A DAY IN THE SHOES OF A SALESMAN

PLACE: SHOPPER’S STOP (Inorbit Mall), Vashi

The word salesman doesn’t hold much respect in our society. When we say that this person is a salesman, immediately most of us assume that this person is a door to door product seller. But that is not always true.

During my 10 days of training in Shopper Stop I had a chance to experience what is the actual job of a salesman in retail world.  When I entered the store for the first time the HR made it very clear that she doesn’t care if I was an MBA student or future Department Manager, she said “you have to do the job of a sales promoter/salesman and attend customers”. My first reaction was why do I have to do it? Why can’t they just teach me something that is very high profile and sounds good and fun. But that time I didn’t knew how important this job was to anyone who wants to be in retail. Because in retail, customers are the boss and you should always know how to keep your boss happy.

During 10 days of training, my day started from 9 am and ended at somewhere around 11pm or 12 midnight. We were treated as any other employee of the Shopper Stop. Like many of them my shift started from 10:30 am sharp. We were checked by the guard before entering the store and also at the time of leaving the store, no cell phones were allowed so it was to be submitted to the guard. But the real show starts when we enter the shop floor and interact with the customers. I had to stand for almost 8-9 hours a day for 10 continuous days. First 4 days were very painful, because we were not used to standing for so long. But the people over there who were either the sales promoters or the brand staffs were very nice and the helped me a lot in making me comfortable with whatever I was doing. They taught me lot of jargons and also showed me some of the technical things they do.

My actual job was to attend the customer and it gave me an opportunity to understand the needs and demands of the customers. First 2 days were difficult to do so but after that it became very easy. I remember a girl named Yogita came to buy a formal shirt. At first she came with a shirt and asked the price I told her that it costs Rs 8oo, and I also advised her not to buy it because it wasn’t worth the money. Next day she came to me and said I didn’t listened to you and bought the shirt and now I don’t like the material, will you please help me in finding a good one please?

I learned a lot in those 10 days which will be too long to explain but all I can conclude from my learning is that to be a good salesman you need to be a good listener, self confident, persuasive, self motivated and always ready to learn no matter what.