Unrealistic Expectations

Do sales expectations without commission create bad sales habits in sales people? One of my favorite stores is a candle store in my mall. Over break, I went to the candle store and the atmosphere had really changed. At first, I thought that it was just a bad sales associate but as I watched the other associates; I realized that they were being just as annoying. One associate actually followed me around the store with a shopping basket and yelled at me to put stuff in the basket the whole time I shopped.

I understand that employees need to encourage sales for their stores, but I think that retail stores need to invest money into training their employees to be better salespeople. I started looking into the employee pay at the candle store and found out that they are on hourly pay but that their sales are kept track of and reported to their managers. I read employee comments saying that they are tired of having to become pushy sales people just to attempt to reach their goals. I know that goals are important for stores but I know from personal experience that the employer having unrealistic goals for the employees can sometimes make salespeople feel that their only option is to push people into sales. Usually associates end up agitating the customers more then they help. I think that retail stores need to focus more on training their employees to reach their customers without coming across as greedy or pushy. I look at stores that have great sales associates and know that the company invests the money to create good sales people whereas when I look at stores like the candle store, I tend to question how much they care about making customers happy. Stores like the candle store tend to make me feel that they only care about my money, which in turn makes me want to withhold my money from them.

As future business owners, I think it is important to think about the training that we will give our employees. Will we want them to be pushy and come across as greedy or will we want them to make sales but come across as caring salespeople.