Stop pressuring the customer

THE EDITOR: Please allow me a space in your newspaper to express my view on the customer service in this country. For too long citizens have had to tolerate the poor delivery of customer service provided by popular garment outlets. These sales people crowd the customers’ presence which instils a feeling of discomfort in them. They exhibit a sense of impatience and give one the feeling of being “stalked.” Such a feeling would naturally hinder the customers’ ability to examine commodities with ease as there is an atmosphere that one is being pressured into making a decision. Alternatively, there are instances when the customer enters an establishment and is totally ignored whilst sales people indulge in a private chit chat.

I sincerely sympathise with salespersons because I know that they work on commission and therefore feel compelled to conduct a sale. However, it is a display of poor taste and ethics to remain on the trail of the customer “like a K9  sniffing for drugs” at the airport. My suggestion is that sales people introduce themselves and offer assistance to the customer upon entrance and allow them to browse until they require their services. This would also allow them to attend to another customer who may be in need of assistance while the other makes a decision. In addition, management should provide some formal training in relation to “Quality Customer Service” in order to teach the employee how to capture the hearts of the new customers whilst maintaining the existing clientele of the organisation.

VANESSA FRANK
Arouca