Perhaps one of the most valuable things of our time is business expertise. Where are the salespeople who know their stuff?
How many times have I recently had to deal with eyes in grease? bine, to evasive answers, when it was not total ignorance. It’s incredible !
A few days ago I shopped for a set of sheets. I didn’t know that a change in bed size and mattress thickness would disrupt your life to this extent. I went to a store that specializes in these kinds of products. A series of errors and bad advice from salespeople meant that I had to make three visits to this place.
You know the famous episode of the exchange of the dish set on the show Me and the other, the one where Dodo tries to return a gift by making multiple visits to Dupuis Frères? I experienced it to the power of 10. All this to achieve what result? To receive my fitted sheet and my pillowcases… by mail! You can not make that up !
A few weeks earlier, I went to the men’s section of a department store with a friend who was looking for a suit. There is a salesman there who must have 35 years of experience in the men’s clothing business. He is unbeatable! I said to my friend: “He knows his stuff!” Hurry up and get hold of him! »
This salesman sizes you up from nose to toe and tells you straight out: “In this brand, you need a 44 Tall and 34 pants.” Afterwards, he tells you very tactfully whether it suits you or not, before offering you impeccable choices of shirts and ties.
This salesman reminded me of this other employee at a big box hardware store who must have been 70 years old. It was a Saturday morning and I swear, there were six people in line in front of him. He dispensed advice with the assurance of a coach of life on Instagram.
This category of salespeople is rapidly disappearing. Among the 15 most in-demand jobs in 2022, guess which came in first place? Sales representative. Several reasons explain this. The labor shortage makes it very difficult to replace experienced employees who have reached retirement age.
The big chains, more interested in turning up the volume of the music on Saturdays, mainly hire part-time employees for whom customer service is reduced to a question thrown at a colleague into the microphone that they they stuck to the ear.
“Tony, do we have more blue lambswool sweaters in the back store? I need a medium. » That’s the reality of downtown Montreal’s boutiques. But that’s another subject.
You will tell me: who wants to work 40 hours a week serving people who are not always pleasant for a more than average salary (unless you work on commission)? In France, we call this phenomenon the “vocations crisis”.
We should rack our brains less trying to rename the term seller (advisor, representative, associate, etc.) and put more energy into finding qualified people, who will inspire confidence in us, who will establish contact.
A seller who knows his products and the techniques of use is one thing. But a salesperson who recognizes his customers is nirvana. That too is rare. Customers are most of the time numbers to salespeople. And vice versa.
I’m not saying we need it in all types of businesses, but in some sectors it’s essential.
While we are constantly told that we must encourage established businesses to counter the invasion of online commerce, we must find ways to promote the profession of salesperson.
Until then, we must take care of those who are in place and who are good. This column is intended to be a tribute to these women and men who devote their lives to selling fabric by the yard, paint, clothes, shoes, tools, flowers for the garden, books and what not. Again ? and who do it with professionalism.
Thank you for having all the answers, for offering us sound advice, for asking us for news of the project we have carried out, for telling us that a jacket does not suit us well, for not taking a certain type of dye on the patio after using another kind the previous year.
We need you, more than ever!
Customers on their cell phones
When I published my column on the scourge of hands-free conversations in public places, I received a significant number of emails from people who work in businesses.
They can no longer serve customers talking on their cell phones. They feel like second-rate employees.
A reader told me about the time he saw a man who ordered a submarine sandwich while talking on the phone. The poor employee had to make him make the countless choices (meats, cheese, tomatoes, pickles, lettuce, hot peppers, olives, mustard, mayonnaise, etc.) while the customer continued his discussion.
Another reader, a butcher by profession, one day had a customer at his counter who was on the phone. When it was time to be served, the lady kindly ended her conversation. “I was so happy that I gave him a discount,” the butcher told me.