Last month, an email made its way into inboxes across the country, including Ragtrader’s, regarding an incident at the Chapel Street store of Australian fashion retailer Gasp.
The letter read: “I’m submitting this...because I work in the fashion industry and have been really appalled by the stories I have heard about how this store treats their customers.”
What followed was a feisty email trail detailing correspondence between a dissatisfied customer of Gasp, disappointed by a shop assistant, and a staff member from Gasp online customer care service who couldn’t care less.
Within a day, the news spread like wildfire and the email had gone viral, with the customer complaint and the retailer’s rude response sent to hundreds of recipients, perhaps more.
Although the full impact of this chain of events remains to be seen, Kristine Skippington, training general manager at the National Retailer’s Association (NRA) says it’s a perfect example of how bad customer service can damage a retailer’s reputation and put the operation at risk.
“Bad customer service gets around so much quicker these days – because people can email, Tweet it, and put comments on Facebook – so it can do enormous damage very, very quickly, and the extreme view is that some retailers actually go out of business as a result,” she says.
Given, the negative effects of bad customer service may not be news to most retailers, but Skippington says that despite this, some companies are still reluctant to invest in adequate staff training to improve their customer service capabilities.
“In these hard times that retailers are experiencing, customer service can make the difference between success and failure – that’s why staff training is so important. But there are lazy retailers that aren’t taking the time and trouble to invest [in staff training and customer service], and they are probably the ones that are not faring so well,” she says.
The reasons for lax staff training can vary, from lack of budget, to time, and training supervisor constraints. However, Service Skills Australia acting chief executive Kit McMahon says that often, the root of poor customer service originates long before staff training even begins.
“Many retailers don’t realise this, but before they even go and think about training they need to ask a set of strategic business questions to first identify the gaps,” she says.
“These questions are: where do I want to go and what role do my staff have in achieving that? Then, after they ask those questions, they have to pin point there they are now and then how they will get to where they want to be. Then, after that, the training stuff comes in.”
The risk retailers run if they don’t ask those questions first, is that they may end up spending time and money on the wrong kind of training and development. This will not only waste the retailer’s resources, but also, will not generate the right kind of customer service to fit the business.
“You need to identify what you need to work on. Is it a recruitment problem you’ve got, or is it a retention issue? Is it a training and skills gap issue or is it a skills recognition issue? That’s the starting point, and then after that it’s the training response,” McMahon says.
Once retailer’s have identified their weaknesses, the choice of training methods and services are varied – from internal programs to external apprenticeships, and outsourcing specific training services.
Taking into account the difficult economic environment, retailers may also struggle with how much money should be funneled into training, but according to Skippington approximately two per cent of the wage budget should be allocated to staff training and development.
“The two per cent rule of thumb doesn’t necessarily mean that you’re paying external trainers to come in, that can also cover the time that your people are off the floor [supervising training] and those types of things – and that is a good start,” she says.
“I know organisations who start there and then increase that when they do their business plan until they get it up to five or more per cent – but you need to start somewhere and that can be a reasonable amount.”
“You only get out what you put in,” she adds – and it seems some, such as department store Myer, are preparing to meet the challenge. In May, Myer chief executive Bernie Brookes announced the company would devote $25 million to correcting its well-publicised staffing woes. While Ragtrader recently revealed only a portion of this will go directly into staff training, Myer spokesperson Jo Lynch said it was a broad and far ranging initiative.
“It is a comprehensive program comprising a number of initiatives including additional selling hours in high-service categories such as footwear, intimate apparel, and men’s suiting. We have doubled the scope of the induction program, improved commission schemes in electrical, furniture and cosmetics, introduced productivity leader boards and continued with our service reward programs."
