Extra selling at the till

Pollycat

ScarletMarble wrote: »

The vast majority of shop assistants, their full job title is customer SERVICE assistant, not SALES.

They should be employed to serve customers with good customer service. Not to sell silly things.

I guess most of these people in the type of shops we are discussing will be expected to 'toe the party line' - and if that means having no choice but to offer a customer 'silly things' then that's what they have to do unless they want to be queuing at the job centre.

It doesn't matter what they are called, it's what their bosses say they have to do what counts.

In the end, it's not something that people on the till want to do, it's something they have to do to keep their job.

nwc389

Pollycat wrote: »

I guess most of these people in the type of shops we are discussing will be expected to 'toe the party line' - and if that means having no choice but to offer a customer 'silly things' then that's what they have to do unless they want to be queuing at the job centre.

It doesn't matter what they are called, it's what their bosses say they have to do what counts.

In the end, it's not something that people on the till want to do, it's something they have to do to keep their job.

Totally agree with this and also the term that ally bee used about Ivory towers , all this stuff is churned out by people who have absolutely no idea whatsoever about what it is like to do that job ( and I suspect would not last 5 minutes in that job !)
Let's not take it out on the poor salesperson .

dealer_wins

It does want to make you shout back "If I wanted X I it would already be in my !!!!ing basket"

Pollycat

dealer_wins wrote: »

It does want to make you shout back "If I wanted X I it would already be in my !!!!ing basket"

Really?
It doesn't make me want to shout that.

It makes me want to say a silent prayer of thanks that I don't have to do a job that makes customers feel it's OK to get mad at me.

montyrebel

I have had to do this and on one week our product to sell was the tins of vaseline lip balm, the looks you get when you say "Could I interest you in some vaseline"

System

Most of these upselling things are thought by directors that don't do any shopping themselves. I am sure if they did a days work in one of their shops, they wouldn't get the targets.

Fortunately, my job in retail doesn't involve me upselling things. If we were told to start upselling things then most of us will be unhappy. I would as well. We believe that the focus will be shifted from service to sales.

I bet some of the retailers that do this are more concerned about the upselling targets being met than actual customer service targets like smiling at the customer, saying goodbye etc.

NBLondon

amber_cloud wrote: »

Another good idea is to complete the survey on the till receipt, a lot of stores now give a link to a customer satisfaction survey on receipts where you can give feedback on your shopping experience and also enter a prize draw. If enough people say they were irritated by pressurised sales techniques when paying then shops might think twice about forcing staff to ask and forcing customers to endure it.

I have actually been doing this with the Post Office; after about 3 weeks; it seemed to have died away. Maybe coincidence, maybe it got through to the area manager?

Youngy

dacouch wrote: »

I avoid WH Smiths now as the prices and cross selling annoy me.

I may be wrong as it's been a while since I was in there, but I'm pretty sure I used the self service till last time I was in there to avoid the cross selling and as I pressed to pay, the machine tried to cross sell me some chocolate

WH Smith are the worst, totally agree. Charge 1p for a bag "due to environment" but hand you countless paper vouchers have no interest in. I just leave them all on the counter. Actually have to ask for a receipt though!

dodger1

hannerrbabes wrote: »

I hate it too. I've never said yes to their till offers, so it obviously doesn't work that well. It's the samewhen you enter a clothes store & you're immediately asked if you need any help. That puts me off so much!!!
I agree with the savers comment. Their tills are incredibly cluttered. It would drive me crazy to work there!

You never say yes and frankly I never say yes but I can assure you it does actually work. The question if done properly is asked by the assistant while they are scanning what you have already bought and doesn't waste any time, so if just one person in a hundred says yes it's extra profit.

When I was in the retail trade decades ago we did it very successfully. It's just like cold calling, it annoys countless people but it works. As for me when I go into Smiths it doesn't bother me in the slightest with the extra selling attempt.

fozmcfc

I might go in to WH Smiths, maybe a couple of times a year.

At the railway station I use, Boots, always has 2 for 1 on drinks and other offers, whereas WH Smiths, tend to charge £2.50 for a family bag of sweets and £1.50 for one bottle of drink.

My local WH Smiths, now has the towns Post Office in it, so they probably do well with that, as people must make impulse buys.