Ok, so this annoys me everyday, but this article, at least at the end, tells you how to get what you deserve at a store, some respect and service. I don't know why this upsets me so....maybe because we were taught manners. I had two experiences recently at Lowes where the clerks actually got on their cell phones for PERSONAL calls while I waited. Did I go to management? No. But I will from now on.
Manners may be superficial to some, but to me, they count. Yeah, I quoted the whole article. Read on:
From:
http://articles.moneycentral.msn ... ppers.aspx?page=all
5 ways rude cashiers rile shoppersByfailing to pay customers common courtesy, indifferent clerks chase awaybusiness. Most of the blame lies with management, but shoppers can alsobe better customers.
By
Karen AhoRetail stores are often huge and complex operations, but the battle for customers is won or lost at the cash register.
Lost, mostly.
"It's about respect, whether it's the cheapest place in town or the most expensive," says Lou Carbone, the founder and CEO of
Experience Engineering, a customer-service consultancy. "These companies lose customers, and they're not even sure why."
But the customers know why. Their pet peeves:
- Not making eye contact.This is the "grab and scan," as it's called by Karen Chalmers, a motherof three who recently boycotted her area big-box store after adifferent small act of rudeness. "They just ignore me. It makes me feellike I'm not even a person."
- Answering the phone. "We're ALREADY in the store!" blogger "Phil801"writes. "You've won our business already! Take care of us!" Histongue-in-cheek solution? While standing in line, program the store'snumber into a cell phone and call the misdirected clerk.
- Chatting to other clerks."It's unbelievable. You can be looking right at people who are busytalking to an associate, and they ignore you," Carbone says. "It makesyou feel unimportant, insignificant. It causes you to feelinsufficient. It makes you feel very small."
- Not counting change back.When did it become the customer's responsibility to fumble through awad -- coins balanced precariously on paper -- to ensure accuracy?"It's just another example of a disrespectful service act," saysLeonard L. Berry, a distinguished professor of marketing at TexasA&M University's Mays Business School. "And then, once you get thechange, not even thanking you for the purchase. That hurts more formany people." (For a refresher on the lost art of counting out change,click here.)
- Walking past shoppers who need help. Americanworkers today are often disengaged from their jobs, "physically therebut psychologically absent," says John Todor, the author of "Addicted Customers" and a psychologist and managing partner at The Whetstone Edge,a customer-centric consultancy in California. "That's what's at theroot of some of these things. . . . What it says to the customer is 'Idon't matter.'"
Video on MSN Money
No satisfaction at Wal-Mart
Althoughthe discount giant's sales stand out among those of other strugglingretailers, the company is not keeping its customers happy.
Customers who feel bad don't come back, even if the price is right.
"Wealways have these antennae out there," Todor says. "If the clerk isacting like a drone, doing their job technically, then you feel likeyou can be rude back."
Service is not dead If you sensethat there's more rude service than there was a generation ago, you'reprobably right, industry consultants say. It could be a general declinein manners or a decrease in social engagement, which dulls empathy,they say.More people indicate a desire for helpful staffers inrecent years, according to surveys by Gartner, an internationalresearch firm. And the
American Customer Satisfaction Index,considered a leading indicator of customer service, shows a 5.2% dropfrom 1994 to 2007 in customers' satisfaction with discount anddepartment stores. It's a significant decline, said the head of thesurvey, University of Michigan business professor Claes Fornell.
"Manyof these stores are somewhat strapped for resources, and they'recutting at the front line, and customers are not pleased about it,"says Fornell, the author of "
The Satisfied Customer: Winners and Losers in the Battle for Buyer Preference." "In the long-term perspective, this is probably not the best strategy."
However, Wal-Mart, with an astounding 15% drop in satisfaction since 1994, accounts for a decent chunk of that decline. In
scores by industry,supermarkets and hotels have remained constant in the past 15 years.Specialty retail stores have risen 2.7%, banks 5.4% and limited-servicerestaurants 13%.
Good service may have taken a beating in places, but clearly shoppers don't think it's dead. So why the register rage?
Bad service starts at the top
Alain J. Royhas been advising businesses on customer service for a quarter-centuryand says the answer is a no-brainer. In 99% of his cases, he identifiesthe same problem: "the owners and the managers.""It is so simple,and managers make it so complicated," Roy says. "They go to seminars,they buy books, they change the color of the store -- all along notshowing appreciation of the employees.
"I'd go in and say, 'I won't help you unless you change managers,'" Roy says.
Those that didn't oust management were back to bad service within six months.
