I wanted to say, “Mind your Manners!”

One of the most challenging behaviors that I have to adopt in a selling environment is to turn the other cheek, and walk away from a fight.  To work on a sales floor, you have to have some degree of aggression or assertion in order to survive.  So sometimes I wish I could just do what comes natural - FIGHT! 

It’s a fact - in today’s selling environment, most companies try very hard to please the customer, and teach their sales staff that 99% of the time, “the customer is right”.  Really, we do believe that, but for a sales person this is sometimes very hard to act out.  Here’s a story about what happened to me yesterday. 

A lady (my “up”) was shopping for bargains.  She said, “Well, if I buy this sectional, will you throw in this, this AND this?”  I laughed and said, “Well, if I threw in anything, they’d throw me out tomorrow.”  (We’re a company that can’t negotiate.)  This was supposed to be a funny way to say, no.  Her answer was, “Well THAT doesn’t concern ME!  So, I’m not interested. ”  (She was saying that loosing my job because of her was of no concern to her.)

Here’s how I felt.  I wasn’t upset with her, because that IS the truth.  Customers have no reason to be concerned with a salesperson’s life.  But, I also felt that that this one statement defined her character.  Not to be concerned whether or not you cost someone his/her job is a little sad, I think.  It shows lack of manners.

Well, that’s the way it is in the world of sales.  Ever so often, I get to meet a few very Classy people, who actually become friends of mine.  And usually every day, I meet some very nice, down - to - earth people.  But then, when I’m least expecting it, there’s a few folks that would sour my week if I let them - they’re the ones who give the “buying public” such a bad reputation. 

Anyway, I thought that perhaps you’d like to know what it’s like in my Furniture World.