POLL: Salespeople in Dealers

[-Ralph-]

Given that bikes are a passion for most of us, and we will stop at a dealer just to go in and browse, but most of the time have no intention of buying a bike, and the dealers know this...

Mrs DJ Fridge has started a thread on this recently and it seems to be a VERY common complaint from a lot of people, so I thought I'd poll it out of interest.

The common complaint people post is that they went into a dealer and nobody approached them with a 'Can I help you sir/madam?', therefore customer service is poor and how do they expect to sell any bikes?

There is a flip side to the argument, that people wouldn't want to be 'hassled' by salespeople. Most are just browsing, and perhaps these dealers think they are doing the right thing by leaving you to it and letting you approach them if you are interested in buying a bike.

So, which would you prefer....

[Spank86]

I'd prefer a polite greeting and to be told to let them know if theres anything they can help me with.

Also, if staff are near a customer, keeping half an eye on them and being ready to drop their personal conversation is a must, chatting to fellow staff is for filling the time between customers (not the other way round).

[Owenski]

They cant win IMHO.
If I go in to browse/ be nosey and I'm approached by a sales rep to whom I need to respond "sorry I'm just killing 10minutes" I would then feel I need to make my departure and leave. However if I'm left alone to look around I "may" buy a smaller item that I see while browsing.
However if I went in with the intention of buying a bike, I too would feel disgruntled if I had to approach the sales counter and ask "can I buy that bike please mister"

So do they approach and risk preventing me from buying some £30/£40 item or do they sit back and wait for me to stand staring longingly at a bike, sufficiently long enough for them to be certain they've got the sale. It a tough one tbh.

[Balky001]

a lot of people go in unsure what they really want and need the saleperson to make themselves available. Some customers also need asking questions to open up while others should be left lone (once they have been acknowledged but not always immediately). Differentiating between the two is a skill.

I worked in retail for 9 years and one thing is for sure, 90% of the general public are slightly mental/quirky/idiots so its a tough gig guessing what certain individual quirk/sensitivity someone is bring in with them

I like to be allowed to browse for a bit then asked if I need assistance. It's also nice to be told if they are doing any offers or some info that might interest me. I don't like pushy sales talk but a salesperson is there to sell. Otherwise they are just a server on a till

[Balky001]

dup

[sniff]

Its a case of damed if you do, damed if you dont.

I like to have a good look for ten minutes before someone comes and asks the question. What they should ask is "What is it you are after today" That narrows the field for the sales person. Boots, Gloves, jacket, jeans, or a lid. At least they can then help to find what type of item you want. Is it Summer, winter, cheap expensive. That way they know how to help you.

This is how it helped me when buying my new Shark lid at the bike show in Birmingham last year.

[rictus01]

this is starkly demonstrated by the two Triumph dealers I normally use, Rosners is like a museum, basic displays, no flash or anything, you get a nod of the head when you walk in and that's about it, they aren't rushed and leave you to wander as much as you want, very helpful when you ask and very polite.

Lilleys on the other hand is all display and coloured lights, bikes set out to there best, you get someone come up to you as soon as you get through the door, once again good service, but a totally different feel to Rosners.

Cheers Mark.

[dizzyblonde]

Goes for anything in sales. There are bad salespeople and good ones.

Take HG for instance. Man with cool beard knows our faces, always polite enough to ignore us when we want, but eager to join in and discuss when we change our mind, he knows when we are browsing, knows when we are buying, decent with the kids, enough for them not to be a problem in his store.....

fat bloke however, nicked off with the Jubilee balloons Oli was playing with in an empty space on Sunday, and put them out of his reach.................cue baby screaming, yeah bad man, how to empty your shop in one hit!!! Cool beardy man got his sale instead ;)


Not as if hes playing with your most expensive items mate!

I expect a standard regardless of where it be, bike dealership, kitchen company or Tesco.

[Bordtea]

I'd prefer a polite greeting and to be told to let them know if theres anything they can help me with.

This. I think that when sales people come up to you in store it puts a bit of pressure on you to do something, whether that be buy something or leave. If I'm in a store for general browsing and I'm approached and I dismiss them, I feel like I should leave at somepoint soon. On the other hand if I go into a shop with the intention of buying something (which is rare these days as I usually go in store to have a look at something and then buy it off the internet) then it would be nice to have a sales person come up to me.

I'd say in general though, say hello and then leave me be and if I need any help I'll ask.

[Bibio]

you should never feel pressured by a good sales assistant. a sales assistant's job is a boring job and most of the time they just want to chat as they are or should be an approachable chatty person. yes their primary goal is to get a sale and to do this they have to make you feel welcome and take the edge off the customer so the only way they can do this is to assist/chat.

a good sales assistant should know by the look of a punter whether they need help and step in. this i'm afraid is lacking in most younger people these days who would rather huddle in a group and chat amongst each other. the other thing i find lacking in younger assistants is product knowledge and this infuriates me or maybe i'm just old fashioned.

either way i'm not fussed if they approach me or not but when i need to enquire about something and they don't approach me then i usually walk.

[BoltonSte]

Youles in Blackburn are quite good (not Manchester as Girth works there so normally I just say I'm after that idiot over there) but they are the 'Hi how are you?, if you need any help Give me a shout, parts are round the corner if you are after something specific' there's no uncomfortable, I'm just killing 10 mins or anything like that. And although I bought the bike in '09 the sales guy still remembers me even though I don't shop or service there.

[DJFridge]

...the other thing i find lacking in younger assistants is product knowledge and this infuriates me or maybe i'm just old fashioned.

Oh. My. God.

