These are the certain inconvenient truths of retail sales:
1: The customer is not always right but always carries the money that keeps you in business.
or doesn't have the money and thats why the cheep asshole is wasting your time haggling over price when you could be helping a customer that does have the money
2: If the customer doesn't spend the money at your business, you can bet he is going to spend it at your local competitor.
or he is just wasting your time getting the info he wants so he can go buy online
3: You better get used to kissing some butt in sales, if you can't handle that, get out.
or rely on knowledge and honesty and let the rest fall into place
4: People have to eat, so they are willing to stand in line. People have to get gas, so they are willing to stand in line. Jeep parts are discretionary, you do not have to stand in line. You do not HAVE to buy them.
very true
5: If you want to succeed in small business, get off your duff and greet and help EVERY customer who comes in your door regardless if they are a a-hole or not.
if you're sitting on your duff yes. and you should acknowledge every customer for sure. But when you have 10,000 square feet to cover, and you are stacked 3 deep with customers you are helping and have customers on the other side of the store, it's sometimes difficult to greet everyone. Unfortunately, in major retail, price wars have cut so much margin out of the products that there is no longer any way to employ enough people to help every person as soon as they come in and still stay in business. It's hard enough finding 1 person that is willing to work for next to nothing and do a good job--let alone enough to cover irregular traffic patterns. Our demand for cheap products, and their availability online, has killed service. Don't blame the service person, it's all of our faults. Small retail is one more chink down the chain and suffers even more from the dwindling margins caused by big-box retailers trying to claw market share away from one another. The sad thing is, our buddy in the small business will probably not make it because customers will come to him for his service and knowledge, and then go buy from ebay.
