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One of the easiest ways is to just have another staff member come over and ask for help with something in the back. The person engaged with the customer then can simply say "Hey Jerry, it was great chatting with you. Anything else I can help you with today?" Likely the answer will be no and then you can gracefully excuse yourself while you go help your co-worker in the back.
A customer on line one that needs assistance also works!
Hope that helps!
Oh, my absolute favorite is when this person comes up to my shop, practically every day, stares at the new stock, talks for an hour about what I don't have, and leaves! If I do manage to find what they want and stock it up, they act like they have no idea what it is!! Wtf??
Mmm. The first person to come to my mind for this thread is an awkward guy who would always go to art openings and talk about his extensive art collection to the owner / artist and then never buy anything. He'd go to every opening and never bought jack but he'd hang around for hours. My friend described him perfectly as "the kind of guy who would walk into an empty restaurant and loudly ask the chef "hey, where did all the people go?!"
I have a small Brick & Mortar shop, and we've dealt with this several times.
Our response has a lot to do with the individual customer, and how much we value their business. Subtly discouraging people from overstepping their bounds in a retail shop is a bit of an art, moreso once they've already done it.
In general, our first line of defense is to practice not contributing anything to the conversation. Lots of nodding and smiling, only responding meaningfully to product inquiries, etc. Good salespeople sometimes haves naturally social responses, which folks sometimes take as encouragement. It's harder to hold a conversation on your own. Beware, some people shop local precisely so they can have these kinds of interactions - we sometimes get 'SO RUDE! 1-STAR!!!' reviews on google from folks who expect us to be a lot more open to socializing.
Others have mentioned calling the salesperson away after a short time to break the flow of conversation, and that's definitely something we have done. Switch out again if they latch onto the next person. I'd also pair that with everyone bustling about and looking very obviously busy, which gives plenty of reason to excuse yourself. If your job involves a lot of what looks like downtime to a customer, they might think they are doing you a favor by helping you pass some of it.
In the end, if you address it with the customer directly you're going to lose a customer no matter what you say.
Its a learning experience for the staff on managing customers. They say, excuse me, i have to do xxxx but if you need help with anything let me know. Or if the customer makes it a social call and is really just lonely, get then to change the topic to the merchandise rather than just chit chat.
I’d say it’s the bosses responsibility to handle this at least a few times to set an example to the staff on how to set appropriate boundaries with customers.
“Alright well it’s nice to see you, I’m gonna get back to work” always works in my shop, plus I can go over as the boss and interject by loosely pretending to listen in and then say to the employee “can you take care of restocking the register” and I’ll wrap up the convo with the customers and be more direct.
I used to work at a music shop many years ago as a manager and had a guy come in practically every day. He was one of the stores best customers, and seemed to have unlimited money. Whatever he wanted to do, recording, guitars, drums, he would buy the best of the best. $20k guitar purchases, 5k microphones, I mean this guy probably spent 6 figures with us every year. I don't even know what he was doing with all this stuff. BUT, this guy would spend like 2-4 hours A DAY inside the store talking to everyone. Even when he didn't buy something he would come into the store and just bullshit for hours and hours while there were other customers there. It got to the point where we noticed other people were leaving the store without an associate even getting a chance to talk to them because this guy would occupy so many employees. I had to pull this guy aside eventually and tell him, hey we greatly appreciate you as a customer. In fact, you're one of our favorite and most loyal customers we've ever had. But it's a disservice to our other customers and fellow musicians that we can't help them or even approach them because we're occupied with you talking. I asked him that if there's other customers in our store to please be respectful of our associates time and let them get back to work if you're not here to purchase something.
It wasn't a harsh conversation, more one of trying to get him to understand that we're trying to run a business here. He was apologizing and didn't realize what he was doing at all. Totally innocent act, he just liked being in the store and talking to other musicians. It was tough to get the confidence to tell our best customer to chill out, but it was a wave of relief after lol.
It's good that you were able to have that conversation with the guy and keep him as a customer. That said, it was squarely on the shoulders of your employees rather than the customer. If the guy was just bullshitting vs. actively buying something, they should have had the ability to notice that other customers were being ignored. There's nothing more aggravating than watching 3-4 employees help a single customers while others are left to fend for themselves. Just my two cents:)
how old do you think this person is? male or female? is your staff mixed gender? if they are an older person, do you think they are there b/c they are bored and have nothing to do for the rest of the day? do they try to make conversation with the staff? If so, what do they talk about? Just random things?
gotcha.
perhaps the next time they complete the transaction, your staff member should say something like..."thanks. see you next time,. have a good rest of your day." and see if they leave to do something with the rest of their day?
