Wednesday, February 01, 2006

Customer is always right?


There’s a shop in KLCC selling tech-gadgets and stuff next to some shops selling bags - specialized bags for mobile MACs (well....ok laa, to be fair...for MS laptops & other digital devices too). Very easy to notice this shop if you are in KLCC. The salesmen and outlet manager of this shop are kinda like know my existence in this world, the manager especially, since I have introduced so many people to buy stuffs from that outlet. No commission for me, I just want to help them and the buyers in getting what they want. By doing so, I kinda establish a good rapport with this outlet and we became quite like buddies.

The mantra “ Customer is always right” is part of the pre-requisite of becoming a salesman, but if you are a customer, you are not smart if you insist you are always right. Let me explain why I said so.

The people behind the counter of this outlet (or any shops for that matter) can play two different roles - he can be a good staff to the company, selling off whatever they have and be a pure salesman - sell sell sell! OR, on the other hand, he can be a good advisor to the customers, asking them their requirements and suggest items that will fit the requirement and the budget of that particular customer.

Now tell me, as a customer, which one would you prefer that guy to be?

The staff of this outlet will “boraks” with me whenever I dropped by, if they don’t have customers to attend to. At times, if I was there and their hands are full, I would help them by casually entertaining the customers, just for the spirit of helping friends....just like what I casually did when I was shopping in a CompUSA outlet @ Galleria Houston Tx, x-number of years back (that's another story I will tell later later lah!)

So, one day when I dropped by the KLCC outlet to say hi, chat a bit about tech stuff updates & try some new stuffs I read in the forums I frequent, the manager told me that they would really enjoy their job more if all their customers are like me. I was like....HUH? Why suddenly you say like that one la brother?! He then told me that they had just have a bad one from a snobbish customer. He admitted that most of the customers who buys stuffs don’t really know what they want and more often then not will treat the salesmen as if they own the company....that's my polite version of saying - macam company tu bapak diorang punyer! You buy a couple of thousands worth of toy and you start to think you own them as your slave....how can lahhh weii!

The people who came to that particular outlet are mainly “the locals” - people who work around that area. Reason being, that outlet is close enough for them to drop by for any trouble-shooting services needed.

Trouble-shoot. The magic word.

Minus the fact that some softwares/ hardwares are buggy compared to some others, trouble-shooting any issues is a must in order for the owner of the device to enjoy using the device. The problem with some (if not most) of the device owners is they do not bother to read the manual what more to do prior research & fact findings on the device they have. All that matters most to them is they need the device to do their stuff - including using flashing it around as status/ fashion items. The guys behind the counter can do trouble-shooting for you but if you treat them like you buddies they can do more....you can even get a better deal and full support from them like forever! All you need to do is treat them like your friend and ask questions politely, if you don’t know or you want to know more about stuff. Don’t shoot them for not being able to give all the answers that you want cuz into the end they are just human beings like us also whaaat?

In a sentence, what I am trying to convey is: Even if we are the customers, even if we fart money, being polite & humble to the people behind the counter is not wrong, it may even lead us to a better bargain/ deal.

The choice is ours, in the end, the seller only sells, its us who will be paying to own & use the items.....

So perhaps next time we can try to be a good customer? No?

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