To the Editor:
I am a cellular phone user and I am also an average consumer of cellular accessories. My main concern is the way the retail side of the cellular stores are being handled. I have 30 years of retail experience and have worked at very profitable and long-established companies: Emporium, JC Penney and Orchard Supply Hardware.
The one ingredient that has made these companies successful in this competitive market is just two words: Customer service!
Those two words were drilled into every employee’s mind and daily routine. Your customer is always first and is never wrong. When a customer walks into your store they should be greeted immediately with a smile and an offer of assistance. If you are busy, give them eye contact and a smile that you have acknowledged their presence. If someone else is there to assist, excuse yourself and find someone else. A customer wants to feel important and special. If for some reason you cannot answer a question, find someone who can. Being ignored is the worst possible image you can leave in a customer’s mind about your company.
No matter how self-helping your store is, a customer will always have a question or two that needs an answer.
Every sales associate should have knowledge of the products they sell to the consumer. Product knowledge classes given by your vendors are a great help to keep associates informed about the products they sell and new products. Classes can be held at one central location and given before work or at convenient times per store situations. Vendors will take the time to go over products to ensure sales and profits for both sides.
Following through with customers is also an important point to follow-all contracts do not expire at the same time. Every sales associate should have a list of customers to call before the expiration of their contract as a courtesy to ensure that the customer is happy with their current service. If not, offer help or alternatives to the customer’s situation and let them know about new products on the market that may help keep them using their phone.
Keep that customer happy!! The customer will then let someone know about your great service and a new customer is born.
The reason I am writing this is because of my experience at the cellular store I went to. It was the worst experience I have had in a retail store. No customer service at all! I even met a man who used to work with me at Orchard Supply, and he experienced the same [lack of] customer service. He even said, “What do you have to do around here to get help?”
With all the levels of departments in the great towers of the corporate offices, I can bet that there is not a department devoted to retail or customer-service training.
I hope this letter is informative to all cellular retail establishments-maybe they will wake up and smell the coffee. You are not going to make it in this competitive wireless market without your happy customer. Word-of-mouth is the best advertisement any company can ask for, and all it costs is a smile.
Shirley Montano