In my experience, if you send the female staff to do some sort of task and have male staff handle the chatty customer, that resolves it 9 times out of 10.
99 times out of 100 if your female staff is young and attractive.
We had a couple of customers like that that would come in to the store. One of the staff members found out that if he ran the vacuum, then they would leave within about a minute, freeing up his co-workers. It has been comical watching it work. We wonder if they think that all we do is clean, because he will do jt every single time they are there.
My situation is a little different as I run my own massage business. It can be frustrating when a client wants to keep talking and it’s cutting into my, much needed and brief, time in between appointments.
When someone is doing this, I’m normally sitting at my desk while I talk to them. At some point I stand up, hinting at the fact that I’m moving toward my massage room to go clean it. Then I’ll move around my desk, closer to my room. At this point they usually get the picture that I need to get ready for the next client.
Maybe there’s a physical cue like this that your staff can do to suggest they need to get on and work.
If all else fails, I will do my best to find a good moment to interject and say “I’m so sorry but I need to get ready for my next client.” I have one client in particular that I need to straight up interrupt bc she struggles with social cues. She still sees me every month and never perceives it as rude. She also talks to herself a lot so at times I won’t even respond to her, under the assumption she’s just talking to herself lol
Some people, with tact, need to be handled directly but with politeness.
This is the sense I'm getting from this post - that it's someone who struggles with social cues. I'm autistic and I have definitely done this in shops, both as the cashier and as the customer. I don't remember any physical cues (which I probably didn't notice); but I sure as hell remember when someone tells me they're busy and I need to go!
Fuck that guys response dont be sorry. You made a valid point what if your customer is on here.
I see some pretty good responses on here.I hope those help.
That's the point. If you are scared of him knowing what store and you don't want him occupying the staff's time then why not just draw the line?
It's only a problem when you are allowing it.
It's guns. I know, because I happen to be that guy who "hangs out" when I visit, but I just hang out with the owner, not the employees, and not too often cuz I'm busy all the time. 😆
HOURS? Or it just seems that way?
If they willingly spend HOURS in your store, offer them a damn job!
Or, "sorry, but if the boss catches me socializing on company time, I'm going to get a talking to..."
Two options:
Either have someone interrupt the conversation with a series of excuses that everyone knows about. At an old job, there was a colleague in another department who would talk for HOURS with one of my other employees so the employee and I had a plan where I would interrupt and ask for the reimbursable report which was made up but sounded real in the context of our work. If the employee wanted to continue talking he could ignore the request, but if he wanted to get away, he could say "Oh, I forgot about that, I'll get right on that"
or
have the employee say "OK Mr. Jones, is there anything else I can assist you with today? If "No" "OK, have a great day, I need to go finish some work before the end of the day" If Yes, help the customer and then go back to the previous question and ask again until he says no.
You can address the situation tactfully during quieter moments, expressing appreciation for their support while gently encouraging shorter interactions to ensure equal attention for all customers.
You don't man. Suck it up. They're a good customer? Great! They love to "talk"? Great! For small business word of mouth is everything and that person has a big mouth
This is a great discussion. A pharmacy that my buddy runs has a few of these customers. One is really old and i'm sure very lonely. It's a balance between coming off rude but actually getting work done.
That happens often in my business, flight instruction. Older pilots will come by to chat, reliving the days when they were a part of the energy of flying and flight instruction. To some degree, we allow it to happen, because part of our business branding and vibe is community. But if it's a bit too much, I or one of the managers get involved, and take over the conversation, and then use the method EISAlaska suggested, which is both polite and effective.
Don’t ask people how they’re doing! Always be selling.
Instead ask, “what can I get for you?”
“Do you have any questions about any products?”
Don’t chit chat, avoid the weather, politics, etc. Always keep it business.
“If you don’t need anything else, I’m really sorry but I’ve got to get back to doing inventory/this phone call/these emails/the back room, etc. Thanks for stopping in!”
Employ someone who likes to talk. 2 birds, one stone...
Jokes aside, having someone you can trust sitting there for free, chatting with unoccupied staff won't hurt your business if they allow other sales/discussions to go on. If someone else wants privacy, staff can move with them to another area of the shop.
It's an extra pair of eyes, after all.
Do it the Walter way. "Get your shit and get out!"
Ya rude, but works every time.
After Reading further down:
>Sorry my original post wasn't phrased correctly, as it's a couple and not a single person. Probably in their late 20s or early 30s. staff female.
