What Happened to Customer Service?
What kind of customer service should you expect every time you enter a store? What has happened to servicing the customer? Have you ever entered a store hoping to find answers to your questions only to leave with no answers? Shouldn’t we expect great customer service as the cost of goods goes up? Unfortunately that’s just not reality as I find it. This weekend I found myself in a big electronics store attempting to help my parents shop for a big screen television, and I learned firsthand how customer service has gone downhill.
As I see it, retailers have missed the boat on hiring older mature and finally wiser workers. The end result is when you enter a store chances are you are going to have a substandard customer service experience. I find myself asking “Why would retailers not want older workers on their side helping their customers?” Maybe you can help me understand.
After weeks of research my father was finally ready to venture to the store and make a purchase. We entered the store basically ready to purchase the television and the possible accessories and be done. Trust me it wasn’t that easy, the first problem was finding someone to help guide us through this process. We finally found a sales consultant 35 minutes after wandering around the television section and then it was someone who actually knew less than we did about big screen televisions. It seemed that all the associates were under the age of 20 and were defiantly not informed about the selling process or servicing the customer. Ultimately left the store without a television and more confused as ever.
The point of this blog isn’t that we didn’t buy a television or even that my experience wasn’t up to what I expected. The point is that more retailers need to staff their stores with sales associates that can not only answer but assist in the selling process. They need people who care about their customers. Their sales depend on it, I would imagine that there are more people like myself who leave the store without making a purchase because we were more confused than when they started. Because the retailer due to lack of qualified sales associated made the decision process overwhelming.
Today I read an article that talked about older worker or baby boomers that are reconsidering retirement to stay in the workplace and that got me thinking. It makes sense to the TODAY big retailers need to get on board with hiring older workers. How can we as customers make that happen? Demand it! When you go to a store and don’t get the experience you deserve tell management. When your questions go unanswered and you don’t make a purchase let management know. Makes sure they know: It’s because you don’t care enough about my business to give me the best service.