Not long ago I mentioned a retailer in my Pint of View column that had completely turned its sales and customer-service practices around. I left the name of that retailer out on purpose, but it was Circuit City. I used to loathe that store, as evidenced by the unprintable name I used for it in conversation (hint: the second word still sounds a lot like City). The change they pulled off in the last few years amazed me. CC wasn’t perfect — the perfect electronics retailer doesn’t exist — but the chain made the effort to treat customers like something more than cattle, and I appreciated that effort. The 24-minute pickup program they instituted also deserved kudos.
Now Circuit City is headed for receivership, and some are saying one reason is that they weren’t selling. (From the MarketWatch article: “Circuit City had been hurt by having stores in less-favorable locations than those of Best Buy Co. … by increased competition from the likes of Wal-Mart Stores Inc. … and by an earlier move to lay off higher-paid staff who were able to push more profitable sales, according to industry observers.”) My personal experience with Circuit City tells me this isn’t the case. The higher-paid staff couldn’t have sold me a pack of batteries back in the day — they’re the ones who turned me off of the chain in the first place. The people they have today really seem to have a handle on low-pressure, consultative sales, and the stores (including the checkout lines) are always busy when I see them.
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