This is THE most annoying thing. Too pushy or too laid back attitudes are minor problems compared with people not knowing WTF they are selling. There are few things in this world more likely to make me wish physical violence on somebody than asking a question about something, only for the "sales" person to basically just read back to me the information on the card in front of the item. :smt072

I trained as an engineer but I ended up as a salesman. We manufacture fridges and, sat here with no information in front of me, I can tell you dimensions, capacities, optional extras, finish options and a good stab at prices for all those various options on most of our range. We have a smaller range than PC World so I wouldn't necessarily expect on on their goblins to have all that instantly to mind, but even some idea would be a start. I now do all my own research for that sort of item and tell the person what I want. I got fed up with asking "What are the main differences between these two?" type questions to get the response "Well, that one is available in red..." Death's too good for some of them.

Returning (sort of) to topic, I think there needs to be a third option, Ralph. What I actually want is to be politely acknowledged when I walk in, ideally with something along the lines of, "Good morning, if you need any help then please ask." And then to be left to browse, knowing that help is on hand if and when I need it. As you probably know better than most, with your french connections, it's perfectly possible to have sales staff who do just that. I meet them on holiday every year. This country, however, celebrates ignorance and stupidity so it is probably too much to expect a culture of helpful sales people to develop overnight.

Here endeth the rant (but I DO feel better now!!)

[Mrs DJ Fridge]

Plus one to what DJ said (and I don't say that very often)

[-Ralph-]

I think there needs to be a third option, Ralph. What I actually want is to be politely acknowledged when I walk in, ideally with something along the lines of, "Good morning, if you need any help then please ask." And then to be left to browse

I'm sure that would be the most popular option, so I omitted it. Kept it one way or the other on purpose, wanted to see what side of the fence the majority would fall on. You'll never see a Keith D in my polls.

Interesting result anyway!

[Bluefish]

Agree the omitted option is the ideal.

[Specialone]

You'll never make a sale though if you don't at least offer your help.

If I making a big purchase, I'd like some attention and lots of it.

If I'm browsing, at least they can say "hi sir, if there's anything I can help you with, my names xxxx, give me a shout"

I'm a spontaneous purchaser at times, so I might not go into purchase but there's a chance I might.

I bought my golf brand new after only going to look at them, salesman was over within a minute and said the above, couldn't be helpful enough, even rang me before and after delivery to see if things were going ok.

[Specialone]

Further to what dj said, if you're selling something, I expect you to know more about the product you're selling than me.

If you don't know, dont lie or bull****, just say, I'm sorry sir, I don't know that info but if you bare with me a couple of mins, I'll get the info you require.

I bought a new tv a few weeks ago and wanted to measure the dimensions of it, salesman didn't even have a tape measure or any intention of getting one.

I had to insist they got some 3d glasses so I could test the 3d on the tv they had on display.

Not blowing my own trumpet but I reckon I could go into most retail outlets and within one month be one of the best sales staff, purely from engaging with customers and helping them instead of thinking of the bottom line.

[Lozzo]

It's a tough one - when a potential customer walks through the door you don't know them from Adam so a polite "Hello" to acknowledge that you've seen them come in is usually all you can give. You then take note of where they are headed and follow their progress through the shop to see what's taken their interest. Only then will I go ahead and offer a "Can I help you with anything?". If the answer is "No, we're just having a nosey" then I tell them that I'll be around somewhere if they need me, but if they start asking questions about bikes then I'm in there with a proper introduction so they know who they are dealing with and my ears are open taking in what they want to say and listening for the questions. Product knowledge is paramount - it's useless trying to sell bikes to people when they've done all their homework online and read the reviews and road tests. If you haven't done your homework - and that includes all your competitor's machines so you can put forward the selling points your bike has over theirs - then you ain't gonna get the sales order. You make sure you get details of name and address/mobile number at the very least and it pays to remember theirs and their partners name for the second visit, because if you did the job right the first time they browsed, they will be back for a second one to buy the bike... unless you were super-sharp and got the sales order on the first visit.

I was taught that a good salesman has two ears and one mouth, to be used in that ratio.

[embee]

I've never worked in retail, but I've been on plenty of training courses to do with dealing with people generally (what was once called "man management" before equality days ;) ).

One of the key things I always remember is the "open question" greeting. Don't go in with "Can I help you?" because 99/100 times they'll say "No thanks, just looking". Always use an open question, some are more annoying than others, but things like "How can I help?" or "What would you like to see today?" and so on, it tends to lead them into an interaction, deosn't always work but usually does. This breaks the interaction ice and you can weigh up how to grab the customer. After all they have made the effort to go into the shop, it's got to be worth a try surely.

A classic example of useless sales person was when a friends fiancee (lady solicitor, but young and "trendy" dress) went into a car dealers to look at a sports car. She was treated like a waste of space, effectively laughed at. Subsequently she bought a new MX-5 elsewhere, went back to the other dealers, pointed to her car, and said those immortal Julia Roberts words from Pretty Woman, "Big mistake".

As others have said, in the UK we don't see service as a proper job, waiters in France/Italy etc are professionals and respected, here they are seen as one step up from pond-life (if they're lucky). I tend to think poor staffing is usually down to lack of training committment, and lack of talent in management. Also I suspect that like all jobs, people who are really good at it make it look so easy that others think there's no skill/talent required. Was it the golfer Arnold Palmer (??) who when the interviewer said "You were very lucky today" replied "Yes, and the more I practice the luckier I get."

[-Ralph-]

Always use an open question, some are more annoying than others, but things like "How can I help?" or "What would you like to see today?"

Would drive me nuts!