The Conflict of Customer Service

It’s too often that customer service has abandoned the sales floor and disappeared to the break room. It never fails when you walk into a big department or retail store, you need sales assistance, and it is nowhere to be found. Like wise when you don’t want to be bothered, the sales associate is right behind you, pushing a sale that might not even exist. Wouldn’t it be nice if all the corporations out there all got on the same customer service page and found a solution to the confliction that burdens the personal selling department? Two retailers that differentiate in their perception of customer service are the Home Depot and Lowes. Both of these companies specialize in the do-it-yourself hardware service. If you enter either store, you will find spacious isles, tall ceilings, and a tool for just about every need. So what makes on customer choose one store over the other? Home Depot is known for its ability to keep the shelves stocked with everything you need to complete a project. It even offers a range of goods in each department that cater to people with small budgets to high end furnishings for those that look to spend a little more. But what it lacks is the availability of customer service representatives. Long ago when the Home Depot first started it hired trained professionals that were knowledgeable in their field. Eventually, those professionals were being replaced with unskilled, untrained employees who would work for a cheaper wage. At that point, customer service went on a decline and now it’s hard to find a sales associate, let alone one with knowledge of the product they are selling, on the sales floor of all places. This doesn’t make the Home Depot a bad place to shop; it’s a retailer that is meant for the person who knows what they need. Lowes on the other hand may not have everything on the sales floor that you are looking for, but you’ll always find someone willing to help you, even if it means transferring a product from another location in order to see you through the sale. In this case, Lowes is going for the person with questions. Two types of personal selling techniques, each directed towards a certain group of consumers. Question is, would there be a way to combine the two techniques into one and still make the customer feel comfortable approaching or being approached by customer service?