Jaimie Dobson Internet Consultant

No Hats, Hoodies or Sunglasses

Have you noticed, certainly in Britain anyway; how difficult it is sometimes to buy things from some businesses, particularly retail shops?

Specifically I’m talking about the signage that seems to have sprung up at the entrance to many shops, pubs and restaurants these days stopping you entering even before you’ve reached for your wallet or purse.

Example signs I’ve seen recently include;

• We don’t want you if you smoke (No smoking in this building)
• You can’t come in here if you have small children (No kiddies push-chairs)
• Don’t even bother opening the door if we can’t see your face (No bike helmets or “hoodies”)
• We can’t be bothered opening this afternoon (Shut for half day closing. Do people still do this?)
• No more than 2 children at any one time (Because we don’t trust you!)
• We don’t like cyclists. (Don’t lean your bike against our window or wall)
• Don’t loiter outside our shop (Keep off our window sill)
• No dogs (Outside a pet shop!)
• Finish off your sandwich before you come in (No food or drink to be brought in)
• You look like a thief, keep out (No children with school uniforms)

The list goes on! The only ones I couldn’t see and I’m sure they’d have them if they could get away with it, would be “No Blacks or Irish”!

If you do manage to get inside one of these shops, you’re then faced with a further barrage of rules posted at various locations throughout the store.

Some of the classics include:

• Cheques not accepted
• Credit cards not accepted
• Small change above £10 not accepted
• You can’t buy more than 10 of any one item
• Don’t queue here, queue over there.
• Let’s play “see if you can find our checkouts – betcha can’t!” (A problem encountered in stores of one particular large retail chain)
• We have lots of checkouts, they are easy to find, but only two are open (Even though it’s a Saturday afternoon)
• We don’t think you’re old enough to buy our products (Not an objection I have encountered myself recently).
• Get out if you have children with you and it gets to 7pm (Common in pubs)
• You may know what you want, but we’re still going to make you walk around our stadium sized store before you get to it. (A personal annoyance of mine with a certain Swedish furniture retail chain)

Forced

Now you may think I’m being a tad pedantic here. After all, some of the above have been forced upon the retailer by law for the better good of us all, namely; the “No Smoking” and “Over 18 or 21″ rules. Fine I accept that, but they all add in to the negative mix of barriers that are put up to prevent people buying things.

Whilst on holiday recently, one particularly pub which from afar looked attractive as an eatery since it was lunchtime, was so decorated with “you can’t do this and that” signs that I felt guilty of a crime even before I got near the door. Needless to say they lost our sale. Their car park did look empty though – I wonder why?

Don’t Put Up Barriers to Business

As business owners we all have a need to direct and control our customers. Whether it’s guiding them towards the point or moment of sale within a sales process or whether it’s managing our customers effectively so that we can deliver the services to them that they expect once we’ve acquired them. Rules and processes need to be there. Some of these will be visible to the client, some won’t. It all depends on your business and what you’re selling.

However it’s over bureaucracy to the point of negativity as in the above examples, that drives a wedge between the customer and the provider even before a sale has been made that is most damaging to a business.

So don’t put up barriers to business even before you’ve made a sale. Yes, direct customers down a route you’d like them to go, but do it in a subtle way. The above retailer examples have clearly got this mix wrong and seem to think that customer service is a case of posting totalitarian signage all over the place.

After all “it’s them against us”, isn’t it?

Or so they would make us believe.

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Tags: Sales and Marketing