This article recounts the true experiences that Reina and I experienced first hand last week while purchasing some items she required before heading overseas.

I recount these experiences because I am constantly amazed at how businesses cry “tough times” on one hand and yet on the other make it difficult to complete a purchase.

I want you to extract the lessons from our experiences for your business and ensure that you/your team are not making the same mistakes.

Among other things, Reina needed a ladies business suit and a pair of long leather boots. Now for those that have not met my better half, she is a petite powerhouse.  Those ladies that are outside the typical dress/shoes sizes immediately will understand how challenging it can be to find something that will fit.

So, we’d done some research prior to heading off to the city and, armed with a bunch of speciality store details, we proceeded to be under-whelmed with the service and help we received.

At one large speciality shoe store it was obvious that the middle aged gentleman knew little about the various imported boots they had or indeed where they were located in the store (we watched with a mix of horror and muted fascination as he took 10 minutes to locate our first request).  Perhaps the gentleman was a new employee, yet what compounded the issue was that the other staff seemed officially disinterested in genuinely helping him or us find a suitable pair of boots. The outcome …we left unsatisfied.

This continued store after store, with staff at many stores clearly not happy to be at work (it showed in their faces and their words and actions) and we had almost resigned ourselves to not finding a suitable size 35 ladies boot. 

Yet we persisted and, behold a ray of hope, we entered Karandonis Shoe Centre on Elizabeth St Sydney and spoke to a very amiable and down-to-earth lady.  We asked if they sold ladies boots and on this occasion they had nothing in store; they did offer to make them. (Great idea, except Reina needed them that day as she was leaving overseas the following Sunday). 

We then asked a question we had asked at every other shoe store we had been in: “Since you are unable to help us, can you suggest another shoe store where we might be able to get help.  The lady then promptly wrote down the names of three other ladies shoe stores within walking distance. 

We visited each store in turn. Store No.1 had some interesting stock but not the right size.  Eventually they offered to get one boot transferred from their Double Bay store to the City by the next day (thoughtful suggestion, but no good to us given our schedules since we lived several hours from the city and a return trip the next day just would not work).  Lamentably the attitude of the ladies then turned from being interested to aloof and bordering on the rude. We left.

Store No.2. Lady was on the phone when we entered; stock was (in our view overpriced); we left … lady still on the phone.

Store number 3.  Very small store crammed with lots and lots of imported Italian and Spanish shoes and boots.  Quite a good range of styles, heels etc.  Two staff worked the store.  After 20 minutes in that store, SUCCESS. We had found a very comfortable, perfectly fitting pair of Italian boots! Phew, only took six hours. 

On our way back to a major department store we dropped back in at the Karandonis Shoes Centre to thank the lady for her help in suggesting the other three stores and indicated our success.  I made a mental note that next time I needed shoes to visit there first.  Her professionalism and genuine interest in helping us (without an expectation of getting anything in return) was obvious.  Further, if they had had ladies boots in stock, we would have bought them from her.

The boots were now done and it was getting late in the day and still the matter of the suit was unresolved.  In between trying on boots Reina had also been trying on various suits.  Again the lack of interest by the staff was amazing.  They were more akin to ‘check- out chicks’ at a grocery store than professional retail fashion consultants.  This was all the more disappointing when Reina was considering investing a substantial sum in a quality business suit. 

There was little attempt from the staff of various ‘concession areas’ within this major department store to build rapport, establish what Reina’s needs were, what sort of ‘look’ she was looking for. In fact, it was almost laughable some of what happened.  During the course of the day they fetched a suit pant from another store. When it arrived they had brought/been given the incorrect size, so more waiting.  After some time we decided to have a break and eat something (we needed our energy for what was going to be a huge day) and we could not find the staff member we had been talking with and no one seemed to now where she was or even if (get this) she was in the store today!

After waiting about 10 minutes without any sign of the staff member we finally found another staff member who was willing to take the suit Reina wanted to ‘put on hold’ and securely store it till our return later in the day. We did return later in the day, after finding the boots, but then surprise surprise, no one could find the lady we spoke with originally, nor the lady (we had both their names) that we had left the suit with on hold.  A third staff member then offered to go look for the suit and could not find it.  We were about to leave in disgust when the first lady appeared and thankfully Reina was able to try on the suit with the newly acquired boots … and yes … we finally had SUCCESS.

We were now both quite exhausted and headed for the
Domain car park for the long trek home. The only thing left to do was visit the tailoress and have her make some alterations to the suit. (Reina had organised this in advance and, as anyone who is anything but a standard suit, dress, shirt, trouser size knows, a good tailor(ess) is worth their weight in gold. Within 24 hours the alterations had been made and Reina was ready to go ?

Did you pick up on the lessons for these businesses:

• Be genuine with all prospects/customers.
• Don’t prejudge them.
• Leave your personal issues outside of the work place.
• Smile and show a genuine interest in the customer (rather than being indifferent at best and uninterested at worst. Remember actions speak louder than words, the two must be congruent).
• Be knowledgeable about your product and service and the BENEFITS thereof (not just features).
• Be attentive but do not overcrowd your customer. Don’t leave them to wonder where you are.
• If you can’t help the customer solve their problem with a product or service you have, then make helpful suggestions as to where they might go to solve their problem. They will be forever grateful (like we were after 6 hours of travelling from store to store in downtown Sydney with little success).
• Know who and where your competition are.  There is such a thing as competition.  Remember what happened with the Karandonis store, they could not help us directly yet they did help us find a suitable pair of boots from a competitor (shock, horror). Yet here is the kicker - who did we remember most from this transaction? Karandonis, or the store we bought the shoes from? (The answer should be obvious … why? Well I have mentioned Karandonis Shoe Centre numerous times in this article and I have not mentioned the name of the store we bought the boots from - even though their service was good).
• Become known as a ‘friend in the business’ not an ‘order taker’ or even a ‘problem solver’. We certainly feel like the lady at Karandonis is our ‘friend in the shoe business’.

If you consider our experiences above and think about what you have recently experienced when purchasing something, does it seem familiar or foreign?  If you are a business owner ask yourself, how would my business rate currently?

I am at present compiling a list of stories both good and bad and would love for you to share your experiences with me.  You can write to me at
myshoppingexperiences@rightteam.com.au

The only thing I request is that the stories you share must be:

• Personal
• True
• Verifiable
• You must include names of companies (although these will be removed/changed for bad stories.  With good stories the names will remain as a testimony to the good business sense of those businesses and their owners)

Now, on a different note

Don’t over-pay for Travel Insurance any more

Like most business people I travel a bit and after doing some research on travel insurance I found out a few interesting things, such as:

• Not all travel insurance policies are the same (some offer much better benefits at claim time than others)
• Just because you pay more does not mean you are getting the best cover
• If you buy from a travel agent – you will (generally) pay a premium for your insurance cover
• Buying world-wide multi-trip cover for both of us was and is the most cost effective way to go. It covers us for all trips that we take individually or together domestically or internationally in a 12-month period.

So if you are looking for great travel insurance then I recommend the company we use.  Click here for more info.