Seumas Tan Nyap Tek*,Advocate & Solicitor
Having a well informed employee and placing your trust in that employee can do wonders for the Company’s image and performance. Let me illustrate this by sharing with you my encounter with two employees at camera shops in Kuala Lumpur last week.
Last week, I was shopping for a compact camera. I went into the first camera shop at a popular shopping centre in KL. I was looking at the cameras on display when a young sales girl approached me and asked me if I needed help. I asked her about one of the cameras on display. She was at a loss and needed to refer to her boss. Her boss was busy attending to customers and was not able to help her. When I asked her if I could try out the camera, she said that she needed to get the keys from her boss. As a customer, I was a bit frustrated as you have a sales girl in front of you who can’t really help you.
There are two problems here. One, the sales girl was not trained or taught about the products which the shop was selling. Two, there was a lack of trust placed in the employee by the employer. Needless to say, I decided to leave that shop and move on to another one.
I went into the second camera shop. Again, I was looking at the cameras on display when this sales girl came and asked me what type of camera I was looking for – functions, brand, etc? This is the type of question that will shift the customer’s attention away from the cameras and onto the sales person. I looked at her and asked for the camera which I wanted. Incidentally, the camera I wanted was only released a few months ago in Malaysia. She immediately went to the counter to get the keys to open the display cabinet. While she was getting the keys, I quickly glanced around to locate her boss. I had met her boss once before and he was busily attending to his other customers. It looked like camera shops are very busy nowadays! The sales girl returned, placed a battery into the camera I wanted and handed it to me. While I was checking out the camera, she explained the functions, etc. I was impressed. Obviously she knew her stuff well. Unknown to her, I had also done a bit of checking on the camera by surfing the internet and getting expert reviews on the camera. I decided to test her knowledge by asking her some technical questions on the camera. I was very impressed as she handled those questions with ease.
Now that I was comfortable and certain that this was indeed the camera for me (thanks to the sales girl’s explanation as well as the reviews on the internet), I was in a tight spot as I was not sure if this sales girl would be able to give me a good and reasonable price for the camera. I knew that she had good product knowledge but could she make an important decision like giving me a good discount? I wanted to wait for her boss to finish his other sales transaction before I decided to buy. However, looking at her boss, this might take some time. Since there was no harm trying, I took a long shot and asked her whether there was any discount for the camera? I expected her to say no or at least say that she had to check with her boss. To my surprise, she immediately said that she could give me a discount. When I told her I intended to pay with cash, she said that in that case, a bigger discount could be given. She went to the computer, did a bit of checking and gave me a discounted price. I was happy with the price. She didn’t stop there. She went on to say that she was also giving me some freebies as there was a promotion going on.
At that point of time, the boss came and joined in our conversation. I asked the boss if he could give me a free camera screen protector. Instead of him making the decision, he looked at his employee and said “I will leave it to her to decide on the screen protector and the price for the camera”. I could see the sale girl’s face was beaming with pride knowing that her boss had placed enormous trust in her. She decided to give me the screen protector for free!
Before leaving the shop, I asked the sales girl how come she knew so much about the camera as it was quite new in the market. She informed me that when the camera first arrived in the shop, the boss together with all of the sales staff examined it and went through it together. It was the Company’s policy that all the sales staff are expected to have some knowledge on the products they are selling. She remarked that what made it such a nice place to work was that the boss placed his confidence in the staff knowing that the staff are capable of handling the customers with very little or no intervention from him at all.
At the end of the day, all of the three parties were happy. The boss was happy because he managed to sell the camera, the sales girl was happy because the employer had reinforced her confidence by placing his trust in her, while I was happy because I got the camera I wanted at a discounted price plus freebies.
Having a well informed employee and placing your trust in that employee can do wonders for the Company’s image and performance. Let me illustrate this by sharing with you my encounter with two employees at camera shops in Kuala Lumpur last week.
