Your service is TOO good. I'm going ELSEWHERE!!! (language)

[Dave1982]

I appreciate when employees let me know they are available, and/or ask if I need any help, and then back off when I say no, thank you.

Which is exactly what we do at my store. I'll only go back to a customer if they look confused or if they come to me.

[Enjis]

ARGH the David Carr line that I hate with a passion.... "what may I help you find today"

But I also leave stores as soon as I hear that line, it sounds so forced and unnatural to me.... david carr... I hate you so!

I have never heard of this person, but I know one of the things our managers want us to do as salespeople is ask open-ended questions.
Such as 'How may I help you? or 'What special item are you looking for?'
That way, the customer has to actually respond, rather than the 'no thanks, I'm just looking' automatic one you get to the usual 'may I help you find something?' or 'can I help you? question.

Questions that can be answered with yes or no are 'stoppers'. The conversational opening stops at the customer's 'no'. The longer you can keep someone talking, giving you information about their needs, the more chances you have to meet those needs with the items you have to sell. (maybe this David Carr person is the one our managers all got it from!?)

That being said, I will never force myself on anyone. If someone says they don't need any help, I let them know I am ready to help when they DO need me, and then back off.

Gah. I've been working for Hudson's/ Marshall Field's,/Macy's too long....30 years. Guess I really DID listen to all those training classes...

[JustADude]

I have never heard of this person, but I know one of the things our managers want us to do as salespeople is ask open-ended questions.
Such as 'How may I help you? or 'What special item are you looking for?'
That way, the customer has to actually respond, rather than the 'no thanks, I'm just looking' automatic one you get to the usual 'may I help you find something?' or 'can I help you? question.

Bah, my 'open' questions are "What can I do for ya?" or "Anything else I can get ya?" Yes, I actually say 'ya' as part of my speech patterns at work, since it seems to work well to accent the 'casually competent' air I give off, and puts people at their ease. Very important for me, since I'm very physically intimidating due to my sheer size, something I have to work hard to minimize with my mannerisms.

David Carr's techniques are, basically, a crutch to help those who have the charisma and sales ability of month-old carp that's been left out in a steel drum in Nevada during summer. For people who CAN sell, his techniques hurt more than they help.

[AirHostess]

If you know what he looks like and you see him again, just ignore him if he needs help!

Ah but then he'd just complain that he was being ignored and how rude it was

[Dave1982]

Actually, my plan if he comes back is to ask for permission to summarily throw him out. Now, I do not expect to get permission to do that, but in either case, I will not be serving him.

But if I somehow do get permission, I intend to do so in semi-dramatic fashion

*walks up to SC and signals ejection MLB style*

Me: "OUT! Now!"

SC: What the ****?!

Me: Are you deaf? I said OUT. And do not EVER come back here!


Aah....pretending is fun.

[Broomjockey]

I have never heard of this person, but I know one of the things our managers want us to do as salespeople is ask open-ended questions.
Such as 'How may I help you? or 'What special item are you looking for?'
That way, the customer has to actually respond, rather than the 'no thanks, I'm just looking' automatic one you get to the usual 'may I help you find something?' or 'can I help you? question.

And it's questions like those that would force someone like me to be rude. It wouldn't be intentional, but seriously, "How may I help you?" when I'm browsing a store gets only two potential answers from me, because it is open-ended, removing the polite option of "No, thanks." These two options are along the lines of "You can't" or "By leaving." Because really, that's what I want. I want someone available to answer a question I might come up with after a few minutes of looking, and I don't mind being asked "Can I help you" or "Any questions" because then I can politely respond "No thank you" with a smile. I'm anti-social except on my own very specific terms, so forcing me into answering those questions is going to get the honest answer based on how you phrased it. I'll try and be polite, but the answers all boil down to "Go talk to someone else."

[Plaidman]

I hate that line. I really do. I hate it when people ask me it too. 9 out of ten times, they'll just ask me it, while ignoring other people. Then they watch me. Then ask me again, and ignore the other person who just asked. I have time. Just let me find what I want.

[Jester]

ARGH the David Carr line that I hate with a passion.... "what may I help you find today"

ugh ugh ugh I hate it SOOOO much, David Carr is a hack and a conman!

I'm confused. The only David Carr I am familiar with is the NFL quarterback, formerly of the Houston Texans, currently with the Carolina Panthers. Does he have a side job of professional annoyer us football fans are not aware of, or is this some other David Carr you are referring to?

[HawaiianShirts]

Management is after us to use open-ended questions all the time. Even when customers say they're just looking, we're supposed to follow up with something along the lines of: "What are you looking for? How can I help you find it?" I don't do this. Managers know I don't do this. They haven't gotten after me about it yet.

