Findings of the second annual Retail Customer Dissatisfaction Study from the Wharton School's Jay H. Baker Retail Initiative and the Verde Group show that there are a lot of really bad sales people employed in stores and customers can point them out assuming they can find them on the floor.
According to the telephone survey of 1,000 people, one-third reported being unable to find anyone to help them while shopping. Another 25 percent said that they could find sales people but it made little difference since the store employee ignored them.
Not surprisingly, these experiences remain fresh in the minds of consumers who often choose to take their business elsewhere.
Paula Courtney, president of the Verde Group, told Knowledge@Wharton that survey respondents could deal with a lot, even having to wait while an overworked salesperson tried to meet the needs of multiple shoppers on the floor. What they couldn't deal with, she said, was the "conscious ignoring" that takes place.
"Customers would walk into a store and the store representative would see them and continue to put items on the shelf or watch the cash register or do administrative work -- absolutely ignoring the fact that an actual person was in the store," she said.
Stephen J. Hoch, marketing professor at Wharton and the director of the Baker Initiative, said, "There are a variety of different triggers for having a bad shopping experience, including things like parking or how well the store is organized. Some of those things retailers can do something about and some of them they can't. But frankly, a very important part of the retail experience is the interaction with the sales associate."
According to numbers from last year's study, one-third of dissatisfied customers will tell others about a negative experience at a store. Those people will then go and retell the story to an average of four people. Roughly half of those surveyed said they had chosen not to shop at a particular store based on what they heard of another person's experience.
Having strong sales people is a business imperative and based on the research is a clear competitive advantage for retailers.
Prof. Hoch said there are characteristics that seem to be common among the best sales people. These include being an "engager", "educator", "expediter", and "authentic".
Engagers are those who smile and stop what they are doing to assist customers. Not finding an engager is the most prevalent sales related problem, according to the survey's respondents.
Educators are able to explain the ins and outs of product and make recommendations based on the stated needs of the shopper.
Expediters are those who are sensitive about a customers time and help move the shopping experience along. Said Prof. Hoch, "You see this one at the airport or other locations where there is some clog-up in the system. This sales person recognizes that, with their intervention, things can keep moving forward... Someone has to notice the problem and go out of their way to alleviate it."
Authentic sales people demonstrate they are people first and let the sales come naturally. They don't push shoppers but let them know they are available as soon as help is needed. "No one wants to be ignored," said Ms. Courtney, "but there is a balance between the right level of engagement and a sense of genuineness."
According to Ms. Courtney, the solution to the sales people related problems at retail is often not about "getting more bodies," but "getting more staff to show behaviors that are sensitive to consumers' needs. The good news is that all of this is trainable," she said.
Discussion Questions: How big a problem is poor salesmanship at retail? What are ways that retailers are dealing with the issue to help floor associates better meet the needs of shoppers?