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As A Cashier, I Hate Having To Pester Customers For Memberships/Other Things
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I'm a manager for a boutique of a well established confectionary brand. We have a loyalty program thing that we are supposed to "bring in" more buying customers but if anything it just kills our business more. Once a customer spends $10 to activate the account and get the yearly supply of free benefits, they only come in once a month to get it and leave.
I don't believe in it, but my bosses say otherwise. It's one thing to be on that level of the company but another to be on the front lines and see how it impacts your business.
I don't believe in it, but my bosses say otherwise. It's one thing to be on that level of the company but another to be on the front lines and see how it impacts your business.
I'm sure it's annoying, and don't make a big deal out of it when asked during a purchase. I know I would certainly hate it, and my co-workers during my Target days were pressured into getting people to sign up for Red Cards.
Does pushing subscriptions or memberships affect hours? Those who get more people to sign up end up being scheduled more frequently than those who do not?
Does pushing subscriptions or memberships affect hours? Those who get more people to sign up end up being scheduled more frequently than those who do not?
It's such a bizarre thing, they're forced to ask questions they don't want to ask to people who don't want to be asked them.
It's part of the reason I don't go to actual game stores now.
It's part of the reason I don't go to actual game stores now.
I've just gotten used to doing it all the time. The worst thing a customer can say is no. Getting cards is tied to basically everything at our store so you HAVE to get used to it or you won't be on schedule as much.
I remember when I was a wee babe who went to gamestop and all the employees asked all this shit. After the third time I would always bring up the game and look at them politely and sternly and say "JUST the game please" and they knew what I was talking about. Shit must be soul crushing for people to say after the second time that day.
It absolutely does but it really depends on what company it's for. Mostly it's for whoever sells the most, but pushing for memberships is another stat that scheduling managers look into.
I worked retail ages ago but when I did yes. Cashiers would get a small commission for signing people up for credit cards, and since everyone was part time, the cashiers who were the most productive at it definitely seemed to get the most hours. It's a shitty system but I'm not going to blame the person behind the counter making shit moneywho is just trying to hustle for it.
It's not just annoying for the customer but for the staff member as well, so fucking boring constantly going through the checklist of:
Do you have a club membership?
Do you want to set up a card?
Do you want a carrier bag?
Do you want to pre-order?
Do you want this overpriced warranty?
Do you want this other type of cover too?
Do you want our super tier membership?
Remember to leave us good feedback for me outright pissing you off today!
Every bloody transaction. Or you should do, going by what head office and region managers demand, and it is even better when the company conducts mystery shops at random times to make sure you're asking about literally everything. Retail will die, and it'll be because of the completely out of touch morons at the top thinking every shopper is happy to be brute forced into buying extra bullshit.
Do you have a club membership?
Do you want to set up a card?
Do you want a carrier bag?
Do you want to pre-order?
Do you want this overpriced warranty?
Do you want this other type of cover too?
Do you want our super tier membership?
Remember to leave us good feedback for me outright pissing you off today!
Every bloody transaction. Or you should do, going by what head office and region managers demand, and it is even better when the company conducts mystery shops at random times to make sure you're asking about literally everything. Retail will die, and it'll be because of the completely out of touch morons at the top thinking every shopper is happy to be brute forced into buying extra bullshit.
Absolutely. Most places that you have staff trying to sell extra tat are ones where they either get fired for not meeting specific targets, or at least have their working hours determined by it. People still think it is done based on commision, nah the carrot is long gone, it's just the stick that you get beaten with.
One of my friends used to work at a toy store and they made him upsell batteries at the register. Even if the item that was being purchased didn't need batteries. Guess the whole point was to trick people into buying them.
i just politely decline anything offered to me
i just politely decline anything offered to me
When I was in college working for a retailer, this is why I avoided the cash register with everything I had. I would rather stock shelves the entire day or do inventory over cashiering. I hate that forced interaction of trying to push garbage on people that I know they don't want.
When I used to work for Time Warner Cable at one point we were supposed to try to upsell on EVERY call, even IT calls.
"Yes ma'am, I know your cable doesn't work and hasn't worked for the past week, but would you like some internet to go with it?"
"Yes ma'am, I know your cable doesn't work and hasn't worked for the past week, but would you like some internet to go with it?"
