Favorite Thing about Sears

In this day and age, with an increasing number of people fed up with China-made junk, I think you are going to see things come full circle back to where customer service matterrs and quality matters.  If people are going to spend money they are going to spend it on something that works in a store they feel appreciated in.

I walked into Sears the other day and two people asked me if I needed help -- that was very nice.  I didn't find what I was looking for, but I did find a cool hat!

 

bukelson95 said…
I had 3 come up to ask me if I found everything I was looking for!

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now see that would annoy the hell outa me if i need help i want to find it sure but when i go some where and have people coming up to me left i right it makes me wonder why they have nothing else to do like putting out what i came there to buy

Goodole, buddy I feel the same way.  One reason is because we've been in the retail biz for years.  When I go into a retail outlet, I don't want any person coming near me unless I come up to them and ask me for help.

Before I was in sales, I used to love it when people came up and asked if they could help me.  Now that I am much more accustomed to the layout and procedures of department and warehouse stores, I tell store associates to keep their distance and leave me be.

Sears culture has been one of extreme service, stemming from the very roots of Sears.  Now we have a lot of factors to consider.  For one, the customer of today has many more sources of information today than ever.  They read Consumer Reports, Popular Mechanics, online reviews from many sources, etc.  Many walk in a know exactly what they want and why before ever talking to the sales associate.  They want to walk in, find their product, see if it matches what they really want, and then have the associate ring it up for them.

On the other end of the spectrum, you have many customers who walk in clueless and need all the help they can get.  Many of those feel like if they do not have an associate immediately then Sears has failed them.  They then call National Customer Relations and complain that the store wasn't adequately staffed to fully satisfy them.  Then that same customer goes to Walmart, waits 45 minutes just to check out, and doesn't complain to a single person there.

It's all about the culture that each certain retailer has put out there for the customer over the years.  Sears provides much more personal customer service but faces decreasing sales.  Walmart opens two of their 40 checkouts and lets customers wait half an hour and the customers are fine with that.

So basically, you can't please them all, but you gotta try.

Personally, I approach every customer I can find to see if they need any help.  Associates are there to help, and they can't use their knowledge and skills to help customers they don't interact with.  Sears has a culture of customer service that I find to be unparalleled across the major retailer spectrum, and we intend to keep it that way.

eh even before i was worign retail i wanted left alone it was always annoying since i dont usualy need help

much like most things retail related once you have a beter idea of the customer types you learn which ones need/want help by looking at them and which ones want left alone

eh ive seen kmart do the same thing with only 2 or 3 lanes open actually i typicaly see more lines open at the local walmart then kmart and kmart seems to open the express lanes last so the person with with one or two things has to wait behind the people with a full cart.

one of the problems is this culture of customer service thing was beaten into all our heads but then the same people who fed you that line then cut hours and funds so we cant actually serve customers. then DMs come in driving good managers up the wall pushing for pointless BS that the customers dont care about that kills morale or simply drives out the good managers causing koolaide swilling mutes to fill thier place

eh even before i was worign retail i wanted left alone it was always annoying since i dont usualy need help

much like most things retail related once you have a beter idea of the customer types you learn which ones need/want help by looking at them and which ones want left alone

eh ive seen kmart do the same thing with only 2 or 3 lanes open actually i typicaly see more lines open at the local walmart then kmart and kmart seems to open the express lanes last so the person with with one or two things has to wait behind the people with a full cart.

one of the problems is this culture of customer service thing was beaten into all our heads but then the same people who fed you that line then cut hours and funds so we cant actually serve customers. then DMs come in driving good managers up the wall pushing for pointless BS that the customers dont care about that kills morale or simply drives out the good managers causing koolaide swilling mutes to fill thier place

Our local Wal-Mart we are LUCKY if 2 registers are open out of 12.  Darn lucky.  At the Kmart in Sedalia and Jefferson City most of the time at least 3/4th of the registers are open and if there are more than 3 people in line I've seen them open more.

Of course, I lost what respect I had for Wal-Mart when they gave me a "story" about how they couldn't install a handicap accessible door because of the expense.  RIGHT!  Last of my money they ever saw.

rstinnett said…

Of course, I lost what respect I had for Wal-Mart when they gave me a "story" about how they couldn't install a handicap accessible door because of the expense.  RIGHT!  Last of my money they ever saw.

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Wow, that's just plain ridiculous.

I like Sears because I like that they sell American products, honor our Vets, and generally speaking stand behind their products.  They let things slide a bit, but they're picking up the pace now!

Sales people at the Sears near us were very visible and courteous wanting to know if we needed any assistance.  I appreciate their effort to help a customer.  As were leaving the store, we passed customer service. an employee behind the counter said, " have a nice afternoon".  They were polite and pleasant.  I'll go back to that store every time!

I like Sears products, but their service is WAY over priced. I had a service person come out and do about 45 minutes work on my Maytag refrigerator (bought from Sears), and he charged me $125 for the part he replaced and $350 for labor! He told me next time I should call an authorized Maytag repair guy, because he had to pay Sears on top of what he charged for his time, making it about double the going labor rate.

I don't understand. Sears repair technicians ARE authorized Maytag repair technicians.

Sometimes LarryRicharson people feed you a line just to justify something that you as the customer disagree with. You can check the going rate for repairmen in your area and realize that we are quite comporable.

Look at the receipt you were given because if this was a one visit job you paid for the repair call, parts, and labor. As always you can look at the paperwork and or discuss with the customer service any fee issues. All of that information though should have been provided on the initial service call.

I like when store employees ask if I need help. If I wanted to be treated like a chump, I would shop at Walmart.