I almost never need assistance. On the very few occasions I need it I will ask for it. But in a lot of shops that I go into I get pestered by shop assistants - “would you like any help” or some variation of that. “no thankyou, just browsing” is always my answer.
Now I know that’s hardly the end of the world, but it puts me in a state of wanting to get out of that shop, I am now no longer comfortable and have lost all interest in browsing. I believe I am not alone here. Surely most people only want help if they are going to ask for it, and don’t want help if they haven’t asked for it. And also get slightly put-off by being offered help.
Don’t they know this? I know some of the bigger corporations are obsessed with (often strange) customer service training. I find it hard to believe that in the process of researching for this, they haven’t figured out that most people don’t really want help, and don’t like being offered it.
Or do I live in a nation of miserable sods?. Do people in other nations actually appreciate help from a complete (and often clueless) strangers who are usually guessing, and are often going to bend the truth in order to sell anything in their shop?
I think it serves a couple of purposes. First, there are people who really do want help.
And, I vaguely remember reading/hearing (no, I don’t have a cite - it’s been several years) that studies had shown that this helps prevent shoplifting to a point - if the sales staff is actually out on the sales floor and aware of their customers, and making the customers aware that they’re around.
I just read that again and realized just how badly it reads. I think it’s time to stop writing for the evening (I’m afraid to read the last four pages of this paper I’ve been writing) and let my eyes and fingers rest for a while.
I hated having to do this when I worked retail, as I also happen to be one of those people who just want to shop in peace. Comet seems to be one of the worst stores for this, although I believe it’s more a case of the managers cracking the whip rather than the sales staff being pushy.
Having said that, the salesperson usually can’t win either way. If they leave people to browse in peace, there will always be one customer who storms out of the store, while making a big fuss and yelling loudly (for the benefit of anyone listening) that nobody is interested in serving them, and that the store doesn’t want their money.
Or Amazon.
I realize that it’s not the assistants being pushy, and is probably whip-cracking by managers. I feel sorry for assistants who got the job because they were bright, good mannered people, rather than for their detailed knowledge of microwave ovens or computer sound cards, who are forced into trying to help people.
If I were an assistant, I’d keep glancing over to people to see if they appear to be confused. I could be wrong but I believe people send out non-verbal signals when they want help.
Back ages ago when I worked retail we weren’t required to ask every person we saw “Can I help you?” Personally, I always tried to make it less invasive when I did ask. If they said no I didn’t hover. That’s the only time it bugs me is when they hover after you say no.
I used to work in a retail chain store and we were required to not only a) greet every customer within 8 steps into the store but also b) ask if they need assistance within 8 minutes of their arrival.
About half the time the customer would ask us to help them in some manner, so it seemed to pay off. Also, as stated above, it’s sort of a first-line defense against shoplifting. If you’ve greeted everyone in the store, and been close enough to see their face, you’re going to know who is in your store and where they are. If the person is a potential shoplifter, it may make them a little uneasy. Of course, it’s not much by way of deterrant, but I’m sure it has kept a few young punks from thinking about stealing here and there.
I don’t mind it- I work retail myself, so I know all too well about management pushing to offer (often unwanted) help on customers. As long as they don’t push after the initial “no thanks”, I’m fine with it. Plus, I know then whose eye to catch if I do need help later on.
I work retail. We’re required to greet people when they first walk in, and acknowledge their existence if we walk past them while we’re out on the sales floor. We don’t have to say specifically “Can I help you?” We can just say “Hi” or smile and nod at them or whatever. Non-verbal clues are useless, in my experience. I’ll see people staring at the big wall of paper looking flummoxed for several minutes, ask if they need help and get told that they just want to shop in peace. Then I’ll see people who look like they know exactly where they’re going and what they’re doing, and as soon as I say “Hi!” they get all over me asking me umpty-three questions. Go figure.
I could maybe try to answer the actual OP. :rolleyes:
When I’m shopping, as opposed to working, I prefer to be left alone. If I need help, I’ll try to find someone. However, it seems like shops around here follow one of two rules.
[ul][li]Every employee you see asks you five times if they can help you[/li][li]There are no visible employees at all[/ul][/li]Dangit, I just want to be left alone, but have available and visible employees in case I need assistance.
I wasn’t quite sure what it is that I don’t like. It’s not so much peole offering to help, and then going away when you say no (politely) I have figured it out now -
When you walk up to a counter - and the person serving stares at you, almost trying to burn your face with their stare, as if you know what you want, when really you are OBVIOUSLY looking at the menu or choosing what you want.
Once I went to the dehli at the supermarket, I was trying to decide weither I want to get some maryland chicken drumsticks. The serving woman was busy, I decided I didn’t want any. as soon as I walked away she walked to the counter and proceeded to look deeply deeply offended, as If I had just taken her clothes off and had a dump on them.
It is whip-cracking managers. I used to work in a large retail store, with a very specialized inventory. I hated when a customer was looking around, and I knew at least 1 or 2 other salespeople had already approached her, and the manager would come up to me and say, “Go help her. Now.”
I’d say, “Susan and Linda already asked her and she’s just looking.”
The manager would reply with, “Well, she needs help and no one’s helping her. Go. Now.”
I hated having to go over, in view of the manager, and ask her for at least the third or fourth time if she needed any help.
By that time, you’re likely to get your head bitten off.
Another side of this is the general customer belief in the total incompetence of the staff. So even though the customer might be confused and looking aimlessly for something, they are certain the person working there won’t be able to help, even after five minutes of explanation.
