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Saks II

Saks II

My posting about incredibly lousy service (with a glowing exception) at Saks in New York has been up for several days, and a copy was sent to the store manager’s personal email. No one from the store has responded.

That’s why the sales help is so poor, because management is so poor. We have an account at Saks, we spent several thousand dollars on that one visit, and no one cares about the service at senior level. The consulting lesson: Leadership is everything.

Of course, too many times leadership is nothing. The sales guys are just emulating what they see.

© Alan Weiss 2010. All rights reserved.

Written by

Alan Weiss is a consultant, speaker, and author of over 60 books. His consulting firm, Summit Consulting Group, Inc., has attracted clients from over 500 leading organizations around the world.

Comments: 3

  • Tim Wilson

    April 30, 2010

    Alan,

    You make a strong point when you said “too many times leadership is nothing” it’s amazing to think that those in charge have expectations of those who report to them to behave differently when they themselves set the tone and example of bad behavior.

    Occasionally you get someone who has the common sense (as you did) to behavior in a manner contrary to what they see around them. I wonder about the salesman that actually went out of his way to help you, if he wasn’t trained somewhere else.

    At least he was willing to act on the suggestion you made. However, it would have been better if he had said, “sorry Mr. Weiss, that we don’t have this particular shirt in your size, but let me check our other stores and if I find one, I can have it mailed to you if you would like.” When you get that level of service, it shows someone who really understands the concept of customer service.

    As to the store manager not responding, I’m not surprised. However, I will be looking forward to hearing your comments about getting a response from the president of Saks.

  • Alan Weiss

    April 30, 2010

    And people wonder why consultants are needed…..

  • John Felkins

    April 30, 2010

    “The sales guys are just emulating what they see.”

    Behavior is a great form of communication but it cuts both ways.

    Great post Alan. Thanks.

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