I head up a luxury item retail operation, and am responsible for a sales team numbering 8. Although I have responsibility for other departments within the business, sales is my passion and I love interacting with the different characters within my team as their sales methodology and customer skills are so diverse. There are occasions when I am amazed at the tenacity shown in getting deals done, often long after I have personally written a prospect off as being a "tyre kicker". I am then pleasantly surprised by getting an order. The other side of the coin is true as well. I am often infuriated when absolute unprofessional behaviour, often apathy related and more often than not, not doing the basics, results in a lost sale due to the customer buying from another store.
The reason I mention all of this is because I was left amazed at the general apathy shown by LFS staff when I wanted to spend money recently. With one or two notable exceptions, I have been completely underwhelmed by the level of service received when I venture in to stores in the greater PWV, some of them sponsors on here, some of them not. 99% of sales staff in these LFS, I put firmly in the category of what I term showroom spiders. These intrepid sales people come to work and spin their web, hoping for someone to become entangled in it. The absolute standard when entering a store, often when sitting on their arses, not even bothering to stand up and greet, is the old faithful " Can I help you?" I often wonder whether the management/owners invest in any sales training and whether they are aware of the absolute disinterest their staff show their customers when they visit their store. On one memorable occasion I heard the distinctive click of the tongue when the salesman had to interrupt whatever he was busy with on his computer. I apologised for disturbing him and left!
In December I was fortunate enough to get a great bonus and I decided that I wanted to upgrade my RSM250 to at least a 600 litre tank. I had no hard and fast ideas and wanted the "experts" to guide me insofar as the new setup would consist of. I wanted a full system, and the only constraint I had was a budget of around R60K but I had some flexibility there too. During the period 17 to 24 December 2015, I physically visited 6 stores in the PWV area, and responded to one online deal proposal, and asked for assistance in getting their best deals to me. I am truly disappointed at the lack of interest shown. The apathy of some of the sales staff was terrible and if any of these guys worked for me, they would be responding to situations vacant as we speak. One thing that was blindingly obvious was the lack of a plan B when they had nothing tailor made to meet my request. If there was nothing available on the floor to show, then basically it was a sorry we don't have anything and have a nice day. Of the 6 stores I visited only ONE of them took my details with a promise to phone me back. The reason for this was that the tank builder they used was on holiday and that contact would be made early in the new year with a quote. It is now the 9th of January and I still await a call. To give some leeway, perhaps this will happen next week but I sincerely doubt it. The store I approached who were running an online offer for a system that was above my budget, basically derided me for asking if the offer included installation costs. I was told "we can make a plan" or something to that effect, and that was the last I heard from that establishment. Not a quote for delivery and installation, not a follow up, nothing. That deal would have cost 80k and more. Clearly times are good in the marine industry if we have keen customers who are not looked after. Or is it a scenario that maybe times are not as good because the industry does not give customers the service they deserve? Judging by my experience, I think the quality of sales staff is a major problem and is costing these businesses dearly.
You will note that I have not named any of the stores I dealt with. Some are forum sponsors, some are not. It would be interesting to hear from fellow forumites whether my situation was isolated or whether this is the standard.
The reason I mention all of this is because I was left amazed at the general apathy shown by LFS staff when I wanted to spend money recently. With one or two notable exceptions, I have been completely underwhelmed by the level of service received when I venture in to stores in the greater PWV, some of them sponsors on here, some of them not. 99% of sales staff in these LFS, I put firmly in the category of what I term showroom spiders. These intrepid sales people come to work and spin their web, hoping for someone to become entangled in it. The absolute standard when entering a store, often when sitting on their arses, not even bothering to stand up and greet, is the old faithful " Can I help you?" I often wonder whether the management/owners invest in any sales training and whether they are aware of the absolute disinterest their staff show their customers when they visit their store. On one memorable occasion I heard the distinctive click of the tongue when the salesman had to interrupt whatever he was busy with on his computer. I apologised for disturbing him and left!
In December I was fortunate enough to get a great bonus and I decided that I wanted to upgrade my RSM250 to at least a 600 litre tank. I had no hard and fast ideas and wanted the "experts" to guide me insofar as the new setup would consist of. I wanted a full system, and the only constraint I had was a budget of around R60K but I had some flexibility there too. During the period 17 to 24 December 2015, I physically visited 6 stores in the PWV area, and responded to one online deal proposal, and asked for assistance in getting their best deals to me. I am truly disappointed at the lack of interest shown. The apathy of some of the sales staff was terrible and if any of these guys worked for me, they would be responding to situations vacant as we speak. One thing that was blindingly obvious was the lack of a plan B when they had nothing tailor made to meet my request. If there was nothing available on the floor to show, then basically it was a sorry we don't have anything and have a nice day. Of the 6 stores I visited only ONE of them took my details with a promise to phone me back. The reason for this was that the tank builder they used was on holiday and that contact would be made early in the new year with a quote. It is now the 9th of January and I still await a call. To give some leeway, perhaps this will happen next week but I sincerely doubt it. The store I approached who were running an online offer for a system that was above my budget, basically derided me for asking if the offer included installation costs. I was told "we can make a plan" or something to that effect, and that was the last I heard from that establishment. Not a quote for delivery and installation, not a follow up, nothing. That deal would have cost 80k and more. Clearly times are good in the marine industry if we have keen customers who are not looked after. Or is it a scenario that maybe times are not as good because the industry does not give customers the service they deserve? Judging by my experience, I think the quality of sales staff is a major problem and is costing these businesses dearly.
You will note that I have not named any of the stores I dealt with. Some are forum sponsors, some are not. It would be interesting to hear from fellow forumites whether my situation was isolated or whether this is the standard.
