Tips.

Someone once said, "Never do what you're best at for free." Well, since prostitution isn't an option that I'm considering at the moment, the buck falls on retail. I have battled through seven years of being told that what I do is not a real job, and it sure as hell isn't going to be my career. My family think it's a blip, that I'm biding my time before I embark on becoming the Prime Minister. Suffice to say, I disagree. Retail, if handled correctly, can be a long and satisfying career, spanning from buying to consulting. I never thought I would say that. If you asked me a year ago if I would still be working where I am, I would have laughed. I planned to quit the moment I touched soil after my trip to America last year, but I didn't do it. Instead, I got a new boss, one who is passionate about the business and wants it to not only survive, but thrive. In a world of economic downturns, we've seen shops in our area flounder and fail, leaving a sense of desperation in the air. We are surviving, and we are thriving. We have a niche that works for the city, and people come back to us because of our customer service. For seven years, I have treated every customer the same, and my general rule of thumb is to treat everybody as though they're going to review your performance. I should try that rule out with friends and family and see how well I do... But with customers, you never know who you're ignoring, or who they might go and tell. Take Next for example. A huge chain, crammed full with staff. I lost count when I was there last, but I was blown away by the lack of training in customer service they appear to have. In a shop where there was approximately fifteen customers, there were at least twenty members of staff. I stood in the shoe department holding a shoe like a prized possession for over five minutes, during which I was observed by more than one member of staff. Not one person approached me to ask if I needed help or if I would possibly like a shoe that fit me, or perhaps its twin. In the end, I was so sick of carting a shoe around that I walked out. Next, I would have given you £40 for those shoes. But you blew it. And now I'm telling the world, and I'm going to complain. Sure, the staff might all be minimum-wagers trying to earn some cash while they're at school or uni, but that doesn't mean they can't have any kind of pride in what they do. Retail is and always will be primarily service driven. Yes, the stock needs to be there, accessible and appealing to the target consumer. Yes, Next had a well-stocked shop. Yes, Next was clean and tidy, as twenty members of staff were trying to avoid any kind of interaction with customers and were endlessly folding clothes that my grandmother wouldn't even wear. I'm disappointed for a number of reasons. We're in a recession, and shops have to do whatever it takes to persuade their customer to part with their cash. After all, stand around with a shoe for five minutes, and that £40 will walk out of the door to another shop where someone might bother to speak to you. I don't even blame the staff, because it's incredibly difficult to approach somebody and ask if they need help. They might actually need help, and then you're kind of stuck helping them, and if you don't know what you're doing, this will be painfully obvious for everyone involved. I blame the management; the people who are apparently in charge of their staff. They need to have continuous training set up so that staff can feel comfortable and confident enough to speak to customers and aid them however needed. This does not have to be a chore - after all, this is what they're hired for. To see a customer clearly in need of assistance and to ignore them is inexcusable. Shopping used to be a treat, where you could go and afford yourself some small luxury. Shopping has the potential to cheer you up, to change your mood, to change your personality with one small purchase (the day I bought my trench coat changed who I am). Now, retail has been taken over by the corporate. It's the same people that own all of the high street chains, and they place little emphasis on the way that staff interact with the customers. I say they're wrong. You should place the majority of your emphasis there. If you have a good experience, a customer will tell their friends they had a good experience, and their friends might in turn come to the shop. If you have a bad experience, a customer will tell all their friends they had a bad experience and not to bother. Word of mouth can make or break retail, and in an environment where people need to be given a reason to spend, you need to be that reason.