How To Lose or Earn A Customer

I was never good at retail sales but have spent a good portion of my life in the consulting world.  One thing I have learned over the years is that the adage "The customer is always right" doesn't always apply in every situation.  Most of the time the customer is misinformed and too proud to ask for help.  Other times they have a really good idea but lack the ability to describe what they want.  It was my job to figure out which it was and deliver.

They say working at a retail store is similar but the way I see it,  I can fire a client, doing that to a customer can have some adverse effects.

There are endless stories talking about how Best Buy has been closing stores due to declining sales and increased competition from online e-tailers.  The way I see it, if the stores stocked more diverse products and spent more time training their employees there might be a chance that the brick and mortar can be saved.

Here is an interesting story from "The Morning News Beat" talking about how they kicked Best Buy in the balls and are now faithful Microcenter followers.

At Micro Center the staffers in white shirts are busy and constantly on the run, just like at Best Buy. In contrast, though, they were quick to make eye contact and quick to promise me they were coming right over. In fact, when no one got free quickly enough, the department manager came to answer our questions and did so without irony or condescension, even though I will admit my technology questions are not always the savviest.

Needless to say, he got the sale. And when I told him how much I enjoyed working with him, he said, “There’s a reason we are opening stores while others are closing."

Darren and I talked about some of the issues that plague the hardware enthusiast in our Vegas edition of the Hardware Asylum Podcast.  Be sure to check it out.

Related Web URL: http://morningnewsbeat.com/News/Detail/43862/2014-...