Yeah in general CSRs aren't trained or paid well enough to give people the hard sell on things like club memberships. Should end with "are you a club member" and of the answer is no put their receipt in a small pamphlet or show on the receipt what they could have saved.
Somewhat related right after high school I worked in a call center for Sears' in-house repair services. Mostly it was people who had purchased extended warranties. Every person that called we had to offer to sell them freaking laundry detergent that the repair tech would bring when they showed up. I'd still love to meet the exec whose bright idea it was for us to try and sell laundry detergent to people whose Very reason for calling is was because they were already having a crappy day fighting with malfunctioning appliances.
Somewhat related right after high school I worked in a call center for Sears' in-house repair services. Mostly it was people who had purchased extended warranties. Every person that called we had to offer to sell them freaking laundry detergent that the repair tech would bring when they showed up. I'd still love to meet the exec whose bright idea it was for us to try and sell laundry detergent to people whose Very reason for calling is was because they were already having a crappy day fighting with malfunctioning appliances.
Yep. Nobody likes this. Whoever came up with the idea this was a good thing is a moron.
With ya, but it's a shame the general public can't get there. And they never will because human nature is so self-centric.
edit: the number of indignant responses I got on the detergent sales mentioned two posts up absolutely ratiod the purchases (I only got one sale that whole summer). Still remember the lady who turned said to the person with her "little idiot trying to sell me soap!" Let her know I heard that one....
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yeah, the quota bit sucks ass but tbh the worst part to me is when customers don't just say "no" and go on a whole tangent about how they get spammed with newsletter garbage like I haven't heard that before. Or when they decline and then angrily ask why the marked-for-members discount isn't applied. Or when they ask me to use my own card... the list goes on
Yep, it really grinded my gears.
I always felt like it completely, completely undermined my sincere attempts to be courteous and helpful, like the moment I started talking up benefits was the moment the person concluded I just buttered them up to that upsell moment. So much guilt.
I always felt like it completely, completely undermined my sincere attempts to be courteous and helpful, like the moment I started talking up benefits was the moment the person concluded I just buttered them up to that upsell moment. So much guilt.
OP
OP
Hell, I still have customers come up to me complaining about prices and how expensive things are when I have nothing to do with setting prices.
I get customer service gets pressured to push stuff on us consumers so i dont mind if im asked once, it bothers me when the person is persistant and continually keeps trying when im obviously not interested.
That's interesting, do they not keep metrics on how it's impacting the business?
Maybe I'm expecting these things to be a bit more high tech than they are.
yeah it's one thing to tell employees your complaints, but these people act like YOU PERSONALLY are responsible.
They've started really pushing the whole club signup thing in my workplace and I fuuucking hate it. I really enjoy helping customers, and know that if it was me being asked the way some of my colleagues (and store managers) push for a club card I would never shop in the store again. I have a ton of stuff to do during a normal shift, and have had to endure a bunch of shitty comments by management for my low numbers.
"How come you only got x cards today?"
"Well I spent two hours stuck on the fecking timber saw and then had to rush around doing my stock." :/
Love customer assistance, hate fucking retail.
"How come you only got x cards today?"
"Well I spent two hours stuck on the fecking timber saw and then had to rush around doing my stock." :/
Love customer assistance, hate fucking retail.
I think cashiers and customers hate these add-on questions equally. I remember I was asked at Gamestop if I wanted their disc warranty protection on my boxed Warcraft expansion and had to tell them there isn't even a disc in the box just a slip of paper with a download code.
That makes sense -- the difference for me is that in my type of encounter they don't take a hint and they just keep going and probing / talking... and it's especially bad in self-checkout, where I'm intentionally trying to just do it myself and get going.
That said, it's not the worst thing in the world... just never had the occasion to share about it until this thread. :-)
i get that cashiers have to ask the questions...i don't like it, but I get it.
But can you not make me feel like an idiot while doing so? "Would you like to save 10% today?"
OF COURSE I'd love to save 10%, though I know the next line is sign up for this credit card. So now I look like an idiot by saying "No" to not wanting to save money.
But can you not make me feel like an idiot while doing so? "Would you like to save 10% today?"
OF COURSE I'd love to save 10%, though I know the next line is sign up for this credit card. So now I look like an idiot by saying "No" to not wanting to save money.