"Theydid not show respect to the employees," Roy says. "In turn, theemployees did the same thing to the customers." Only a small percentageof employees are able to keep a good face despite being treated poorly,he says.
The converse is also true. In the latest
MSN Money customer-service poll, companies with the highest rankings spoke repeatedly of their efforts to treat employees with respect. (See "
10 companies that treat you right.")
Attituderuns from the top down, Roy says, and bad service may be more prevalentin large chains that focus on profits and fail to oversee distantmanagers.
Continued: Improvement in service
Service will improve Yearsago, Roy filled a cart to the brim at a Home Depot store in San Diego.Then a clerk was rude. He abandoned the cart and spent the afternoondriving to three different hardware stores, spending 15% to 20% more."And I felt good doing it," he says. (Proving his thesis that theproblem lies with on-site management, he says, he now gets excellentservice at a Home Depot in Nebraska.)Shoppers won't stand forrudeness. At every income level, shoppers will pay extra in order tofeel good about where they spend their money. The exception may beduring extremely tough economic times, Fornell says.
A 2007 studyby The Verde Group, a Canadian consulting firm, and the WhartonSchool's Jay H. Baker Retailing Initiative at the University ofPennsylvania said unhelpful sales clerks were the biggest knock to astore's reputation. (See "
'Not my department' costs stores dearly.")
Amere lack of eye contact was enough to turn people away for good. Andmore than any other aspect of a store, clerks who ignored customersprompted the most bad-mouthing -- a dangerous blow to any company.Inthe long term, it's the companies that invest in customer service thatthrive. (See "
Happy customers, good stocks.")
Ifbuyers cared only about price, then Wal-Mart would have decimatedTarget, Texas A&M's Berry says. "Even though the perception is thatWal-Mart has lower prices, Target represents a formidable competitorbecause Target offers better service."
In the 2007 AmericanCustomer Satisfaction Index, which takes price into account, Targetscored 77 and Wal-Mart 68 on a scale of zero to 100, with 100 beingbest.
"We don't change the way we feel because we're in a lower income bracket," Carbone says. "Human beings are human beings."
Video on MSN Money
No satisfaction at Wal-Mart
Althoughthe discount giant's sales stand out among those of other strugglingretailers, the company is not keeping its customers happy.
In the same vein, happy, pleasant, polite clerks also don't cost more."Ofcourse, pay makes a difference in terms of the pool of people you cancompete for, but pay isn't really the key factor here in whether you'regoing to have a well-mannered, well-trained, ready-to-serve staff,"Berry says. "The key issue is much broader. It's about hiring the rightkind of people to begin with and treating them well. Treating them likecustomers."
Be a good customer In the meantime, what can shoppers do? First, make sure the problem isn't you. Don't be a bad customer:
- Doyour part. Call ahead and check that an item is in stock rather thanrailing at the store's staff later. Take the advertisement for that onesale item with you. In other words, know what you want. Clerks are notomniscient.
- Don'texpect a clerk to be your mother. If you drop something, pick it up. Ifyou move something, put it back. If you spill something, clean it up.
- Talk to a clerk as if she were your mother. Does this need explaining? Ask, don't demand. Smile. Be respectful.
- Getoff your cell phone. Clerks may not need you to scan and bag items, butthey might have a question and do require prompt payment. Plus, it'sjust rude.
- Playby the rules. Don't use the express lane if you don't have an expressload. Don't ask clerks to change a price for you, to accept expiredcoupons or to give you freebies. For more, see this post at everything2.com.
- Actyour age. Don't open seals without asking. Don't throw a tantrum when aclerk isn't authorized to give a rebate or can't pull an out-of-stockitem out of his armpit. Try reading an item's manual at home beforereturning to yell at a low-wage worker.
- Befriendly. Tell the clerks something upbeat. Let a manager know that thenice clerks are why you shop there. Mood is contagious, and positivereinforcement works.
And if smiles and respect don't do the trick:
- Complainto management only if it's one clerk. "If it's a common occurrence,going to the manager won't solve it," Roy says. "If he doesn't have itsolved yet, he or she should not be there."
- Contact competitors. Let them know how much you'd like some competition, and good service, in your neighborhood.
- Talkwith your feet. "I don't think there's a better way to deliver amessage than to not buy at a store where you're not treated well," Roysays.
- Letheadquarters know. If you care enough and think the corporate officedoes, too, write a letter to the CEO to say that service matters andyou're defecting. Many do listen.
Published Sept. 10, 2008
