Lobb Shoe Salesman and the Used Car Lot. The Same?

[RJman]

Originally Posted by dkzzzz

Iblame internet by making it's bad influence felt everywhere when it comes to customer service and sales.
I blame poor punctuation...

 

[von Rothbart]

Originally Posted by dkzzzz

And this freaking store does not take credit cards!

You don't want to go there.

 

[johnapril]

I was at Selfridges on Oxford Street last month eyeing the Lobb offerings by the poorly lit shelves and stumbled upon a shoe that appeared to be smokey gray, but might have had some olive in it. A salesperson approached. I asked her what color the shoe was. She asked me what color I was looking for. I said olive. She said, it's olive. But it wasn't olive. It wasn't olive.

 

[marc237]

Originally Posted by johnapril

I was at Selfridges on Oxford Street last month eyeing the Lobb offerings by the poorly lit shelves and stumbled upon a shoe that appeared to be smokey gray, but might have had some olive in it. A salesperson approached. I asked her what color the shoe was. She asked me what color I was looking for. I said olive. She said, it's olive. But it wasn't olive. It wasn't olive.

Should have said yellow, would have been fun to see what she would have said.

 

[von Rothbart]

Originally Posted by marc237

Should have said yellow, would have been fun to see what she would have said.

She would have suggested museum gold.

 

[Shoe-nut]

My final thoughts on this experience I would sum-up thusly---what has shoe salesmanship degenerated into? I can remember in the 50's going out to the Buster Brown Shoe Store where the salesman made some commitment to shoe fit. He would take your old shoes off, bend the new ones in half, and then put them on your foot and lace "˜em up. He then would run his hands over your feet to see if the shoe fitted according to his expertise in this matter. At the time they also had an X-Ray machine there and we would then go over to it and check to see that the toes were not being cramped in any way. And wah-lah a shoe that fits.

Now it seems you are on you own the salesperson won't take your old shoe off nor will he put the new one on. He does not make any commitment to fit as this is left entirely up to you. I have read in previous threads that returning shoes can sometimes be an uncomfortable process as they would obviously rather not take them back. In this particular case it was only about the sale and not about fit. He utilized high pressure tactics designed to entice one into buying what obviously would have been a poor choice.

I can see now that this only NM not JL policy but it seems so cheesy from a rather high end retailer.

 

[Tomasso]

Originally Posted by Shoe-nut

On and on for at least 20 minutes he worked me over for that sale.
Did he have a pistol to your head? Seriously, the situation was entirely of your making, you could have simply declined to try on the shoes.

 

[Shoe-nut]

Originally Posted by Tomasso

Did he have a pistol to your head? Seriously, the situation was entirely of your making, you could have simply declined to try on the shoes.

I could have and indeed told him that I thought it would be a waste of time. The pitch didn't come until later. There would have been no way I could have anticipated this type of event given the store I was in.

I must remember from now on not to get involved and let that be my guiding lite. It only reminds me one should be prepared for any enventuality by being well rehearsed on your subject. In this case if he had brought out a shoe that fit I would have made the purchase.

 

[dkzzzz]

Originally Posted by RJman

I blame poor punctuation...

I blame anal-retentive personality and sublimated superiority complex.

 

[dkzzzz]

Originally Posted by lawyerdad

I'm curious as to why you'd blame the internet. I would think that since the ability to order goods over the internet means the local retailer will almost never be the only game in town, good personalized service would be one of the few ways in which the brick-and-mortar store can create a marketing advantage.

You are right in theory. That is the way it SHOULD've worked out.

But I think that internet has taken a lot of wind out of sales/customer service. Especially in banking industry and big-cash retail such as cars, securities and homes.
Nowadays I am surprised to get a great service rather than I expect it.

 

[marc237]

I am less inclined to blame the internet. Rather, if anything, I blame the changing nature of our economy that renders it very difficult to sustain a family at a living wage in the service industry. As a consequence, service jobs are less frequently, except at very high end establishments, career paths and more likely are very transient employment.

Growing up as a kid, one dealth with clothing stores where the same people had been there for years and years, selling clothing, shoes, and other goods. Now, mostly it is a much higher turnover business.

I suspect that people who were committing a career to sales were far more likely to be focused on customer service and on customer loyalty.

 

[Mr. Checks]

Agree with Marc.

 

[whomewhat]

The real difference between the Lobb salesman and the used car salesman is that one is selling you something that, if taken proper care of, will last a lifetime whereas the other is selling something that may not last a week.

 

[augustin]

Originally Posted by dkzzzz

I think that internet has taken a lot of wind out of sales/customer service. Especially in banking industry and big-cash retail such as cars, securities and homes.
Nowadays I am surprised to get a great service rather than I expect it.

I think firms are getting better at selling service rather than providing it as part of the customer experience. For instance, customer service in banks certainly has fallen off for most customers, but join the private client group (and pay for the privilege) and you'll be treated better than ever you were in the old days. Airlines too. God forbid you should have to deal with USAir personnel on the floor in the Philadelphia hub, but if you have paid to join the Club, your problems will be solved with a smile (actually, sometimes solved, but almost always a smile). Even my local independent bookstore allows me to pay for the privelege of joining a 'club' that gives me advance notice of special events, etc. Service has become a commodity, just like shoes, and if you want it you pay for it. Service and shoes used to be bundled commodities. Now they're sold separately.

Just for the record, last summer I was treated wonderfully at Arthur Berens
in the Stanford Mall, even though I was clear from the outset that I could not buy the shoes in question. The 'old ways' still persist in some out-of-the-way corners of the shopping world.

 

[zjpj83]

well said, augustin, it's something you pay extra for these day. "Buyer's advantage" this and "elite member" that - I'm always getting asked to join something.