Fri Oct 05, 2007 12:29 am
doccol91
Posted: Mon Feb 05, 2007 7:03 pm Post subject:
"The help was courteous without being fawning (I find in London service is either overly solicitous or borderline rude--ala N&L, Oscar Udeschi--who refused to speak with me the entire time I was in his store, although it was only me and him in there). "
Fantastic, someone has a name very similar to mine! And in the same business.
This is, what can I say, interesting. I unfortunately don't have the time to log on to every clothing forum. I heard good things about the London Lounge, and have read a few interesting posts. I decided to do a search on our own brand and came up with this.
We try to be as courteous as possible. I used to be on the other end of the stick so to speak, and so am aware of what I like, and what other people may possibly like when shopping for clothes. When we first opened the store, we used to greet every client, and say if there was anything we could help with, they should not hesitate to ask. A few people found this annoying, or retorted with the standard "just looking." So we modifed and just say in a hopefully welcoming tone, "Good morning" or "Good afternoon".
We found that most people were quite happy browsing, and would ask questions if they had any. I grew up in a different service / sales culture. I am not used to the "How are you doing today?" remark. Also most of our clients seem to visibly wince at this. We are not a high pressure sales environment, we do not jump on you when you come in, we are quite the opposite, we don't install flattering mirrors, ours are optically correct. We don't say you look fabulous when the stock jacket does not take in to account your roll forward / drop shoulder etc. We point it out and say if we can correct it or not.
So if somebody says that I refused to speak to them, does this mean that someone spoke to me and I didn't acknowledge their existence, or what they said? Or does it mean that I don't make small talk to everyone. If it is the latter, I am guilty. If it is the former, then that is an interesting business model and way of running a business. If that were true, I would have closed long ago, and wouldn't bother replying to this comment.
People have a certain chemistry with each other, some positive, i.e. sometimes you like somebody, and don't know why, other times you know you are just not going to get along with somebody. I may have sparked this in the poster of the comment. I am glad he has found what he is looking for with Steven Quinn, who if I remember correctly is a good, knowledgable chap.
Oscar "U D E S H I"
- That's what is written on the outside of the shop.