Monday, December 17, 2007
A Bit Miffed!
I have to admit that I get bit miffed when I hear a certain national
chain jewelry store owner constantly going on about how you won’t be
pressured in his stores because “unlike other stores”, their sales
people are not on commission.
The
fact is, is that pressure doesn’t come from receiving commission or
other incentives as much as it has to do with hiring the right people
in the first place.
A perfect example of this is Nordstrom.
Nordstrom is world famous for providing outstanding customer service
and yet we all know that Nordstrom’s associates are paid in part on
commission. Have you noticed that you rarely, if ever, get pressured at
Nordstrom? I personally can attest to this, because I do most of my
clothes and shoes shopping there. The associates at Nordstrom always
seem to be educated about their product and do a great job of helping
you find what you want. And I never feel pressured to buy. The reasons
for this are that they hire outstanding people to begin with and then
provide them with extensive customer service training. Nordstrom is a
great model for any business that cares about offering the best
possible customer service.
When I shop at many other stores;
including those that don’t offer their associates any incentives, I’m
usually disappointed with how difficult it is to get someone to even
help me. There is nothing more frustrating than store employees who
just don’t care.
I’ve always believed that pressure comes
from top down. If you hire nice people; people who truly care about
helping others and then you make clear to them that your company
culture is that customers should be listened to and should never ever
feel pressured; guess what will happen? Your customers will never be
pressured. Conversely, if you hire overly aggressive people, who only
care about making a sale and you don’t pay them even a nickel in
commission, I can pretty much guarantee you that customers will still
be pressured.
I’ve never understood when we live in a
capitalistic society why commission is a dirty word. Shouldn’t those
who work harder and perform better make more money? Why would we not
want to motivate and reward those who do a better job? If you don’t
offer an incentive for your associates, then how can you expect people
to work harder for their customers?
The ironic thing about this
is that while this particular owner that initiated this conversation
talks about their associates not being on commission; they do in fact,
offer other sales driven incentives that have the same effect as paying
commission. Add to that the tremendous pressure placed on their
Managers and sales associates to perform, and the end result is
customers often leave their store feeling pressured and their
associates know all too well that these ads are not accurate.
At
E.E. Robbins, I freely confess that we do pay our sales associates a
sales incentive. We believe that by doing this, our customers are
better served.
We also reward our associates for outstanding
customer service as measured by their customers. We constantly ask our
customers to fill out a “Tell Emerson” Questionnaire (I read every one
of these every single month) and every month we reward those associates
who receive a given amount of complimentary feedback from their
customers. More importantly, if our customers ever do feel pressured;
our associates know that they will be reprimanded. They also know if
such customer pressure continues, that associate will very soon be
looking for another job.
Most importantly, our company culture
is built on simply treating others as we ourselves want to be treated.
Our goal, even more than sales volume, is to offer our customers a
shopping experience that is relaxing, informative and fun.
We
feel if we do this, then the sales will usually follow. Maybe it’s part
of the reason that E.E. Robbins not only sells more quality engagement
and wedding rings than any other stores in the Northwest, but we have
also won national awards for customer service as well as been voted
“Best of Seattle” for the past three years running. If I could sum up
our entire philosophy in just one quote, it would be this, “Be kind to
others. If by doing so, it doesn’t fill your pocket book, it will fill
your heart”
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