As you may well imagine, each member of my staff has a background in retail. They can't walk into any store, even as a consumer, and leave without critiquing the level of customer service. In addition, I sometimes send staff members to shop certain organizations and bring back a report. Lunch time in our office often consists of sharing both success stories and horror stories about recent shopping experiences. Granted, my staff has high standards when it comes to customer service, but some of the horror stories still amaze me. Sure there are some great organizations and individuals out there who are doing a superb job of serving customers, but the bad seem to far outweigh the good.

On a recent trip through one shopping center, all of the following scenes really happened.

First, I went into the furniture department of a large department store. The moment I entered the department, a gentleman approached me with his arm outstretched to hand me a business card. He smiled and said, "I'm the manager of this department and I'm just going to lunch right now so here's my card in case you see anything you're interested in." I was flabbergasted. Would it have hurt for this man to spend as little as 30 seconds to see if I might have been in the store previously and just stopped by to place my order? Even more amazing was the fact that he actually volunteered that he was going to lunch instead of helping me. I wondered if this salesperson actually believed that in handing me a business card he was providing me with customer service. I couldn't resist the temptation to teach him a lesson, so I wrote, "Hope your lunch was great, because you just lost a sale," on the card and left it on a dresser.

Next I wandered into a sporting goods store, found a salesperson, and asked where I might find the SCUBA equipment. The salesperson pointed to the back wall of the store and added, "If you really want a good selection of SCUBA equipment though, you should really try Store XYZ. They have everything you could possibly want. It's just down this same street about two miles south and on the right side after you pass the freeway entrance." This salesperson didn't even bother to find out what I was looking for in the first place. His store might have had exactly what I needed. Certainly he was trying to be helpful and make sure I got everything I wanted, but I'm not sure I would classify his actions as great customer service. I know the owner of the store wouldn't!

I was walking past a rather expensive looking gift shop that was going out of business. They carried some very unique accent pieces for the home, and it appeared that there might be some tremendous bargains inside. Approximately 15 seconds after I walked through the entrance, a salesperson approached and spouted off what appeared to be a well-rehearsed sentence that every customer for the last week had probably heard. He said, "We'll only be open for another 5 weeks, so everything will be reduced in price further, but if you wait, the piece might not still be here. It's up to you. Just keep that in mind as you're looking." Wow! He gave me the penalty close right out of the gate. He didn't even bother to open the sale by at least saying hello. He just went straight for the close. To make matters worse, he then followed me around the store for at least 10 minutes, hovering like a vulture, ready to swoop down for the kill if my interest appeared to be peaked on any one item in particular. I began to have fun with this whole experience and led the poor fellow up and down and around every display in the store. Just as I got to the back of the store, I picked up speed and headed for the front door. In one last ditch effort, he yelled across the store to me, "Did you see anything you'd like to take today? Remember, it may not be here if you don't get it quick!" He tried yet another close! I could hardly keep from laughing as I exited the store.

I finally had a refreshing experience when I walked into a women's specialty store. Realizing my mother's birthday wasn't far off, I was looking at the selection of earrings. I was pleasantly surprised when a salesperson struck up a conversation with me. She informed me that my mother could bring in swatches of fabric from clothing if she wished to purchase earrings to match. The store would then keep the samples on file and try to match them up with the multitude of unique earrings that arrived each week and would call if they found a possibility.

I was leaving the mall, and began reflecting on the encounters with salespeople when I hear a rather unusual advertisement on the radio. It's the owner of a chain of retail stores announcing a week-long promotion whereby every customer who says, "I'm just looking," in one of his stores will receive a free gift. I pondered the concept and concluded that the owner had probably given up on trying to teach his sales staff how to handle the "I'm just looking" customers, and instead, actually gave the salespeople a legitimate reason for continuing to talk to the customer when they heard the ever popular phrase. The idea bothered me a little, although I must admit it was very clever.

As I continued to drive, yet another commercial was aired on the radio that made my hair stand on end. This ad promised customers that no salesperson would "bother" them in one of their stores. Simply take your time to browse, and if you have any questions, just ask. Once again, it was the owner who was speaking on the radio about his own operation.

Now I was really confused. This owner was actually advertising the fact that his stores provided no customer service unless the customer asked for it. I truly believe that customers appreciate helpful salespeople who show concern for them. Salespeople who provide outstanding customer service will do anything (within reason) to satisfy the customer. These salespeople will go the extra mile for the customer.

Retail stores used to take pride in the level of service they provided and would advertise that fact. It meant something to customers, and they became repeat customers or referred their friends when they experienced outstanding customer service. It's still true, and that's not just my opinion. Publications from Time to Business Week have all covered the issue of bad service in America and how upset the consumer is becoming over the lack of good customer service. Similar articles continue to confirm my opinions: customers want service; they just can't find it anywhere.

Customers are finding pushy, aggressive and obnoxious salespeople who make them want to run from the store rather than buy from the store. These pushy salespeople are why customers react negatively to the word salesmanship. The irony here is that pushy salespeople are the worst at their trade. Salespeople who are perceived to provide outstanding customer service are the individuals who are really well-versed at salesmanship. In fact, customer service and salesmanship are really synonymous, but the two extreme types of salespeople have made the terms opposite in most people's minds.

Consumers feel that they must be able to defend themselves from salespeople's tactics. They feel that they can't trust salespeople. They feel as though all salespeople are trying to sell you as much as they can, whether or not they want it.

If the majority of consumers are truly feeling this way, then something must be done to correct it. I do not hold salespeople responsible. I hold store owners responsible. Retail selling is a wonderful profession and has provided a good living for millions of people. But how long must it be a profession that, as Rodney Dangerfield might say, gets no respect? Consumers can't blame salespeople for trying to sell them as much as possible. After all, retail stores are businesses trying to stay in business. Retail store owners must take the responsibility to ensure that their sales staff understands completely the ethics required of them in their work. Perhaps it's time for every owner to take an honest look at their operations to see if the satisfaction of the customer is really a priority in their stores.

Providing good customer service requires salesmanship, communication skills and accountability for ethics. Businesses are built one customer at a time. Likewise, businesses are ruined one customer at a time. Until owners wake up and take responsibility for the level of customer service provided in their stores, the latter may be true more often than not.