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JAG Communications is reviewing its training processes after mystery shop visits identified extremely poor sales techniques.
The south west-based retailer, which now has 150 outlets across the UK, recently conducted a mystery shop of 12 randomly picked stores across its portfolio.
An external company was given a scenario by JAG and entered the store equipped with a hidden video and audio device to record conversations with sales staff.
However, managing director John George was left astounded at the outcomes, and has called for a review in training techniques in a bid to improve customer service levels.
“What I witnessed was absolutely appalling,” he said. “A majority of the sales staff were completely useless – you almost had to prod them to get them to approach a customer.
“The notion that sales people are sometimes too persistent and can scare a customer out of a shop by pestering them couldn’t be further from the truth on this evidence.
“Customers not being served to the correct level scares me to death and what makes it worse is that when asked about the occasion, the salesperson will say it didn’t happen.”
New JAG staff undergo an induction course of between one and three days, based on past retail experience, and last year, all sales staff took part in an O2-accredited training course.
However, George said it frustrated him to see what they’d learnt not being put into practice on a daily basis on the shop floor and said that one mystery shop was so bad that drastic action had to be taken.
“On one occasion a salesperson ignored a customer and walked to the back of the store, picked up a roll, and began to eat it. Let’s just say that this person is now an ex-JAG employee.”
George added that the attitude of the salesperson may play a large part in their poor sales techniques, but said that a straightforward answer has so far not been forthcoming.
“It’s really a combination of the training they’re receiving and the attitudes they have but how do you train attitudes?” he said. “We need to find out why they’re like that.”
Meanwhile, JAG training manager Paul Wilkie said that some changes have already been made to the retailer’s training programmes as it looks to up the level of customer service in its stores.
He also said that the recent poor showings from sales staff might be down to the vast changes the company has undergone since the acquisition of 53 Go Mobile outlets at the end of last year.
“We’ve undergone a massive change and a lot of new salespeople have come on board in what has become a fiercely competitive industry,” he said.
“Recently we’ve taken store managers out of store and trained them specifically on customer service-related issues whilst at the same time insisting that they have to lead by example. We’ll also focus our training more on the terms and conditions in a sale.
“It’s essential the salespeople know that if they can nail the customer service issue side of things, the sales will almost certainly follow.
“We know there’s always a need to improve and we’re committed to doing that.”
This article first appeared in Mobile News’ sister magazine Fone. To subscribe free to Fone log onto www.fonemag.co.uk.