A customer had 16 items she wanted to try on; the change room limit was six. The sales clerk politely told the young woman that she could take six items into the change room and offered to hand in new garments as they were needed.
Customer (C) – in a belligerent tone: “No – I’ll take in what I want, when I want.”
Staff (S) – politely: “I actually need to ask that you choose six items to start… and then I’ll pass you in whatever you’d like when you’re ready to trade me things.”
C (said somewhat menacingly): “Back off B----. I’m taking these in now. Want to make something of it?”
S (in a cowed, frustrated voice): “Fine. Go ahead.”
Imagine working in a place where that kind of scene was repeated multiple times in a shift. No wonder the staff member left the area to complain to a co-worker (giving the teen in the change room an opportunity to 5-finger a few items)… and not surprising that the 17-year old clerk ended her shift in tears.
Yes – this tale does have a happy ending.
One of the clients I work with is a mid-size retailer with 12 stores. They cater to a slightly upscale teen audience. The chain had been experiencing increasing employee turnover and diminishing sales. The impact on the bottom line was not pretty.
Ethnographic research (the kind where you watch happens in the stores, listen surreptitiously to conversations, etc.) revealed a couple of interesting things:
- Over 25% of potential customers entering the stores were rude to the sales staff… not simply discourteous but highly disrespectful (okay, “downright rude”) and dismissive of all people working there.
- Only 1 in 25 people who tried on clothes bought anything – a figure below industry average and far below the stores’ historical performance figures.
- Only 1 in 52 people who entered the stores actually bought anything. Again, this figure was below the Canadian average, even allowing for the fact that most retailers seriously over-estimate their “browsers-to-buyers ratio” *.
- +50% of browsers who left the stores without buying anything did so because of the negative store atmosphere.
- Sales team members were reluctant to engage customers in conversation and, although they would ask adults if they could be of assistance, rarely offered to help teen shoppers. No great shock given the way that the sales staff was often treated.
Our approach
Employees were encouraged to stick up for themselves. The staff training including sessions where clerks were taught to gently and graciously deliver phrases such as…
“We really appreciate your business and value you as a customer, so out of respect for you and the others in the store, I’d like to suggest that you and I change the dynamics of this conversation. Now, how may I help you?”
“Is everything okay? You seem to be having a bad day. Would you prefer to try this on at another time?”
“I found what you said [or did] to be disrespectful. To be fair to me, the other employees and your fellow shoppers, I would ask that you speak to me politely.”
“I really don’t feel comfortable with the way you are treating me. Would you please show me more respect?”
“I’m sorry this is not going well. I’d like to invite you to leave the store now and to return when things are better for you.”
All 50 phrases, with suggestions of what to say when, were printed on pocket-size card stock and given to each employee.
Managers were urged to acknowledge employees who had handled a difficult customer well – or had legitimately refused service to a customer who was behaving badly. Special reward cards were issued that could be exchanged for cash or merchandise.
Being given permission to deviate from the normal “the customer is always right” not only empowered employees, it made them feel valued. Morale soon started to climb.
That was a year ago. We just got the new stats back:
- Less than 10% of potential customers entering the stores are rude to the sales staff.
- 7 out of 25 people who try on clothes buy something. Yes, there is still plenty of room for improvement, but that’s a 7-fold increase in 1 year!
- On average, 5 out of 50 people who enter the store buy something.
By making it okay to say ‘no’ to ‘bad’ customers, employees were able to create a better store atmosphere and a better shopping experience for everyone... and that is reflected in a better bottom line, too.
If you’d like to learn about other times when “just say no” has helped a business, please feel free to call me, or to drop me a note: jmc@theQgroup.com.
Until next time. JMC
*Note: The browsers-to-buyers ratio (i.e. conversion rate) is one of the metrics used around the world to assess retail performance. The most accurate way to measure this is by using video of the store’s entrance and comparing the number of people entering the store with the number of sales tickets on any given day. The challenge: The ratios fluctuate by store location, season (weather and holidays).
Even with customer service representatives, there are a lot of irate customers. Having a company 1800 Number is not enough, being able to be understand your customers clearly is an indicator of a good customer service.
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