Originally Posted by rvabiker
Apparently you don't get the purpose of the service industry. I don't care what you are in the middle of doing, how many people have come in and not bought anything today, or how much money I've spent their before. Your job is to serve me in the best way possible. My LBS lost between $1500 and $2000(on two bikes) of my business becuase I got fed up of having a certain sales person act like I was inconviencing them when I wanted to looma t high dollar parts. No I hadn't bought anything expensive from there before but I was planning on it. Instead I got everything but bar wrap and tubes online and he got no commision.
i've worked in a shop 2 years, and i will say, there have been times when i have provided less than stellar service to customers, but most of the time, if i'm in the middle of wrapping bars, or truing a wheel, i'll tell them "i'm in the middle of something, and i'll be right with you." because a scheduled repair takes precidence over someone who has just walked in the door. i have people coming in to pick up their bikes at certain times and it's not ready by the time they come in, i've have not provided satisfactory service. if the walk-in is reasonable (which most of the time they are), they'll sit and wait the 30-60 seconds it takes for me to get to a suitable stopping point.
i won't make them wait if i've just started a project, i'll drop that and help 'em out, because that's what i'm there for. a lot of times, it's the simple act of acknowledging that they exist.
chuck_norris: it sounds like you're new to the shop world. after a while, you'll be able to help a customer without leaving your bench. ask them questions while you're working to get a feel for what the customer is looking for and why they want to check out a specific part, and you can make recommendations and maybe even upsell them. have a conversation with them if time allows. they'll feel less like a bother, and you'll get more work done, and hopefully have served them better, and they'll come back. you gotta serve them. it's your job (and mine too). i'm not saying there aren't total tools out there who will waste your time, but asking questions before simply fulfilling a request will help weed out the ones who need to do more research/save more money before they're ready to buy. but sometimes, you just gotta open the cases and show them the bling.
the courtesy has to flow both ways.