I’m like the OP. Mostly because I’m poor, and I’m browsing way more often then I’m actually shopping, and for some reason I interpret the clerk’s “Can I help you?” as code for “Are you going to buy something?” and then I feel terribly guilty for saying “Just looking,” as if I don’t have a right to be in the shop if I know I won’t be spending money there, and so I usually leave right after they ask, even if it was someplace nice like a bookshop that I was intending to spend quite some time browsing in. The smaller the store, the worse the syndrome is. I wouldn’t feel the least bit guilty about just browsing in a Walmart, because I know that 1) the employee who just asked me really doesn’t care and 2) they can’t keep track of whether I actually buy something ultimately or not, or at least they don’t care to and 3) no one in a Walmart’s livelihood ultimately depends on me buying some dish detergent or whatever in that Walmart on that day. Whereas in a small shop, I feel like I’m actually taking money from the employees and owner by spending time there without buying anything.
I know, way too much guilt about simple retail transactions…
My grocery store started having every single employee greet customers a month or so ago. Somewhere around the ninth or tenth time I was greeted and asked how I was doing, I just wanted to abandon my cart and run home. Granted, I don’t like grocery shopping in the first place, but this was like being put under a microscope. None of the employees looked particularily pleased either, because they clearly knew that customers depend upon a bit of privacy while shopping. It’s much better now that they’ve slacked off a bit-- I never knew how many people worked in an average grocery store until they all started saying hello.
As for smaller shops, I also wonder if it’s regional, this greeting thing. Here in San Diego I’d be a bit miffed if I were in a store for too long without someone even giving me a welcoming smile. I might feel my patronage wasn’t appreciated (especially the more upscale the boutique). One of my friends from Canada mentioned that she thought it a pushy habit, and that ‘back home’ shop keepers let you alone to make up your own mind.
I hate to shop. Usually when I go into a store, especially a clothing store, I’m looking for something specific. I love it when a salesperson says “May I help you?” and I can say, “Yes, do you have any pink cashmere sweaters with a V neck?” Either they do or they don’t; either way it saves me time. The really smart ones, if they don’t have it, will tell me an alternative, like “No, but these acrylic ones really are very soft and are machine washable, too.” Or “No, but we have them in pale blue, and I could get you a pink one from our other store.”
What I REALLY hate, though, is to be in a certain store, which rhymes with Lacy’s, to have finally found something I want and then have to wander around practically waving money in the air to get someone to ring up the sale.
Best experience I ever had was going into Nordstrom’s. “I need an interview suit in navy blue.” Within minutes I was in a dressing room and the salesperson had 3 choices for me with more on the way. One was close but didn’t fit exactly right. No problem. Two minutes later there’s a tailor pinning it up to fit precisely. No charge.
I find that in the rare instance where I am truly just browsing and don’t want to be bothered, a simple statement like, “No, not right now, but if I need anything, I’ll ask you,” is very useful.
Because there is one customer out there that loves to have their hand held for everything. This customer also either sends letters of complaint to the head office or calls them and complains about horribly they were treated.
I recall once specifically where a woman was deciding between an (inexpensive) garnet ring or an opal one. The rings were identical other than the stone. My co-worker showed them both to her. After 1/2 an hour of “Do I want the garnet? maybe the opal?” the coworker said that she would let her decide while she, the coworker, helped another customer. My coworker really did all should could with this customer. The lady,however, sent a letter complaining about how rude the sales person was to her. As was expected, we got a memo from the head office requiring that we “be more helpful to customers”
Lsura, you are right: there are percentages of how likely a customer is to steal something based on the number of times they are greeted or approached. (Slice guy works in Loss Prevention.) At his store, it is their policy to say hi to you when you walk in the door, then ask if you need help when you reach a specific department. If they notice you acting shady, they’ll send people over to make sure you’re “doing okay,” or “don’t need help with anything,” etc.
I myself just prefer the “hi, welcome to wherever,” or “if you need any help, just ask” and then wander away technique. If you hover, I’m gone. And if you ask if I’m looking for anything specific, I feel stupid after saying no, so I just leave.
I like to at least be acknoledged when I walk into a store. I’ve been in several major electronics stores. I browsed for a bit and looked for a long time specifically at the item I was interested in. No one so much as glanced my way. However, whenever a guy walked into the store, 3 salespeople descended on him as if he was Moses coming down from the Mount. I was apparently wearing my magic cloak of invisibility.
I don’t expect to have someone hold my hand when I make a purchase, but when 5 sales people are standing around shooting the breeze, it would be nice to have someone check to see if you need any information or assitstance, particularly since often you have so many different models of the same thing, like refrigerators or stereos. In the above instances in electronics stores, I finally bought at the one that treated me like a person.
Yes, I had exactly the same thing happen to me. Try taking a newborn and a five year old into an electronics store. They were avoiding me like the plague. The guy who finally did come over to help me was not sorry. I picked out his most expensive MP3 player, then once I had his attention, I purchased some accessories as well. The other salespeople were probably pretty annoyed at the lost commissions.
I’d rather have someone ask to help me (or at least say hi) rather than completely ignore me. About 10% of the time I’m shopping, I do want help, and it’s sometimes annoying to have to track someone down to do it. However, I prefer that they wait until I’ve been in the store at least 2 minutes, but less than 10 minutes before offering to assist me.
Many of the salespeople in Canada are pretty pushy. Much more so than where I’ve been in Europe and China where I’m pretty much snubbed. Many times, I’ve come out of fitting rooms, and clerks have watched me spend more than two minutes hanging up the stuff that I tried on, without offering to help one bit.