lessons learned from working in retail. Decide for yourself are these positive or negative. Agree or disagree.
1. A smile matters and a word matters. How many of us have entered a business, restaurant or store and not been acknowledged, nevermind greeted. Sometimes it's because the workers are very busy, other times the workers are tired, and sometimes they just don't care. It's typically not all 3 reasons simultaneously. Be patient with the worker, and employee, do your best to be patient with the customer.
2. Match the level of concern, not always the energy behind it. Simply put, people want to know that their problem is important to you while on the clock. Empathy and understanding the urgency of the situation is key. Match their sense of urgency, but avoid matching negative energy behind it. I've seen people curse and fly off the handle. I've seen customers proclaim nobody wants to help. Or even shout in disgust about items not being available or not liking the store/checkout process.
I sort of treat this like one of the jobs I did in the military. Every mechanic thinks their problem is priority number one, despite whatever else might be going on. In our own minds, our problems are number one, regardless of the scope.
In turn, I do my best to help, but I cannot create parts (or items in the store) out of thin air. While I acknowledge the concern, I cannot and will not (or at least try my best not to) match the level of rudeness or disrespect!
3. Treat others the same regardless of how much they spend. This is probably obvious but it's worth mentioning. We have customers purchasing thousands of dollars worth of stuff and others purchasing $3 worth of stuff. Here's the kicker: that $3 purchaser might be a long term loyal customer, and the person buying thousands worth might be one and done.
We have store credit cards with different levels of benefits. If you have a profit sharing company, treating others equally can win you repeat customers. Even if you don't care how the company does, treating people equally will at least command respect. And who knows, maybe in the future it will open a door.
4. You never know who's watching. I had a difficult customer that was insistent on a discount for veterans. This person couldn't prove a connection to a veteran nor was their account registered for it. While helping the person as best as I could, pivoted to another customer just to check on them. When the person left the store, the other guy overheard my conversation, and acknowledged that I did the right thing.
The approval from a stranger wasn't why I remember this, it's who that stranger was. It turns out the guy wasn't just any customer buying less than $13 worth of stuff, he was someone in the corporate chain. I'm not sure who he was exactly, it just reinforced my view of treating the customers the same whether they come in dressed in a suit or paint stained clothes buying 1 or 15 items.
5. Offer the help. Let them decide they don't want it. How do you decide who needs assistance? Body language, conversation, and wandering around are all obvious clues lol. Sometimes I offer help and get a snide remark back. Sometimes I offer help and don't get acknowledged at all. Other times I offer help and get brushed off, only for me to ask again and get a pleasant response back later.
The reason for the different replies is simple: some know what they want, others don't know what they want, and others just want to browse. Whatever scenario, offer the help. Whether they hear or forbear, you did your job.
6. A salty beginning can sometimes end on a sweet note. Plenty of people enter pissed or in their own world. It's amazing how many frowning people will return a pleasant response (whether genuinely) when you give them a 'hello', 'how are you today', 'thanks for coming', or 'have a good day!'. Most are disarmed from positivity. And at the very least, they know the situation wasn't your fault. You did your best. And with most (good) managers, that's all they can ask for.
7. Don't let one negative customer ruin the day. Some people are miserable and want the world to know it. Some hit a rough patch in life and they're battling it. Others, feel entitled. Then, there are the other customers who are just innocent bystanders. Don't let the latter's day, or yours be ruined by moods of others outside of your control. Don't let them get you down. Shake it off and keep pushing.
8. Flexibility is required. Hours, days and schedules are subject to change. Be ready for it.
9. Train others how you would want to be trained. No explanation is needed for this.
I hope this was worth reading for you. I believe if everyone worked retail at some point, people would act the way some do in stores and restaurants. Here's to hoping... ;)
Until next time, give the best you got with what you got!
No comments:
Post a Comment