Last week, I was shopping for a compact camera. I went into the first camera shop at a popular shopping centre in KL. I was looking at the cameras on display when a young sales girl approached me and asked me if I needed help. I asked her about one of the cameras on display. She was at a loss and needed to refer to her boss. Her boss was busy attending to customers and was not able to help her. When I asked her if I could try out the camera, she said that she needed to get the keys from her boss. As a customer, I was a bit frustrated as you have a sales girl in front of you who can’t really help you.
There are two problems here. One, the sales girl was not trained or taught about the products which the shop was selling. Two, there was a lack of trust placed in the employee by the employer. Needless to say, I decided to leave that shop and move on to another one.
I went into the second camera shop. Again, I was looking at the cameras on display when this sales girl came and asked me what type of camera I was looking for – functions, brand, etc? This is the type of question that will shift the customer’s attention away from the cameras and onto the sales person. I looked at her and asked for the camera which I wanted. Incidentally, the camera I wanted was only released a few months ago in Malaysia. She immediately went to the counter to get the keys to open the display cabinet. While she was getting the keys, I quickly glanced around to locate her boss. I had met her boss once before and he was busily attending to his other customers. It looked like camera shops are very busy nowadays! The sales girl returned, placed a battery into the camera I wanted and handed it to me. While I was checking out the camera, she explained the functions, etc. I was impressed. Obviously she knew her stuff well. Unknown to her, I had also done a bit of checking on the camera by surfing the internet and getting expert reviews on the camera. I decided to test her knowledge by asking her some technical questions on the camera. I was very impressed as she handled those questions with ease.
Now that I was comfortable and certain that this was indeed the camera for me (thanks to the sales girl’s explanation as well as the reviews on the internet), I was in a tight spot as I was not sure if this sales girl would be able to give me a good and reasonable price for the camera. I knew that she had good product knowledge but could she make an important decision like giving me a good discount? I wanted to wait for her boss to finish his other sales transaction before I decided to buy. However, looking at her boss, this might take some time. Since there was no harm trying, I took a long shot and asked her whether there was any discount for the camera? I expected her to say no or at least say that she had to check with her boss. To my surprise, she immediately said that she could give me a discount. When I told her I intended to pay with cash, she said that in that case, a bigger discount could be given. She went to the computer, did a bit of checking and gave me a discounted price. I was happy with the price. She didn’t stop there. She went on to say that she was also giving me some freebies as there was a promotion going on.
At that point of time, the boss came and joined in our conversation. I asked the boss if he could give me a free camera screen protector. Instead of him making the decision, he looked at his employee and said “I will leave it to her to decide on the screen protector and the price for the camera”. I could see the sale girl’s face was beaming with pride knowing that her boss had placed enormous trust in her. She decided to give me the screen protector for free!
Before leaving the shop, I asked the sales girl how come she knew so much about the camera as it was quite new in the market. She informed me that when the camera first arrived in the shop, the boss together with all of the sales staff examined it and went through it together. It was the Company’s policy that all the sales staff are expected to have some knowledge on the products they are selling. She remarked that what made it such a nice place to work was that the boss placed his confidence in the staff knowing that the staff are capable of handling the customers with very little or no intervention from him at all.
At the end of the day, all of the three parties were happy. The boss was happy because he managed to sell the camera, the sales girl was happy because the employer had reinforced her confidence by placing his trust in her, while I was happy because I got the camera I wanted at a discounted price plus freebies.
*Seumas Tan practices in the area of Employment Law covering issues dealing with human resource matters. He practices under the name and style of Messrs S. Tan & Co. and may be contacted at Seumas@STanLawyers.com.my.
Interesting write-up, good if u can let rest of us know which shop this is, particularly readers who are camera enthusiast. Of course, you do know that the sales lady was the Boss's daughter rite?:-)
ReplyDeleteHa ha...Anonymous, wise minds think alike.
ReplyDeleteHowever, Seamus observations should not be ignored; logically and theoratically applicable as far as i am concerned - Bchoo
To Anonymous and Bchoo, thanks for your comments. I can assure you that the sales girl and the boss are not related. However, I like the way you think! Thanks.
ReplyDelete