Good service key to successful retailing

MARTIN HUNTER

Top Shop Awards: Ange Leonard, of Christchurch's City Seafood Market, is a Top Shop award finalist - and knows some of the secrets of customer service.

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Haughty floorwalkers ignoring customers, teenage assistants more interested in discussing last night's telly than selling the products and music so loud you can't be heard asking for help.

Bad customer service is enough to send you screaming but New Zealand shoppers are more likely to withdraw their custom than complain, according to a retail expert and mystery shopper.

The New Zealand Retailers Association is holding its Christchurch Top Shop awards tonight , including one award for outstanding customer service.

Yesterday The Press did a little mystery shopping of its own to the five finalists nominated in that category City Seafood Market, Evergreen Garden Centre, G4M, Simply Furniture and U Fit In.

Conjuring a fictional last-minute dinner party for four, this reporter entered City Seafood Market on Manchester Street and was helpfully advised on a simple yet attractive salmon centrepiece.

Name-badged Joanne at the Evergreen Garden Centre in Templeton gave expert and environmentally friendly advice on my fantasy vegetable garden.

In G4M the gift shop for men on Moorhouse Avenue one staff member was showing a small group of women through the more risque items. I was about to impatiently check the time but another staffer came to the rescue.

Steve, at Simply Furniture Tower Junction, asked if I was looking for anything in particular or just on an "inspirational wander".

He imparted a formidable knowledge of lounge suites but was not pushy.

No-one heard me enter the Fendalton Road bra and swimwear specialists U Fit In. Their buzzer arrives next week apparently. Despite a delayed start, the assistant went beyond the call of duty in offering me a fitting even though I said I was on a bra hunt for my buxom friend.

Retail Research Consultants owner Sarah Webb said retailers in New Zealand needed to spend more money on staff training than expensive shop fittings as bad service was the number one driver of poor patronage.

She said the traditional greeting of "can I help you?" was a bad start because it was a closed question.

Other poor openers include conversations about the weather (unless the weather is unusual that day) and "sucking up" approaches, like admiring the customer's hairstyle (unless you genuinely do). If busy with another customer, a smile or other non-verbal acknowledgement will suffice.

Webb said shop assistants should then give the customer time to browse and make a second approach before they leave.

"But nothing pushy," she said.

"You are trying to build a relationship with the customer not pressure them. Respect their space."

It is also important to find out more about a customer's needs to identify the ideal item and the shop's ambience should be appropriate for the product no blaring music in the antique section.