We never loose a customer...
It has become almost second nature for me to observe service providers in action, and mentally make notes of their service behaviour.
This incident took place at a posh fashion outlet in KLCC...one of those "open-concept" shops that sell one-off pieces per colour per size. It was late evening, and besides me, there was another customer browsing through the shop's products.
I supposed the other sales assistants must have gone off their dinner break for there was only 1 young girl attending to both of us. She was very discreet and chose to stay in the background while we each browse through the few hanging racks, with me selecting a few pieces to try out in the fitting room.
The other customer, a man, and obviously a foreigner judging from his accent and features found something he liked and called the sales assistant over to help him with his purchase. Immediately my service senses started tingling....and I moved close enough to eavesdrop on their conversation (am not embarassed about this!).
The customer is on a business trip and will be flying back to his home country in 2 days. Since this was his first trip to the country, he wanted to get his wife a gift specially made in the country and he had chosen a modern batik designed loose long blouse. I must say he had great taste, and can imagine his wife to be a pretty lady, too. However, while he liked the design very much, he wanted the blouse in a brighter colour than the one he was holding.
The sales assistant was all smile throughout their conversation; very graciously she informed him that the blouse did come in bright colours but these had been sold out. The customer was disappointed - his facial expression and body language showed this. The sales assistant was quick to pick up on this and proceed to offer the customer other options.
Very diplomatically, she escorted him to another rack of clothings and showed him several other pieces, almost similar in design, for him to consider as alternatives. In between, she took the time to look my way and thanked me for waiting to be attended to. Now, the customer wasn't a dificult customer but he still wanted the one design he had set his heart on. Then as if in exasperation, he asked her if she knew of other places where he could get the same blouse, and in the colour he wanted.
Remember that this is an upper class shop - the pieces sold here starts from a 3 digit figure, and you can almost calculate the commissions their sales assistants stand to earn from every sale they made. The girl was on duty alone, with 2 potential customers. So do your math if she were to close the deals with the 2 of us...yet, what she did was a pleasant surprise to me, and to the male customer.
She knew she wasn't going to make any sales from this man and she did not mind. But she was no sour grape; instead of telling him "No, I don't know", she casually told him of another shop at another mall where he could find similar designs. No promises but the colour of his choice may be available. She even proceeded to write down the correct name of the mall for him to show any taxi driver that will take him there.
You can immediately see the change in his facial expression - all smiles, he shook her hand and thanked her profusely before hurrying out to catch a cab to that particular mall. He also promised to return to her shop if he couldn't get the blouse from the other shop...which wasn't even a branch of this outlet!
Then it was my turn to be waited on - by now I had found what I wanted and simply proceed to make my payment. I commended her for her action and asked if she didn't mind losing a customer to a competitor. Her confident response confirmed my belief that she truly lives and breathes service - she said she didn't loose a sale, she merely made a customer happy and that is the main principle of great service!
Well, I wondered if the customer did eventually return to get the blouse from her...I hope he did.
This incident took place at a posh fashion outlet in KLCC...one of those "open-concept" shops that sell one-off pieces per colour per size. It was late evening, and besides me, there was another customer browsing through the shop's products.
I supposed the other sales assistants must have gone off their dinner break for there was only 1 young girl attending to both of us. She was very discreet and chose to stay in the background while we each browse through the few hanging racks, with me selecting a few pieces to try out in the fitting room.
The other customer, a man, and obviously a foreigner judging from his accent and features found something he liked and called the sales assistant over to help him with his purchase. Immediately my service senses started tingling....and I moved close enough to eavesdrop on their conversation (am not embarassed about this!).
The customer is on a business trip and will be flying back to his home country in 2 days. Since this was his first trip to the country, he wanted to get his wife a gift specially made in the country and he had chosen a modern batik designed loose long blouse. I must say he had great taste, and can imagine his wife to be a pretty lady, too. However, while he liked the design very much, he wanted the blouse in a brighter colour than the one he was holding.
The sales assistant was all smile throughout their conversation; very graciously she informed him that the blouse did come in bright colours but these had been sold out. The customer was disappointed - his facial expression and body language showed this. The sales assistant was quick to pick up on this and proceed to offer the customer other options.
Very diplomatically, she escorted him to another rack of clothings and showed him several other pieces, almost similar in design, for him to consider as alternatives. In between, she took the time to look my way and thanked me for waiting to be attended to. Now, the customer wasn't a dificult customer but he still wanted the one design he had set his heart on. Then as if in exasperation, he asked her if she knew of other places where he could get the same blouse, and in the colour he wanted.
Remember that this is an upper class shop - the pieces sold here starts from a 3 digit figure, and you can almost calculate the commissions their sales assistants stand to earn from every sale they made. The girl was on duty alone, with 2 potential customers. So do your math if she were to close the deals with the 2 of us...yet, what she did was a pleasant surprise to me, and to the male customer.
She knew she wasn't going to make any sales from this man and she did not mind. But she was no sour grape; instead of telling him "No, I don't know", she casually told him of another shop at another mall where he could find similar designs. No promises but the colour of his choice may be available. She even proceeded to write down the correct name of the mall for him to show any taxi driver that will take him there.
You can immediately see the change in his facial expression - all smiles, he shook her hand and thanked her profusely before hurrying out to catch a cab to that particular mall. He also promised to return to her shop if he couldn't get the blouse from the other shop...which wasn't even a branch of this outlet!
Then it was my turn to be waited on - by now I had found what I wanted and simply proceed to make my payment. I commended her for her action and asked if she didn't mind losing a customer to a competitor. Her confident response confirmed my belief that she truly lives and breathes service - she said she didn't loose a sale, she merely made a customer happy and that is the main principle of great service!
Well, I wondered if the customer did eventually return to get the blouse from her...I hope he did.
Comments
Thank you for your feedback. I suppose when one has been trained in customer service, trains on customer service and work in customer service, one tend to have extra sensitive feelers to such effort...:->