WHY THE SALES SUCK

Sales associates, listen up! The retail environment is changing, your past tactics do not apply, and oh yeah, did you forget the customer is always right?

            Given the current state of the economy, the retail game as we know it is changing. Before, there were seemingly unlimited funds, countless overspending, and overly joyous sales associates who became your best friend and were at your beck and call. Fast forward to the present, new terms like budget, discounts, and reward plans seem to take the prize. But at what expense?

            While retailers are trying to adjust their strategies (i.e., embrace the “get-rich-quick faze” or break even since we know retailers are having a hard time balancing the books) the retailing experience has suffered. And why? Well, it seems as though our old best friends—now deemed our frenemies (fake enemies)—aren’t adjusting so well to the new retail game.

            On a recent shopping trip—decked out in rather inconspicuous and sloppy gym wear—a trip to Bergdorf’s and Jimmy Choo became my area of study. At Bergdorf’s I was interested in a pair of Chanel ballet flats that I had had my eye on a week prior. The one sales associate targeted me (because it is a game after all) intending to get my size. However, the behavior in the lackluster shoe department was mixed. While I saw sales staff trying to do their part by going in the back and brining out marked sales stock for those who esthetically looked the part, mine was non-complacent. I tried to dig from him the words “pre-sale” but he wouldn’t budge. Staring across the room at two gorgeous gals surrounded by marked designer boxes, I felt like a jealous high school teen (like asking for membership in the popular group). He continued to give me a shtick about how sale started in June, but I was not buying anything or having any of that! Once he proceeded to tender my purchase, I said, “Aren’t those girls trying on sales shoes?” He stuttered, “No, well yes, but you see….” I stopped him there. “I asked you specifically about what shoes were on sale…” But more so, the words I use to describe this rather annoying conversation are poor service. So, I did my part, being an engaged fashion student, to tell him just what I thought of his effortless work, poor demeanor, and, excuses, from, I”’ve been in retail for 13 years, you never said that (you wanted to see sales shoes),” to “I have so many customers, and my allergies are acting up and I feel sick.” I had heard enough; that in large part could speak for the majority of retail staff as a whole (enough excuses to challenge a high school). Making matters worse, I (giving it another opportunity after the flats) I also asked for the limited-edition Hunter/Jimmy Choo boots. Right away, instead of just putting my name on the waiting list for these hot must-haves, he proceeded to tell me how there were so many names that my chances were slim. (I love pessimistic sales associates!) Then, as he took my cash for the flats, he told me I should sign up for the waiting list stuff (something that’s in his job description) so things would go faster! Note to him, I didn’t see anyone in the shoe department on a Friday at 10:00 a.m. besides the gorgeous gals across from me, and they did not look like they were in a rush…thanks to all those marked-down options they were fawning over.

While Bergdorf’s got it wrong, Isabella at Jimmy Choo got it right. Entering the doll-sized shop off 5^th Avenue, with customers in the store, she engaged me and was extremely helpful in my never-ending quest for the Jimmy Choo/Hunter rain boots. Instead of giving me 101 reasons why I wouldn’t get the shoes, she gave me plenty of confident smiles and reassurance that she’d call me as soon as possible. Oh yeah, and did I forget to mention I was still in my raggy gym clothes?

You see, today, the new rules of retail need to apply. Everyone matters; instead of the target customer always being right, THE customer is always right. In a time when people are making trade-offs (i.e., food for clothes) no sale is unworthy. And so, where the old days of sales associates judging the potential of the sale on your designer shoes and bags may have worked in the past, today it is hindering business, and a customer who wants to feel appreciated. Today, it seems now more than ever the sales associate has become the most important part of the retail experience. While it is arguable that without clothes, there’s no business, people want so much more than just the basic Maslow’s need. Sales associates must be everything and more—your new best friend, your old friend, the therapist, and the opinion of your mother, even if it means working that much harder.

            So as those businesses that consider addressing the issue at hand emphasize the importance of their sales team and forging strong relationships with customers, it will be them who will become the ultimate winners because today’s environment cannot and will not be based on precedent, nor the allure; rather, it is a simple test of survival of the fittest.