I try to read the customers' reactions. When I make my usual closed-ended greeting (a variation of "Is there anything I can help you find, today?"), I watch their reactions. If there is eye-contact for more than long enough for them to say "Just looking, thanks," then I follow up with this: "Is there anything particular you're looking for, or is this just a browsing thing?" Most of the time, they then know that I'm there to help but I will respect a wish to be left alone. Haven't had one get mad about it yet.

We've also developed something to combat the I've-been-asked-a-thousand-times-now-leave-me-alone people. If there are more than three employees in the department, customers who specifically want to browse alone are told: "Here. Hold this brochure (the one brochure in the department that no one picks up voluntarily because it's totally irrelevant to computer shopping). That'll tell the other employees you've already talked to someone. We won't bother you further unless you ask us to." That has worked wonders with the people who are grouchy after the second offer of help, and they usually leave quite happy.

I've been there. I like to be offered help, but I also like to be left alone to browse at times.

This is also the reason I no longer shop at Wal-Mart (well, this and the fact that, at least around here, I would guess one in twenty Wal-Mart customers bothers to put their cart in the cart corral and one in five bothers to at least move it out of the way of traffic). No employee has ever offered me help there. Perhaps I'm just spoiled by stores like mine.

[SpyOne]

Sounds to me as if this customer has figured out that your company, like most, wants you to greet the customers because it discourages shoplifiting, and he resents it.

Actually, it sounds like he's gone one step further: he belives that you are greeting him because you have identified him as a potential shoplifter, and that you don't do that to every customer who comes by.
It does sound like he has, .... "issues", but I can hardly fault him. As a reporter said in a piece I read about Wal-Mart's program, which they call "Agressive Hospitality", "there's a reason why that sounds so much like 'agressive hostility'."

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

Gaaahh....

Our new loyalty program has completely taken off in my store. We're getting many more applications than any other store in our district, and we're one of the top stores for applications in the company.

However, we are not doing so hot at selling extended protection plans. So guess what we spent 3/4 of yesterday's huddle on?

Yeah, learning how to ask the right questions and so forth. Really nice when management and corporate choose to focus on our failures instead of our successes.

[Shabo]

This is also the reason I no longer shop at Wal-Mart (well, this and the fact that, at least around here, I would guess one in twenty Wal-Mart customers bothers to put their cart in the cart corral and one in five bothers to at least move it out of the way of traffic). No employee has ever offered me help there. Perhaps I'm just spoiled by stores like mine.

Wait-- you mean that there are actually sales associates on the floor that aren't working a cash register in lawn and garden or electronics where you come from?!?!

WHERE DO YOU LIVE???

[Imogene]

Such as 'How may I help you? or 'What special item are you looking for?'

To which most people will still reply, "No, I'm just looking."
Nobody ever listens to what you said... they have their answer ready for when you pounce upon them, awaiting their chance to rebuff your attempt to upsell them. Because everyone works on commission in retail, don'cha'know?

[RecoveringKinkoid]

When I worked at RadioShack several years ago, we actually were trained to be persistent with the customers. I felt awful because I'd ask the customer if they needed help finding anything when they walked in the door, then I was SUPPOSED to kind of wander around near them, fixing displays or whatever not to be too obvious, and if I caught them looking at a particular item for more than two seconds, was supposed to actively sell it to them, along with suggesting add-ons and one of our major products (DirecTV, DISH, one of our many many cell phone services). Surprisingly, never got anyone too irritated at me for this. Maybe I'm just a good actress. ("Oh, yes, let me continue re-planogramming this section because I was JUST about to start on it when you got here...")

I've heard from no fewer than three friends, and my dad, that this kind of behavior has run them out of stores before. Actually, it's run me out of a store, too.

It's interpreted by every single person, myself included, as if they think you are a thief and are keeping an eye on you. I actually said to a woman "I'm obviously making you very nervous, and you're creeping me out, so I'm just going leave." and walked out. It never occured to any of us that they were trying to hover to be helpful. Everyone thinks it is just unbearably creepy and insulting.

[friendofjimmyk]

I don't mind being "acknowledged" by sales people with a friendly, "Hi, how are you?" or "if you need help, just ask." or anything of that sort. I can smile and politely refuse....

However, whilst in blockbuster one evening I had one employee ask me not once, not twice, not three times - but FIVE freakin' times if I needed help finding anything. She was putting movies away and every time I ran into her (I was taking my sweet time perusing the selection) she asked me the same thing, "Can I help you find something?"

Each time I managed to be polite, but by the fifth time I started to think that either she liked me or she thought I was up to something. Either way, I was getting uncomfortable.