Is there a powerful, short activity/icebreker you can recommend to overcome reluctance of CSR's to offer products for sale to customers? To illustrate that making assumptions denies customers choice.
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3 Responses
Do it in the introduction
Include an assumption over the break time/duration in your introduction. E.g. ‘We’ll stop at 11.00 for 5 minutes as that’s usually long enough for everybody’. Don’t mention it again, don’t respond to any queries about it. Reflect back to it in the assumption session and see who really listened to what you said, who was satisfied with 5 minutes, etc.
Are YOU making as assumption?
Hi Phil
Sorry to be negative but are you making an assumption that the reason your CSR staff don’t sell is that they are assuming customers don’t want to buy?
Many CSR staff see themselves as Customer SERVICE representatives and not SALES people. "Sales" in this country is often seen as a spivvy job and there is a role rejection involved (which is why some management teams call them CSRs not "sales people"). Also where the commission for actually selling is small or non existant many people take the view that it is more hassle than it is worth.
Rus
Framing
Isn’t the issue then to frame ‘customer choice’ as a service issue?
I wouldn’t disagree with the perception of sales – having worked in retail for a little while I got used to the inferiority I felt when I told people where I worked. The issue of offering choice is deeper than staff not wanting to ‘sell’ though. In my experience, the pressure on staff to sell now is even stronger. As a result I found that if a staff member has the perception that they have a sale, any sale, they will close that sale to avoid the possibility of losing the customer by offering choice.
I would have considered any confidence issue if I’d been in the original poster’s position, and assume that they have found it not to be that through their TNA.