Are You Doing Your Job as a Retail Salesperson?

Retail sales jobs such as sales associate positions can be tiring and stressful. Being on your feet all day while engaging in often unsuccessful attempts to charm choosy customers can take its toll on your spirit and energy. However, if you allow yourself to become frustrated and don’t do justice to your job, both the retailer's business and your career will be affected. Research shows that the behavior of retail salespeople directly influences customer opinions of retailers and, in turn, affects retailers' business more than most other factors.

In March 2007, The Verde Group conducted a joint study with the Baker Retail Initiative at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School to ascertain the effects of various problems on the retail shopping experience. The study mostly focused on the influence of sales associates on shopper loyalty and satisfaction. It found that sales associate issues are more damaging to retailers than store issues and can lead to loss of business. Sales Associate Issues That Hurt Business According to the study, the biggest sales associate issues that led shoppers to have negative opinions of retailers were:

not finding a sales associate on hand when help was needed
being ignored by a sales associate who failed either to greet the customer or to make eye contact
insensitivity toward customers held up by long checkout lines

The study found that sales associate issues generate negative word-of-mouth publicity that damages the business of retailers. Ultimately, 6% of all shoppers are lost to retail organizations due to sales associate unavailability alone. Shoppers between the ages of 18 and 29 years of age are most affected by sales associate issues. Younger shoppers demand attention, and their principal reasons for dissatisfaction with a retailer include:

being ignored by a store’s sales associates
perceiving that sales associates are more concerned with making sales than helping out customers
meeting sales staff with inadequate product knowledge
failing to find items due to the way merchandise is organized

The Four-in-One Sales Associate To be successful, a retail sales associate must combine the competencies of four sales associate archetypes. According to the study, these are:

The Educator, who has thorough knowledge of the products in the store and helps shoppers find them
The Engager, who is always on hand and ready and willing to help
The Expeditor, who helps the customer save time during purchase and payment
The Authentic, who will forgo a sale to serve the customer’s interests

Among these retail sales associate archetypes, the “engager” was found to have the greatest impact on customer satisfaction or dissatisfaction. The study found that 25% of all customers who reported a problem while shopping were ignored by sales staff and did not receive any greeting or eye contact, let alone a smile. At least 3% of customers who encountered such scenarios left the retailers permanently.

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Are You Doing Your Job as a Retail Salesperson?