Attachment report | Tuesday, November 08, 2005
Warning!
You are about to read a crappy 1800 words report on All Watches. All Watches is a phrase that can cause Hell to freeze over and devils to start wearing mittens. Mentioning the name itself will make the hardiest demon's skin crawl. Ok nvm...Let's get on with it.
The Final Report
All Watches Pte Ltd is a retail business that deals with selling watches and repairs. It is a locally established company that begun in 1984 and had expanded to six branches; one in Malaysia.
The jobs for All Watches staff in the branches are relatively the same for everyone – Mainly selling watches, repair and housekeeping-. Each branch has an assistant supervisor and the rest are full-time staff. During my working days, there was no part-timer. It was only after the attachment students left, that I realize they did have part-timers.
The first part of the day will begin with stock-checking. This is to ensure there is no watches had gone missing or stolen. After the routine had been completed, it will be faxed to the head office which is located at Lucky Plaza. Housekeeping duties will follow up next. Showcases are wiped, Watches are polished, floors mopped, water changed and money in the cashier changed for sales transaction. This concludes our morning activities.
Now, the shop is officially ready to service our customers. Staffs stand upright and wear faux, pleasant smile as they wait for people to enter the shop.
Our main priority would be attending customers. Selling watches to customer is no easy feat as some of them demand incredulous discounts or try on copious amount of watches. Customers come in many forms, some are rude and nasty while some of them are polite but demand a good discount. I had seen a fair share of such customers and it takes patience to serve them. Once, I served a lady who tried on 10 watches before finally settling for a low-priced watch. Another case was serving another who tried on 6-7 watches before walking out of the shop without saying a word of thanks. Most of people who entered the shop are just browsing about without the intention of buying any watches. I had never sold or seen anyone sell a watch to a school student.
There are many techniques to coax a customer into buying a watch but the steps are the same. Here are the fundamental steps…
1) Greet the customer. *Say hello or Hi*
2) Make them feel comfortable *smile*
3) An opening question to break the ice. *Looking for any watches*
4) Describe the product features and the benefits.
5) Continue speaking and answering questions…This is time where you make or break the deal.
If a sale is closed, the staff will search the watch from the stock pile –customers often ask for a new piece-. Following up will be stamping of the guarantee card with the date and company’s logo. This will prove that the watch is genuine, not some cheap imitation from the market. Next, we would have to key the sales into the computer and print the receipt out for the customer. Adjust the day, date and year and pack the watch in the box –unless they prefer to wear it then-. After giving the customer his or her watch, transaction is finally finished.
If there isn’t stock of the watch that the customer is interested in, a runner will be sent to the other branches to collect or send watches. An internal will be released as proof for the transfer of stocks. And for some reason, the runner is always me.
Other than selling watches, All Watches provide services like repairing watches, changing of batteries and returning flawed watches to and back from agent to customers.
The retail merchandise display will be rearranged every week or when there is a batch of goods that recently came in.
At the end of the working hours, stocks will be checked again and closing entries; sales of the day and others. Switch off the lights and making sure that the security alarm is switched on; the time has come to bring the shutters down. That concludes one working day.
In the shop that I was posted to, we only had equipments to change watch batteries and a machine for transaction. Repair tools includes: screwdrivers, batteries, clamp, Swiss knife etc.
In retail service, there are always problems to deal with. Mainly: Customer. They would come and demand to exchange a watch that they bought for a gift for someone else because that person didn’t like it. When the watch is spoilt, some of them would ask the company to send it to the service center instead. Problems like miscommunication also occur within colleagues and bosses. Retail service is a very demanding job that expects you to be at your peak at all times. Standing for 8-9 hours is no joke, your legs will be very sore during or after work Going out with friends will be difficult as you are expected to work on weekends as that is when customers are most plentiful. Off days are usually on week days.
