With a few hours to waste yesterday afternoon I decided to take a look around a few shops at a local retail park. I have been thinking of getting a freezer for a few months now so took a look around two electrical stores (Currys and Comet)

Now anyone who has gone into a store like this is guarded for the sharks sales people who circle potential customers waiting to draw blood. It was not bad in Currys I looked at the freezers and pretty much decided on the model I would eventually get and walked out the store. Wanting to check out the competition and to find the best deal for me I went into the Comet store. I don’t know why both these stores have to hide the fridges and freezers at the back of the store but needless to say I was not impressed with the selection they had on offer and as I was leaving I noticed the display of televisions and as my television is getting on I thought it would be worth a look. (Cue Jaws theme tune) Don’t ask me where he came from but before I knew it the dreaded sales person had struck – he can’t have been very experienced at sales as I was able to get rid of him with ease. I spent a few more minutes looking at the televisions and video recorders before making my way to the exit and safety.

My next challenge was ScS I have no need for a new sofa nor do I have the need for a sofa or any furniture full stop so there really was no need for me to go into this store other than to just have a general look around. From working for Harveys I had a dreadful feeling that I would be pounced on as soon as I entered the shop and sure enough a sales person was trying to engage me in conversation within minutes of me entering the store. I know from past experience that many shops that rely on sales people selling goods have policies in place to acknowledge customers within a certain amount of time and as most of these sales people rely on commission to bolster there wages you can understand the cut throat mentality of working in this sort of environment. Not wanting to have this guy waste his time trying to sell me something I have no intention of buying I tell him that I am just taking a look around (I did not want to be too honest and tell him I was wasting time), however this guy was good and did not take that as an answer trying to find an “in” that he could use to take control. He soon realised that I was either a WOT (waste of time) or not in a position to buy a sofa as he rattled off the normal spiel. Knowing this would not be the end of it I carried on walking around the store and have to admit it was a decent set up, not wanting to encourage the sales staff I did not actually sit on any of the furniture as that is a sure sign you are going to buy!! Even on the way out another member of staff tried to engage me asking if I was looking to furnish a new house as I was at the door I felt safe enough to talk to him and got the conversation off me and on to the store and its local competition.

Some people would love to feel like they were getting this sort of first class service, going into a store and having an attentive sales person listening to their needs and saving them time by taking them directly to the item that suits those needs. Others would get so annoyed that they would just turn around and leave the store.

I am thinking I might carry out an experiment to see how pushy sales people can be by visiting a number of retailers

This entry was posted on Sunday, July 6th, 2008 at 6:43 pm and is filed under Rants. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.