I feel so bad for cashiers that have to do this stuff. I always decline but I let them do the whole spiel because I think it would be rude to interrupt. You're just doing your job, afterall.
They only really track footsteps in the door and categories of product purchases instead of seeing who under an account buys what.
Usually when the list gets this long, it's a bat signal that the chain is about to go out of business.
I worked at an AMC theater when they rolled out the first iteration of Stubs. It was miserable how hard they required us to hammer people, and there were frequent secret shops in those first couple months.
On the flip side, it was also annoying that some regulars just wouldn't understand that it would really end up saving them money since they come so often, we aren't trying to scam you!
On the flip side, it was also annoying that some regulars just wouldn't understand that it would really end up saving them money since they come so often, we aren't trying to scam you!
I was a cashier at PetCo, Sears & Target back in the day and I hate asking for people to sign up for things, I usually never asked and I only asked about credit cards if they had a very large purchase. I'm not going to ask someone to sign up for a credit card to get 20% off their 20oz bottle of Coke.
I know cashiers have to do it so I don't fault them but I hate it when they ask me to sign up for a million things.I just want to buy my stuff and go.
I know cashiers have to do it so I don't fault them but I hate it when they ask me to sign up for a million things.I just want to buy my stuff and go.
I don't trust employees when they're trying to sell me something like a rewards program, at least not on the face of it. I like to take my time, go home and look it up. Some employees will tell you anything, either because they're trying to make the sale or because they honestly don't know but don't want to ask someone else. This is especially true for warranty plans.
As a customer I hate that companies force employees to do this.
About a year ago I ate at Olive Garden with a friend and the waiter started off by politely saying "pardon my job," before offering us the standard spiel that we declined. I liked that.
Honestly I'd rather they be direct like OP says. I've seen more cashiers make more casual asks along the lines of "...and your cell number for our records" or "your email so I can check and see if you're in our system?"
The whole situation completely sucks: the customer doesn't want to be asked and the cashier doesn't want to ask.
Shouldn't retail be doing all it can not to keel over stone cold dead in the face of online competition?
Shouldn't retail be doing all it can not to keel over stone cold dead in the face of online competition?
Reminds me of the days when I used to work at an outsourced Dell tech support call center and we were expected to try to sell people stuff on every call. Yeah. A person doesn't need much imagination to imagine how that went down. Trying to squeeze more money out of people who are calling in because they are already having problems with shit they already bought from Dell. Not sure if that one was Dell wide or just the policy at the shitty place I worked at that they outsourced to though. I learned a year or so after a quit that the vast majority of things I hated about the job were not forced on us by Dell, but the shitty company we worked for trying to squeeze every penny they could out of the contract.
That's measurably more effective.
Customers are very wary of any guest retention methods, so couching it in the right rhetoric makes the entire process go much more quickly.
And while customer relationship management does measurably improve customer engagement and sales, on the cashier's end it is MUCH MUCH easier to deal with returns and guest issues if your purchase is in a central, CRM system.
I think it's more annoying for you than the customer, OP. If you aren't pushy, people aren't usually bothered. For all you know, you're the only person a customer has talked to all day.
Former Plus Champ here: This aspect of your job was there to help the bottom line of the club and the company as a whole. This is part of the job, and if management does not want to enforce you to do it, they don't have to, they just may not be around very long. As I'm sure you remember, management in Sam's Club/Wal-Mart is quite competitive, to a fault. I left Sam's Club because I did not know the game was even being played before I lost, I was young and naive to think that my supervisor and management actually wanted us to be successful and move up the corporate ladder, they did not want the competition.
From the other side: I had members scream and yell at me because I had offered them credit or Plus on more than one occasion. All I could do was shrug my shoulders, apologize and let them know I would try to remember for next time before retrieving a manager for them.
They ask for the exact same information online. Both up front as a call-to-action ("Insert your email address for 25% off your first transaction!">>>"Are you sure you don't want to save money?") and at the end of your transaction where they save your phone number and email unless you explicitly opt-out.
Modern retail, thanks to online and places like Amazon, has become a game about collecting, monitoring, and utilizing customer information.
She was almost certainly told to say that as part of the spiel. It puts the customer in a more receptive mind set to listening and considering the offers.