Devoted to customer service and the principles of exceptional customer services

"Wow!  You are the easiest customer I've had all day! I didn't even have to check up on you or anything!"

I was in the Macy's shoe department at South Coast Plaza mall and the salesguy was ringing me up for a pair of boots.  The salesfloor was a madhouse with about 100 or so customers and only 5 (give or take) salespeople on the floor.  At least, that's all I saw.  Perhaps the other five salespeople were hiding out or passed out in the back room. 

In my head I told the guy ringing me up, "Well, if you had checked up on me you could have made more money." 

 

I maneuvered my way out through the maze of women huddled around the cash register waiting for someone to help them.  I started thinking about all the money Macy's could possibly be losing if some of those women decided they didn't want to wait around any longer.  It took me about ten minutes to hunt down a salesperson to help me.  I really wanted those boots.  In retrospect I should have just walked down to the Nine West store and bought the boots from them. 

Well, contrast that Macy's experience with the Nordstrom experience.  I'm not even in the women's shoe department five seconds and two people have already greeted me.  The department was just as busy as Macy's, but there were more salespeople on the floor.  Unfortunately, there weren't any shoes that caught my eye. Ok, I saw a tons of shoes I wanted, but none that I needed!  However, it was nice to know that someone was close by ready and willing to help me out. 

How about you?  If you are in the retail industry, do you have enough salepeople on the floor ready and willing to help your customers?  Or do you spend $100 million (give or take) like Macy's did on an ad campaign and leave your customers hanging because you don't want to put more salespeople on the floor?