There are two categories of stores when it comes to the UPs system; those that have one and those that don’t. Those that have an UPs system typically use it to prevent three or four sales people from fighting over one customer at the same time. These are more often middle to lower end operations or stores with large selling staffs. On the other end of the spectrum are stores that choose not to use an UPs system. These tend to be higher end or small operations (with few salespeople) or stores in which the sales people have worked together for so long that they have their own unspoken UPs system. In this environment, salespeople simply attempt to do what they perceive to be fair on any given day.
Owners that choose not to have an UPs system generally believe that they do not have the type of store that gangs up on customers. The problem with this situation is that instead of being ganged up on, customers are often completely neglected. After having been in many stores like this, my experience is that I’m not in the store for very long before I see customers walking around unattended. The owner generally finds himself asking two or three salespeople if browsing customers have been approached… and, if not, would someone please take care of them? Without an surgery unit UPs system, there is no way to tell who should have had the responsibility to approach those customers. As this situation illustrates, it is just as necessary to have an UPs system in a high end/small store environment as it is in a medium or low end/large store environment.
The bottom line is that the necessity of having an UPs system has little to do with the type of store. It, in fact, can and should be an important element in all types of stores because an UPs system simply ensures that one person is responsible for each customer who enters your store.
