Issue link: https://viewer.e-digitaledition.com/i/1527259
16 • Footwear Insight ~ September/October 2024 footwearinsight.com By Thomas Post I t was delightful to see some old, and meet some new friends at the 2024 NSRA Shoe Show in Atlanta in August. In this issue and the next, I'm going to address three critical ingredients for your Customer Service Experience that have changed dramatically in the last five years, and unfortunately, not for the better… Staffing, Management & Leadership, and finally, your own Customer Service Experience. Staffing Remember when we were getting worked up about the progression of wages to the $15/ hour mark? We blew right past that, in the post-pandemic reboot. We are paying more, and feel like we're getting less productivity than ever from employees. is hangover from "COVID-tendance," feels like a new normal for employees that arbitrarily take spontaneous days off or have become "chronically tardy" with little or no advance notice. It feels like more and more employees are showing up to work and doing as they please, cellphones in hand while they're being paid. Seriously?! Staffing up is rife with challenges, too. Full voicemailboxes, ghosting us on scheduled interviews, ghosting us on the first day on the job. Disappearing in the first couple weeks. More "quiet quitting" than ever, if you allow it. Quitting and leaving is OK, quitting and staying is not, but many organizations have given up and just accepted alarming increases in payroll cost percentages, and just as alarming decreases in productivity. You have to be on the absolute top of your game in all aspects of Recruiting, Interviewing, Hiring, Training, Motivation, Accountability, Coaching, and Retention today… or suffer the consequences. ese things were never Business Insight There is an absolute physical dynamic in getting close to a complete stranger, having a desire to connect, and not invading their personal space. You can't be too enthusiastically eager, nor should you be a quiet, creepy stalker. It's about getting customers to willingly let you in. And that takes awareness and technique, not muscle. CUSTOMER SERVICE IN THE POST-COVID APOCALYPSE