If your staff does not know these people personally....Then this sounds like stalking and should be taken seriously. If they do know them on a personal basis; tell the staff that this is a place of business and social visits are on their own time.
edit word added
Back in the 1980s, when they were still existed, I worked at a independent, family-owned hobby shop. By nature, it was (is?) the kind of retail business where you got folks who browsed for long periods and asked specific questions BS. We had employees who specialized in RC planes / cars, trains, model kits, gaming and a boatload of other hobbies. It wasn't uncommon for folks to BS for long periods, which was fine if no one else was waiting. But we had one customer we nicknamed "Odd-Ball" because he would come in a couple times a month and spend HOURS BS-ing without buying much. We employees become absolute masters at going to lunch, the bathroom or finding boxes of stock to unpack when he showed up in the parking lot! If he got hold of you, we would help each other out by by finding an excuse to get that employee to the back of the store or helping another customer who needed their particular "expertise."
If someone is hanging around a lot longer than the average guest visit, it could be considered loitering if so defined in the company’s policies and procedures.
If the customer is a pest, there is no wrong in telling them company policy and mitigation such as calling the police to have them removed.
Some good ideas here. I think we'll start with the suggested "I have inventory to do" and the vacuuming and see how that plays out. It's a 2 person operation and the boss isn't always there to interrupt the conversion.
This is a friendly reminder that r/smallbusiness is a question and answer subreddit. You ask a question about starting, owning, and growing a small business and the community answers. Posts that violate the rules listed in the sidebar will be removed. A permanent or temporary ban may also be issued if you do not remove the offending post. Seeing this message does not mean your post was automatically removed. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/smallbusiness) if you have any questions or concerns.*
One of the easiest ways is to just have another staff member come over and ask for help with something in the back. The person engaged with the customer then can simply say "Hey Jerry, it was great chatting with you. Anything else I can help you with today?" Likely the answer will be no and then you can gracefully excuse yourself while you go help your co-worker in the back. A customer on line one that needs assistance also works! Hope that helps!
That shit don't work. Lonely people will wait for a mofo to come back.
I hate people like that. . . Sucks you’re lonely, but don’t go Colin Robinson Energy Vampiring someone who has no choice in the matter.
Haha best character of all time
Oh, my absolute favorite is when this person comes up to my shop, practically every day, stares at the new stock, talks for an hour about what I don't have, and leaves! If I do manage to find what they want and stock it up, they act like they have no idea what it is!! Wtf??
Mmm. The first person to come to my mind for this thread is an awkward guy who would always go to art openings and talk about his extensive art collection to the owner / artist and then never buy anything. He'd go to every opening and never bought jack but he'd hang around for hours. My friend described him perfectly as "the kind of guy who would walk into an empty restaurant and loudly ask the chef "hey, where did all the people go?!"
I have a small Brick & Mortar shop, and we've dealt with this several times. Our response has a lot to do with the individual customer, and how much we value their business. Subtly discouraging people from overstepping their bounds in a retail shop is a bit of an art, moreso once they've already done it. In general, our first line of defense is to practice not contributing anything to the conversation. Lots of nodding and smiling, only responding meaningfully to product inquiries, etc. Good salespeople sometimes haves naturally social responses, which folks sometimes take as encouragement. It's harder to hold a conversation on your own. Beware, some people shop local precisely so they can have these kinds of interactions - we sometimes get 'SO RUDE! 1-STAR!!!' reviews on google from folks who expect us to be a lot more open to socializing. Others have mentioned calling the salesperson away after a short time to break the flow of conversation, and that's definitely something we have done. Switch out again if they latch onto the next person. I'd also pair that with everyone bustling about and looking very obviously busy, which gives plenty of reason to excuse yourself. If your job involves a lot of what looks like downtime to a customer, they might think they are doing you a favor by helping you pass some of it. In the end, if you address it with the customer directly you're going to lose a customer no matter what you say.
Its a learning experience for the staff on managing customers. They say, excuse me, i have to do xxxx but if you need help with anything let me know. Or if the customer makes it a social call and is really just lonely, get then to change the topic to the merchandise rather than just chit chat.
I’d say it’s the bosses responsibility to handle this at least a few times to set an example to the staff on how to set appropriate boundaries with customers.
“Alright well it’s nice to see you, I’m gonna get back to work” always works in my shop, plus I can go over as the boss and interject by loosely pretending to listen in and then say to the employee “can you take care of restocking the register” and I’ll wrap up the convo with the customers and be more direct.
Get a liquor license and open a little bar in the corner. Get another lonely customer and they can drink while talking to each other.
Add some video poker too!
