Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
any sizeable portion of his public and
the larger the store becomes the more
difficult it gets for him to remain in
close touch with any of it. The problem
is a real one.
Of course, people are still pretty
much the same. They still react to the
same impulses in just about the same
way, and whatever the type of store—
the small store, whose owner does most
of the work himself, or the large store,
whose general manager must work al-
most entirely through others—its pub-
lic relations are still the opinions of
people, the good or bad impressions of
its public. What, then, must today's
retail store do and to whom must it do
it? Just who is this "public" whose
good opinion is so important and what
must be done to get that good opinion?
Well, in the case of a retail store, as
with any other type of business, I would
say that its public consists of all those
with whom it has any contact. Ob-
viously, the store's customers and those
who may become customers will form
an important segment of that public, so
let us start with them.
What Customer Relations Mean
Good customer relations mean only
one thing—a willingness or desire on
the part of people to do business with
the store. This desire, is, in turn, based
on only one thing—the way the store
treats its customers. This is very ele-
mentary, and yet, how many store-
keepers give real and consistent thought
to the various points of contact they
have with their customers? There are
many such points and they are all
important because each one of them
adds its bit to the sum total of all the
impressions created. At the top of the
list with regard to those contacts is the
element of courtesy. How is the cus-
tomer greeted when he comes into the
store and how are his desires taken care
of? Oh, I know full well that this is old
stuff and I'm not bringing it up be-
cause I have any doubt that everyone
here knows all about it. That's not the
point at all. The real question is-—does
the store leave the treatment of its
customers to the inclinations and fancies
of its various employees or is there a
definite attempt to make sure that every
customer is treated exactly as the owner
would want him treated? What about
the telephone? Is it always answered in
such a way as to make a good impres-
sion? If there are customers' rest
rooms, is their maintenance on a level
with the treatment the store wants to
give its customers? And so on through
the entire list of points of contact with
the customer—the elevator operator, the
delivery man, the writing of letters, and
all the rest. Simple points, aren't they?
Hardly worth talking about. They
should be taken for granted and yet a
few visits to some of the stores of this
or any other city will give plenty of
evidence of the need for more attention
to the fundamental retailing principle
of courtesy to customers.
Do customers find it easy or difficult
to make their purchases? The time it
takes for a customer to be waited on, or
the time it takes to make change or to
have a purchase wrapped up should not
be so long that the customer will be-
come impatient. Merchandise values are
pretty well standardized these days.
Dollar for dollar, stores all carry about
the same quality of goods. Competition
forces them to. But those goods should
be so displayed and presented to the
customer as to make it easy for him to
make a selection. I know of some music
stores, for instance, which have lost a
lot of business because the little rooms
in which customers listen to phono-
graph records are noisy and uncomfort-
able or the phonographs in them are
inadequate. It would not cost much in
either money or effort to give those
phonograph records a better chance and
at the same time make more and better
friends for the stores. In short, the
entire business of making a purchase in
a retail store should be a pleasant, com-
fortable experience.
The way a store handles complaints
is of vital importance. It would be bet-
ter, of course, not to have any com-
plaints but, when they do occur, the
store has the opportunity of regaining
the customer's, perhaps the ex-custom-
er's confidence and goodwill. Once upon
a time, stores, particularly the large
ones, made it very difficult to exchange
an article or even to register a com-
plaint. The customer had to go to an
out-of-the-way, dingy looking place and
stand in line for a long time in front of
a little window behind which was a
rather austere complaint taker. That
situation no longer exists but it is doubt-
ful that many retail stores are making
the most of their complaint adjusting
opportunity. Those that do, sometimes
make history. Let me tell you about
Jack Yager who owns and personally
operates a fairly large men's wear store
in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. During the war
years and the period immediately fol-
lowing, Mr. Yager felt increasing con-
cern over the fact that the merchandise
he was offering his customers, the only
merchandise he was able to get, was not
up to the standards of value that he had
established for his store during its pre-
war years. He was worried about the
customer goodwill he had so carefully
built up. As soon as he felt sure that
he could once again present merchan-
dise of which he could be proud, he
decided to do something about it. On
New Year's Day, January 1, 1947, he
inserted a quarter page " u ad" in his city's
biggest newspaper, The Cedar Rapids
Gazette. This is part of what it said:
TO KEEP YOUR GOOD WILL
We're Repaying a
5-Year-01d Debt!
We know, and you know, that
during the war years many of the
finest retail stores in the country,
in order to clothe and serve the
public, had to offer, because of
wartime restrictions, merchandise
not up to the usual standards. We
at YAGER'S were no exception.
We hoped and prayed for the day
when we could again offer our
usual high quality merchandise.
That day has come . . . and we're
repaying our war-incurred debt to
you, now that standard merchan-
dise is back on our shelves.
HERE'S H O W
W E ARE REPAYING
OUR DEBT TO YOU!
If You Purchased Anything
from YAGER'S Between DEC. 1,
1941 and JAN. 1. 1947 WHICH
HAS NOT BEEN ENTIRELY
SATISFACTORY TO YOU Bring
It back to YAGER'S Anytime Con-
venient to You AND WE WILL
MAKE YOU A SATISFACTORY
ADJUSTMENT..
You're the boss! Whatever ad-
justment you want: A cash adjust-
ment . . . An exchange on any
item in the store of similar value
. . . credit on future merchandise
. . . just so you are completely
satisfied!
YOU DON'T NEED A SALES
SLIP! Just bring in the item pur-
chased from YAGER'S during the
last five years, and we will gladly
do what YOU think is right in
the way of an adjustment. After
all . . . keeping you completely
satisfied with our merchandise and
service is the most important
thing to our business future."
(Turn to I'une X)
THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW. JANUARY, 1951