What You Can Learn From Working In Retail

Retail – It’s a thankless industry. Between the elitist customers who look down on you for being a lowly salesperson and the family that does the same, you can begin to feel like you’re wasting your time in a position that has no potential to help you in your professional life. Well, you’re wrong. If you’ve been trying your best to get a so-called real job but feel that all you can get is retail, consider yourself lucky because you are now privy to the best on-the-job training for which you will not have to pay.

Your time spent on the floor of your retail store will give you countless hours of access to sensitivity, anger management, and customer service training while, also, developing your social skills, exposing you to deductive reasoning, working with a team, and developing your confidence. If you think these attributes are not important to your professional life, then re-read the skills and requirements that employers are looking for in their job ads.

You will begin to notice that people have a tendency to repeat certain actions. Take notice of these patterns because they can offer much insight. What follows is a list of some behaviors that you should take with you into your professional and personal life.

Read the fine print
When something is on sale, most companies list all of the exclusions in their marketing. This is the same for companies outside of the retail industry. Read through paperwork. Ensure you have full knowledge of what you are entering into. Don’t sign something without this knowledge.

Ask proper questions
Sometimes you can’t answer something for yourself, and you need help. It is perfectly acceptable to ask someone who is more knowledgeable about the subject for assistance. However, they cannot read your mind. “You know what I mean” will not always work. It is best to be clear on what you need so that the other person can adequately and efficiently serve your needs. Give the person clues to help them understand what you need.

Help yourself first
When was the last time you walked into a store that had no marketing, no price labels, and no item descriptions? Not recently, I would bet. How often do you bypass the marketing, price labels, and item descriptions to ask someone what’s on sale, how much something is, or what something is, though? In retail as in life, signs and labels are around to help you help yourself. People are much more willing to help you find a solution to your problem when it appears as though you have taken the initiative to educate yourself on the matter from the outset without expecting that you are entitled to receive the answers from someone else.

Double Check
You were taught this lesson in school. People make mistakes, but agreeing to their mistake will cost you in the end. After you have helped yourself, asked the proper questions, and read the fine print, ensure that all of the facts and figures are correct before signing your name.

Just because it’s on the front table doesn’t mean it’s for you
The first thing that you see is not always the solution to your problem. If you’re allergic to wool, would you buy a sweater without checking the fabric label? In the professional world it is necessary to dig deeper. Guarantee that you have fulfilled your needs before walking away.

RandomThoughtOftheDay #1

RTOD: If the fix exists, what’s the problem? 

In light of the hailstorm surrounding the fix replies issue on Twitter, I thought it necessary to bring focus back to the real issue: customer service. All of Twitterville is upset because a decision was made for them based on an assumption. Replying to followers and hiding replies from non-followers is confusing, so let us make it easier. Fail. Users complain about the issue and the response is less than helpful. Fail again. Twitter may have failed on the service side of things, but the customers are failing, too.

 Multiple Twitter users have found an easy way to fix this problem by the addition of a character ahead of the “@” symbol in a reply. Instead of this fix becoming a trend, the “#fixreplies” hashtag is still trending. In an age when social media makes it almost impossible for companies to have a bad day, users must recognize their own responsibility in the proliferation of the problem. If the solution is out there, why not use it? Why continue to tweet about a problem that isn’t really there? 

Calling @biz and @ev names won’t get you what you want, either. As many customers of Twitter like to tout their higher level of sophistication, it is appalling to see these people reduce themselves to childish behavior. When a child throws a tantrum, calls people names, or pouts for not getting their way, they’re either ignored or punished. Maybe the response is not pleasing to the customers, but who says customers have to get their way all the time?

UPDATE: Twitter founder, Biz Stone, admits to “screwing up”, but this change has been in the works for a while http://mashable.com/2009/05/14/twitter-screwed-up/