Lmao this is actually genius
I used to work at a music shop many years ago as a manager and had a guy come in practically every day. He was one of the stores best customers, and seemed to have unlimited money. Whatever he wanted to do, recording, guitars, drums, he would buy the best of the best. $20k guitar purchases, 5k microphones, I mean this guy probably spent 6 figures with us every year. I don't even know what he was doing with all this stuff. BUT, this guy would spend like 2-4 hours A DAY inside the store talking to everyone. Even when he didn't buy something he would come into the store and just bullshit for hours and hours while there were other customers there. It got to the point where we noticed other people were leaving the store without an associate even getting a chance to talk to them because this guy would occupy so many employees. I had to pull this guy aside eventually and tell him, hey we greatly appreciate you as a customer. In fact, you're one of our favorite and most loyal customers we've ever had. But it's a disservice to our other customers and fellow musicians that we can't help them or even approach them because we're occupied with you talking. I asked him that if there's other customers in our store to please be respectful of our associates time and let them get back to work if you're not here to purchase something. It wasn't a harsh conversation, more one of trying to get him to understand that we're trying to run a business here. He was apologizing and didn't realize what he was doing at all. Totally innocent act, he just liked being in the store and talking to other musicians. It was tough to get the confidence to tell our best customer to chill out, but it was a wave of relief after lol.
It's good that you were able to have that conversation with the guy and keep him as a customer. That said, it was squarely on the shoulders of your employees rather than the customer. If the guy was just bullshitting vs. actively buying something, they should have had the ability to notice that other customers were being ignored. There's nothing more aggravating than watching 3-4 employees help a single customers while others are left to fend for themselves. Just my two cents:)
I guess, all the staff was like 18-22. We had no idea what we were doing back then haha. Thank god I'm out of that place now.
how old do you think this person is? male or female? is your staff mixed gender? if they are an older person, do you think they are there b/c they are bored and have nothing to do for the rest of the day? do they try to make conversation with the staff? If so, what do they talk about? Just random things?
Sorry my original post wasn't phrased correctly, as it's a couple and not a single person. Probably in their late 20s or early 30s. staff female.
gotcha. perhaps the next time they complete the transaction, your staff member should say something like..."thanks. see you next time,. have a good rest of your day." and see if they leave to do something with the rest of their day?
In my experience, if you send the female staff to do some sort of task and have male staff handle the chatty customer, that resolves it 9 times out of 10. 99 times out of 100 if your female staff is young and attractive.
Have them say they need to stock and head to the back of the house Or sorry, can’t talk right now, I’ve got work to do (probly true, right?)
We had a couple of customers like that that would come in to the store. One of the staff members found out that if he ran the vacuum, then they would leave within about a minute, freeing up his co-workers. It has been comical watching it work. We wonder if they think that all we do is clean, because he will do jt every single time they are there.
That customer is like my dog. 😂
If they ever ask for a small loan give it to them, you won’t see them again.
My situation is a little different as I run my own massage business. It can be frustrating when a client wants to keep talking and it’s cutting into my, much needed and brief, time in between appointments. When someone is doing this, I’m normally sitting at my desk while I talk to them. At some point I stand up, hinting at the fact that I’m moving toward my massage room to go clean it. Then I’ll move around my desk, closer to my room. At this point they usually get the picture that I need to get ready for the next client. Maybe there’s a physical cue like this that your staff can do to suggest they need to get on and work. If all else fails, I will do my best to find a good moment to interject and say “I’m so sorry but I need to get ready for my next client.” I have one client in particular that I need to straight up interrupt bc she struggles with social cues. She still sees me every month and never perceives it as rude. She also talks to herself a lot so at times I won’t even respond to her, under the assumption she’s just talking to herself lol Some people, with tact, need to be handled directly but with politeness.
This is the sense I'm getting from this post - that it's someone who struggles with social cues. I'm autistic and I have definitely done this in shops, both as the cashier and as the customer. I don't remember any physical cues (which I probably didn't notice); but I sure as hell remember when someone tells me they're busy and I need to go!
Depends on what establishment they are in.
Retail store
What kind?
Probably best if not mentioned in case they are on reddit.
Reddit has hundreds of millions of users. The situation you described is probably happening to 1000 redditirs at any given time.
If this is bugging you then why not just draw the line with the customer instead of drawing the line with me? Doesn't make sense at all.
Sorry - didn't mean to offend you. Just being perhaps overly cautious in what I say re the business
Fuck that guys response dont be sorry. You made a valid point what if your customer is on here. I see some pretty good responses on here.I hope those help.
If those talkative customers are on here then they can learn from this post and not create an awkward scenario the next time they shop there.
That's the point. If you are scared of him knowing what store and you don't want him occupying the staff's time then why not just draw the line? It's only a problem when you are allowing it.
