We were at a department store the other day, which is weird for me. Usually everyone is at a department store except me, since I am deathly allergic to most of them.

But there we were, getting a new pair of Keen shoes for our first grader. When it came time to check out, there was a line at the kids' shoe department counter so we went over to the women's shoe counter. The man behind the counter looked downright petrified when we stepped up. He looked as if he wasn't prepared to check anyone out. Maybe his register drawer was out of change?

Then he asked another employee to check us out, using a hushed tone. She also responded with a look of worry. Then it all became clear: This was about commissions.

They can't check out a customer without entering a code identifying the employee who is supposed to get the commission on that sale. If they check the customer out with no code, no one gets a commission. Or the world comes to an end. I'm not sure.

So they called over a lady from the children's department, who happily reported that, yes, she was the one who helped us and gets the commission. The man entered her code, and it would seem we were back on track. Except then my wife spoke up and said, "Actually, she only brought the shoes out from the back. Another lady sized our son's feet and answered our questions."

Well, by now the code had been entered and I was in the middle of forking over the cash. This is now full-blown crisis mode for the workers, because they needed to figure out how to add another employee's code and/or split the commission between the two.

At this point I will digress, because the whole scene was a bit embarrassing. (For them.) They were following policy, and the policy was centered on everything except making the transaction comfortable and efficient for the customer.

I've seen other little debacles relating to retail salespeople on commissions, but this was the first one in a long while. If you're going to commission your floor sales staff, at least make it invisible to the customer.

Labels: bad habits, customer centered, customer service, management, marketing, planning, salesmanship, strategy