Kindness goes a long way
Just recently a friend of mine got a new phone. He first mentioned the ignorance of (some) salesmen and how unfriendly they can be. I agreed. Everyone enjoys a salesman who knows what he’s (or she’s) talking about, and can answer the questions you ask. But even more so, being nice can cover up what they don’t know.
Radio Shack is commonly known (around here, anyway) to have poor quality of service and employees who don’t really know what they’re saying (at least that’s been my experience). You know, the kind who answer your questions by reading the little description card back to you. Yeah, the one you just read. The one that didn’t have the answer to your question, giving you reason to ask. Well, this Radio Shack was in Florida, and he said the sales rep knew exactly how to sell something. Not so much how to sell the phone, because he was already partial to a certain one, but how to get him to buy from her. All she did was her job. She knew all about the options among all of the phones, had quick, accurate answers to all of his questions, and surprisingly, she was friendly. Needless to say, he bought the phone there and is now converted back to a “willing to buy from Radio Shack” customer. And that’s just one person. Just think if every Radio Shack employee took up this kind of attitude.
Kindness can go a long way. I get immediately annoyed with a rude salesman who doesn’t have a clue. And it’s not just with salesmen. Even at restaurants—a rude waiter (or waitress) doesn’t benefit me at all, except by saving me money on the tip, of course. My favorites are the one’s who act like you’re bothering them, when it’s their job to help. It’s really not that hard to be nice.
Chris Wednesday, 13 Dec, 2006 Posted at 10:13AM
Whatever jerk – being nice is extremely hard. :-p
Poor customer service is a big problem, for sure. One of my pet peeves is when I go to checkout and the cashier basically says absolutely NOTHING, not even ‘hello’ when I approach the counter. At the same time, being overly helpful is extremely annoying (this happens too often at Best Buy where I basically get a barrage of employees asking if I need help).
In my opinion, Radio Shack is notorious for poor customer service, and GameStop can be quite pitiful as well.
Good customer service equals happy customer equals repeat customer. That small, friendly connection goes a long way for sure.
Ryan Wednesday, 13 Dec, 2006 Posted at 06:16PM
Yeah, that’s a good point about the overly helpful type. I had a friend who worked at a clothing store, and he said the upper management absolutely forces you to nag people. Constantly, too. It’s an odd strategy… I would appreciate a simple “Let me know if you need anything…” type of greeting.