The working environment is good; the staff are friendly. Colleagues are cohesive and they work together to bring in sales. Relationships between branches are very good and well-maintained. They often meet during break for lunch or dinner or even after work. When there are no customers, colleagues will spend their time chatting with each other. This bonds them together after long periods of time.
The working environment is that of a retail business. It is air-conditioned and working space is limited. Huge percentage of the time will be spent standing in attention, waiting for customers unless it is a very busy day. Although the working relations between branches are good, they sometimes work toward the goal of the branch not of those of the company.
Example: Branches fighting over the same customers.
Work can be improved in a few ways. In All Watches, commission is made by your individual sales, this cost employees to be self-centered as they ‘fight’ each other for sales. The company can use a shared commission basis that splits bonuses among workers equally, disregarding the amount of watches an individual sells. This method will make the employees a more cohesive group as they work harder together to bring in more sales and reap the benefits together.
All Watches can also implement a new paying scheme. By cutting off the base pay, the company can give a fifteen percent commission to the person that closed the deal, instead of the pathetic one percent commission. By doing so, it motivates the salesperson even more sell more watches than ever before. If he sells a $1000 dollars watch, this scheme will give him a commission of $150. This will both benefit the company and the salesman. However, the cons of this method will cost the employees to fight for business even more. And it only works for talented salespeople.
I personally had learnt a lot from this attachment. Jobs in the retail line are more difficult than those of the office type. As I mention before, standing for 8 hours a day is physically demanding –especially to that of older people or the inexperienced- and it might bring up some bad health issues after a period of time. Now, I respect salespeople much more and my speaking tone tends to be more polite and courteous. Perhaps by doing so, I could brighten up their day. I had also learnt how the small shop operates and the human resource needed to handle it. Posted at OG has allowed me to experience what is like to work in a big departmental store with many strict rules and regulations, I had learnt how this companies operate and how they earn their profits –by percentage of profits from various companies-. This information would be valuable if I plan to start my own business or open a small shop myself. I also realized the importance of working as a united group will bring you much further than a one-man show. From experiences of observing and selling watches, I look at customer’s behavior in a whole new perspective. I can now easily group customers into various sections and how they will react to the different sales tactic. Example: A person buying a gift will be easier to be swayed into buying your product. These six weeks has taught me skills like communication, teamwork, initiative, responsibility and discipline, resourcefulness and adaptability.
I learnt a lot, however there are also difficulties I faced during ITP. Such as, having a strict boss (Edna) breathing down your neck at times. It terrifies me to know that I had to work with her the following day. A person will live in constant fear on when she will drop by out of the sudden even though I am doing my job well. Perhaps she is demanding or working with a lady boss can do that to you. Not to mention, Woman are very difficult to understand. There are also bound to have miscommunication with bosses and colleagues as people translate things differently. There was once when I was defending another colleague and I was thought to be self-centered and rebellious instead. Working a sales job has made me unable to go out with friends as my off-day is Friday instead of Sunday. I had to cancel many dates and spend my off-day alone at home resting. There isn’t much space for social life. The sheer amount of working hours put stress on both physically and mentally. Working 11-12 hours a day prevents you from doing any exercise, getting some sunshine and forces you to take your meals outside which is loaded with oil, salt and msg.
The training is very much related to the course I am taking (Business studies). It is very well linked to the marketing modules as I can see many of the different techniques used in work. I had also seen operation management skills, human resource skills and accounting skills put into place at All Watches that allows the business to be successful. This industrial attachment has made me more aware of my studies in business management as seeing theories and concepts put into work is priceless experience and much more enriching compared to just studying the textbook alone.
The ITP at All watches can be very much improved by giving longer hours of break, more pay and less working hours. I recommend that working seven hours a day is much better working hours as the experience reaped will be similar to that of eleven hours, The student who is taking the ITP will be more stress-free and happy which brings in more productiveness.
That is the end of my final report and I hope you enjoy reading it. God bless the future students taking this ITP.
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I blogged at 3:00 PM
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About Me
Name: Clement
Age: 20
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