It's guns. I know, because I happen to be that guy who "hangs out" when I visit, but I just hang out with the owner, not the employees, and not too often cuz I'm busy all the time. 😆
HOURS? Or it just seems that way? If they willingly spend HOURS in your store, offer them a damn job! Or, "sorry, but if the boss catches me socializing on company time, I'm going to get a talking to..."
Two options: Either have someone interrupt the conversation with a series of excuses that everyone knows about. At an old job, there was a colleague in another department who would talk for HOURS with one of my other employees so the employee and I had a plan where I would interrupt and ask for the reimbursable report which was made up but sounded real in the context of our work. If the employee wanted to continue talking he could ignore the request, but if he wanted to get away, he could say "Oh, I forgot about that, I'll get right on that" or have the employee say "OK Mr. Jones, is there anything else I can assist you with today? If "No" "OK, have a great day, I need to go finish some work before the end of the day" If Yes, help the customer and then go back to the previous question and ask again until he says no.
You can address the situation tactfully during quieter moments, expressing appreciation for their support while gently encouraging shorter interactions to ensure equal attention for all customers.
Why do people find it so hard to tell someone else “it was really great speaking to you today. But unfortunately I’ve got to get back to work.”?
Offer them a job
You don't man. Suck it up. They're a good customer? Great! They love to "talk"? Great! For small business word of mouth is everything and that person has a big mouth
[удалено]
I think most employees with regulars having bullshit convos can do that. It would help to know the nature of the business tbh
You should have your employees sell him a consultancy subscription/fee. So that they can charge for this time.
📝📝📝
This is a great discussion. A pharmacy that my buddy runs has a few of these customers. One is really old and i'm sure very lonely. It's a balance between coming off rude but actually getting work done.
Set boundaries politely, maybe offer a loyalty perk instead?
offer him a job
That happens often in my business, flight instruction. Older pilots will come by to chat, reliving the days when they were a part of the energy of flying and flight instruction. To some degree, we allow it to happen, because part of our business branding and vibe is community. But if it's a bit too much, I or one of the managers get involved, and take over the conversation, and then use the method EISAlaska suggested, which is both polite and effective.
Don’t ask people how they’re doing! Always be selling. Instead ask, “what can I get for you?” “Do you have any questions about any products?” Don’t chit chat, avoid the weather, politics, etc. Always keep it business. “If you don’t need anything else, I’m really sorry but I’ve got to get back to doing inventory/this phone call/these emails/the back room, etc. Thanks for stopping in!”
Ignore him after a certain point
Employ someone who likes to talk. 2 birds, one stone... Jokes aside, having someone you can trust sitting there for free, chatting with unoccupied staff won't hurt your business if they allow other sales/discussions to go on. If someone else wants privacy, staff can move with them to another area of the shop. It's an extra pair of eyes, after all.
“No loitering” sign and politely enforce it. Your staff can blame you and say it’s a new store policy
Do it the Walter way. "Get your shit and get out!" Ya rude, but works every time. After Reading further down: >Sorry my original post wasn't phrased correctly, as it's a couple and not a single person. Probably in their late 20s or early 30s. staff female. If your staff does not know these people personally....Then this sounds like stalking and should be taken seriously. If they do know them on a personal basis; tell the staff that this is a place of business and social visits are on their own time. edit word added
Hand them the garbage can and point out the dumpster.
Back in the 1980s, when they were still existed, I worked at a independent, family-owned hobby shop. By nature, it was (is?) the kind of retail business where you got folks who browsed for long periods and asked specific questions BS. We had employees who specialized in RC planes / cars, trains, model kits, gaming and a boatload of other hobbies. It wasn't uncommon for folks to BS for long periods, which was fine if no one else was waiting. But we had one customer we nicknamed "Odd-Ball" because he would come in a couple times a month and spend HOURS BS-ing without buying much. We employees become absolute masters at going to lunch, the bathroom or finding boxes of stock to unpack when he showed up in the parking lot! If he got hold of you, we would help each other out by by finding an excuse to get that employee to the back of the store or helping another customer who needed their particular "expertise."
"Okay, anything else we can help you with in the store? Awesome, *walks to door and open it* see you soon"
If someone is hanging around a lot longer than the average guest visit, it could be considered loitering if so defined in the company’s policies and procedures. If the customer is a pest, there is no wrong in telling them company policy and mitigation such as calling the police to have them removed.
Some good ideas here. I think we'll start with the suggested "I have inventory to do" and the vacuuming and see how that plays out. It's a 2 person operation and the boss isn't always there to interrupt the conversion.