"Doug Kanter" wrote:

"DigitalVinyl" wrote in message
.. .


Mega-store sales people are not in the business of plumbing, more like
simply supplying parts.

You're correct, of course. But, most HD/Lowe's people should also NOT be
wandering the aisles, asking "Can I help you with something?", because most
of they time, they cannot. They should expect us to respond "I doubt it".

In retailing, customer service is largely surface gloss. Having
salespeople walk around and ask that presents an IMAGE of customer
service. Many people don't need help or what they need is simple like
pointing out where merchandise can be found. Those people see a
positive c.s. experience. Its when you actually need someonething of
substance that you see there is little to back it up. One of the
silliest things I see is customers arguing with salespeople about
prces, slaes, or discounts. Sales people have no authority to change
prices. I think those people just get off on being difficult or are
just too ignorant to realize asking for a manager is step one.

Secondly, asking everyone on the floor if you can help them is the
best deterrent to shortage (shoplifting). If you suspect someone is a
shoplifter you "customer service" them, you don't watch them. You
agressive seek to help them, just hanging out and asking questions
will cause the non-pros to bolt.

You can't compare this to supermarkets, where people are NOT walking around
posing as experts. Yeah...you may find a person stocking the shelves, who
knows where to find everything in the store, but that's not product
knowledge.

So in supermarkets there is no customer service? WHy aren't we
offended by that? A family of four spends $500 easily a month at a
store you'd think with that kind of repeat business c.s. and floor
presence would be greater. BTW Mine has a help desk on the floor with
1-2 people at all hours. That's in addition to the customer service
desk.

In retailing the people who stock are often the people who display,
perform markdowns, hang signage, and run cash registers. I did all of
those as a salesperson in each retail job over a 10 year period. At
Macy*s you were trained about the merchandise-they were the only
employee that did that. But again, I can tell you a Pima Cotton dress
shirt is the best you can buy, but when you bring it home and your
wife has to iron that wrinkled shirt she might disagree with the
salesperson's assessment. Usualy people just learn a few facts and
toss them out over and over again. (i.e. lensing on a leaf)


Training is not looked upon favorably in business. I've been in the
computer industry for 14 years and I've attended about 15 days of real
training. And I've progressed from 1st tier PC work through top tier,
performed worldwide LAN administration, transitioned to international
office networking, firewalls, security and now working on a customer
with over 12,000 users. It is always a struggle to get money for
training and another struggle to get the free time.


DiGiTAL ViNYL (no email)
Zone 6b/7, Westchester Co, NY, 1 mile off L.I.Sound
3rd year gardener
http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/royalf...=/2055&.src=ph