Conversations Must Cease

I had to stop in to a national pharmaceutical retail chain (who shall remain nameless) this past Friday before heading out on a date.  No, it isn’t for the reason you’re thinking (if you’re dirty minded), I’m lactose intolerant and was heading to a Tex-Mex restaurant, and Tex-Mex restaurants make everything with cheese.  Fortunately, there are pills one can take so that one can still enjoy a Chorizo stuffed Pork Tenderloin without any adverse effects.

Here’s what happened:  I walk down the aisle to where I think the pills are.  There are two employees in that aisle talking.  One is along the shelves to my left, and the other has a cart with her and is either stocking or re-merchandising  the shelves to the my right.  I walk down the aisle and go between them.  I say, “excuse me” and walk between them while they continue talking.  They don’t acknowledge me other than to allow me some room to get by.  The guy to my left doesn’t seem to be doing anything other than talking to the girl to my right, who is actually working.  I scan the shelves and walk back between them again as I discover that the pills I need are located directly in front of the woman working on the shelves.  I reach over, say, “excuse me” again and grab my pills.  Only when I grab the pills, and reach in front of her, does she finally acknowledge me by saying, “sorry.”  I say, “no problem” and go on my way.

Part of the reason I won’t mention the chain, is that it’s not only them.  This happens at stores everywhere.  Here’s a small rundown of what they did wrong:

1. kept having a conversation with me right in front of them
2. didn’t apologize for being in my way
3. didn’t offer to help me locate what I’m looking for.

I should state that I, personally, don’t care about being helped.  I like going to a store, being left alone to find what I want, and will ask for your help when I need it.  But, good customer service is about treating everyone like you’re there to serve their needs.  I will eventually discuss all three of these points, but for today we’ll only deal with the first.

Conversations must cease

Work sucks.  You spend 8 hours, or more in some cases, at this job that doesn’t pay very well and the only people you have to talk to are your coworkers.  Talking to your coworkers is, for some, one of the few bright spots in an otherwise hellish day.  That said, it’s a common courtesy to stop talking when you have someone in front of you.  When I’m in the store and I need to tell the employee something (assign them a task, etc.) and a customer walks up, I stop talking.  The customer is the most important person to any company.  Without them, you don’t make any money, and therefore wouldn’t have a job.  Unless you’re super busy, meaning you’ve got a customer in front of you non-stop (literally, not figuratively), there is no excuse for having a conversation while there is a customer in front of you.  I will sometimes forget and ask a question when a sales associate is ringing someone up, but, if I catch myself I’ll tell the sales associate, “Sorry, when you’re finished.”  This is something that managers need to learn to do so they model the behavior for their sales associates.

The sheer number of places I shop where this occurs lets me know that this is not even being mentioned at training or reinforced via feedback.   The number of Managers I see talking to employees, while that employee is ringing up a customer is seriously unacceptable.  It’s the bare minimum of customer service to give your attention to the customer.  If you’re having a conversation you’re definitely not doing upselling, not seeing if they “found everything alright?”, or seeing if you can get any add-ons to the purchase.  So not only are you being a little rude, you’re also probably costing the company money.

I should add you don’t have to start a conversation with the customer, you just have to give them your undivided attention.  This is the time for the “will this be all”, “did you need batteries”, or “we’re having a sale Tuesday”, etc when you’re at the register.  When you’re out on the floor it’s even more important, because you can add to their purchase more than at the register.  Maybe they’ve wanted Widget A for a while, and now you’ve got it on sale.  The chances are slim, but the more costly error is that they want it, and you don’t tell them.

So as you go about your day, see how many people you interact with who give you their full attention.  In your own stores praise your employees who give customers their undivided attention.