What do you do as a customer when a retail manager or worker treats you incorrectly? Do you decide not to shop there anymore? Do you decide to tell that manager what you think? Do you try to find a customer service number for that location and tell the corporate office? There is not a wrong or right way to handle this situation. Some people feel that based on the situation that they will choose what the next steps will be. Hopefully they decide do something that does not contain a violent act.

No one is perfect especially in the retail world. There are all kinds of reasons that people will act out against the customers they are trying to serve. Unfortunately the customers do not always understand and they feel they should be taken care of regardless of the situation. This is true in most cases. During the holiday season or a really big sale, sometimes customer service is not always the best and managers get frazzled. No matter how many classes they take or how many years they have been in the industry, everyone will have a bad day and chooses to react in a way the customers will not like. As a customer you have a choice as well on how you want to handle that situation.

It is said that cooler heads will prevail, but that is just a saying. Depending on the situation, we may decide not to be cool about it at all. We hope that the person in charge or the corporate office will correct the issue that you had with the retail associate, but that is not always a guarantee. No retail establishment wants to lose out on customers, but at the same time they will not be able to satisfy everyone. They do their best not to let a situation escalate, but it will happen from time to time. No one is perfect. Think before you act and everyone will be fine.

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Oftentimes a place of business will have a visitor from the regional, district or even the corporate office. The store sometimes now when that person is coming so they are able to prepare for the visit. When they think of preparing for the visit, what do you think they need to do? For the most part you will see the manager of that individual store flying around making sure that every aisle is cleaned properly, all representatives know the information they are supposed to know, all paperwork and such is in order, etc. This is what they believe their visitor is looking for so they bust their butts to ensure this is happening the way it is supposed to be. Sometimes they do all these things and the district or corporate personnel are not even looking for those things. The things listed above are what the upper management expects.

In any business you have to lay out what is expected from each level of the organization. After you lay out what is expected from everyone, you then need to make sure they understand so there is no confusion. What potentially could happen is that a team member can say they didn’t understand the instruction thus not doing what was asked. Follow up is very important when expectations are laid out. So when higher management is coming for their visit, they are expecting the basics are already being followed. Most likely they are coming to talk about new initiatives and to offer their help on any given topic.

To the higher management team it would often give them a sense of amusement or even disappointment when they do not see the basics done. If the basics are not done then how can they expect a store to move on to a different level? There have been times in which the corporate team has come into a location and walked back out because the basics were not done. They did not feel they needed to waste their time with that store. That is more than just an embarrassment.

The best way to ensure that your visitors will enjoy their visit is ensuring that the basics are done without mention and you are working toward fixing whatever issues you are having. You should not wait until the day before their visit before you begin to inform your staff of the things they need to do. You should be looking over your business daily and ensuring the quality of our service is above standard. The more emphasis you place on checking your systems and making sure the expections are met, the better you are off in the long run. If you are able to identify any problem early, you could potential avoid any disaster that could come your way. On a daily basis, check to ensure the basics are up to par. It should not take you very long if this is an everyday check. Eventually the basics will be so perfect that you will not have to check them as often.

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