'Retail Hell' author Freeman Hall shares 11 ways to get better customer service

October 4, 12:42 AMLas Vegas Style ExaminerSusan Stapleton

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"Retail Hell" by Freeman Hall is available in bookstores now.

Freeman Hall lived through retail hell. His 20 years of experience selling high-end handbags at various department stores has unleashed a bevy or stories about the typical retail shopper. He knows all the types. And he put them all in his memoir, “Retail Hell: How I Sold My Soul to the Store, Confessions of a Tortured Sales Associate.”

His Reno native’s book goes through all the  ridiculous situations that happen with difficult customers, dealing with the store bureaucracy and learning about design, while making the departments millions of dollars.

He recently shared 10 tips on how to get better service in retail stores.

1. Be friendly and nice. The No. 1 complaint I hear from customers and retail slaves alike is that they are rude to each other. I said hello to that customer and she walked right by me or that salesperson ignored me on purpose. What I’ve discovered in those experiences is that the customer didn’t hear the salesperson say hello and the salesperson was in the middle of helping other customers and could get to the customer needing help. It’s all about perception. If you encounter what you think is rudeness, respond by being friendly and offering a smile or joke, your shopping experience will change on a dime and your service will be great.
2. Use pushy salespeople to your advantage. So many customers run from what they call pushy salespeople. What they are running from is great customer service and the potential to get what they need faster. While most salespeople are not out to ruin your day and force you to buy stuff you don’t want, they do have sales quotas to fill or they get fired. A pushy salesperson will show you everything in the store, even the stuff that just came in the back because they want your sale. Use this to your advantage when you are shopping for a specific item. The trick is to know what you like and don't like and not let pushy talk you into something. If you are browsing, use pushy to show you what's hot and new. And most importantly — don’t let them push you into something that isn’t quite right or not your style. If the store doesn’t have what you love, time to leave.
3. Make friends with salespeople. Stores want you to come back. Commissioned salespeople want you back even more. If you find a salesperson you connect with, give them your contact info, buy only from them, and stop in to say hi now and then. They will in turn value your devotion or friendliness and alert you to sales, markdowns and new merchandise before anyone else. The customers I bonded with were the first ones I called when it came to sales and markdowns. I once had an eccentric personal customer I write about in “Retail Hell” who was a shopaholic I call Shoposaurus Carnotaurus — because she was a bit like a raging dinosaur. This woman shopped only with me. And I guarantee you she was the first person to know about every markdown and new arrival. She got her pick of the litter when the Fendi went 50 percent off. Finding salespeople you connect with can take time. It’s like an “American Idol” audition. You're gonna have to listen to a lot of bad singers until you find the superstar!
4. Don’t fall under the spell of lying salespeople. It’s a sad fact, but often true. Salespeople do lie to make the sale. If you are seeking fashion advice from a sales associate and feel like they are lying — trust your instinct — they are probably are. It’s sell or be fired. However, lying doesn’t happens all the time. Most salespeople want to help people find things that make them feel great about themselves. If you are a nice customer who is genuinely pleasant and able to communicate about your style and what your needs are, your salesperson will do their best to help you in an honest way. If something you are trying on feels off, or makes you feel foolish — trust your intuition. You are right. Ignore the salesperson saying you look like Sarah Jessica Parker at a movie premiere.
5. Shop early in the day, not five minutes before closing. It’s one thing if you are grabbing an item you know you want at the last minute; we salespeople are more than happy to ring you up. However, it’s another if you show up at closing time desiring a complete makeover and you take hours to decide what you need. Nothing pisses off a retail slave more than having to stay an hour past their shift because a customer can’t decide on the pink heels or the black flats. We shut down and go on automatic pilot waiting to ring you up. We could care less what you buy and good customer service goes straight to hell. When you shop in the morning to mid afternoon you get pumped up salespeople on caffeine, full of energy and you’ll get the very best service.
6. Don’t talk on your cell while a salesperson is trying to help you. Salespeople are doing their best to find what you want and if you interrupt them while arguing with your husband about why the garbage cans weren’t taken out, they will get pissed and wander away — most likely to help another customer, hide in the stock room or maybe even head to lunch without telling you. Forget your cell service, you just lost your customer service.
7. Shop at stores well-known for customer service. If you go into a Nordstrom, 99 percent of the time you are going to have an amazing experience because they strive to be the best at giving excellent service. The salespeople will go above and beyond to get you what you need. But if you go into a store that operates with one cashier for five departments, chances are you’ll need to shoot a flare to get any personal attention. And even then you might not get served.
8. Check your diva at the door. Interrupting salespeople while they are on the phone or helping other customers because you want to be waited on immediately is a sure fire way to get bad service. They will say “no” to whatever you are asking just because you are being demanding. Patience goes a long way in a store with retail slaves. If you wait a few seconds, most salespeople will at least address you and answer a question or two. Also sales associates are immediately turned off when customers act like they are better. Many people who work in retail have college degrees. Showing them respect gets you better service.
9. Be aware of your shopping karma. If your shopping behavior is out of control and you become a piggy shopper by throwing merchandise on the floor, destroying fitting rooms or causing a scene because a store won’t return a crowbar that you did not buy there, you are going to get horrible service. This kind of bad shopping karma will follow you. Retail slaves have instantaneous memory recall of all nightmare customers and they will remember you and they will avoid you, doing things like pretending to be helping a customer on the phone instead of helping you.
10. Know when to haggle and when not to. There’s no harm in asking if an item is on sale or going on sale, but incessantly asking if everything is going on sale like we have a magical wand that will give you a discount on demand, is only going to annoy the hell out of your salesperson and make them want to run from you. Haggling is great if you are in a privately owned boutique. In most cases, shop owners are happy to give you a deal, but at major stores, salespeople can and have been fired for giving out discounts that aggressive customers begged for.
11. Notice retail hell warning signs. If there is a long line of people, one person at the register, and everything looks out of control, something is up. No store wants you wait forever and it wasn’t planned that way, but sometimes everyone shows up at once, salespeople call in sick, customers have difficult transactions and the registers go down. When this happens, save yourself the aggravation of a retail hell moment and run.