Saleswomen seek proper training

JEDDAH: Saudi women working in cosmetics and lingerie shops demand training and English language courses. Employers say some saleswomen are not worthy of such an investment.
Arab News visited cosmetics and lingerie shops in Jeddah and noticed that most of the female shopkeepers lack computer skills and a basic command of the English language.
“We attended a one-day training where one man stood in the middle, surrounded by 15 women trainees,” said Nora, a Saudi saleswoman at a cosmetic shop. “He didn’t even give us one-on-one training and his goal was to teach us how to sell a product. He did not explain about marketing or additional sales skills.”
Fatima, another saleswoman at the same cosmetics shop, is embarrassed about her English when speaking to customers. “Most of our products are European and the information is written in English. I don’t understand when customers ask for a certain product in English and I end up calling the supervisor to help them instead,” she said. “We have asked management more than once for English lessons, but they never provided them.”
Sales are not the only skill that a salesperson will need to make profit from, said Lamia, who works at a lingerie shop. “I have been asking the supervisor to teach us how to use the cash register and the computer in the shop. He keeps telling us that this is none of our business and we have to focus on customer service,” she said.
“I believe that to climb the career ladder, we have to learn to hold every single position in the store, just in case one of us had to go to a vacation or had an emergency leave,” she added.
Many saleswomen were not prepared to deal with angry customers. “A customers once asked me for a certain perfume. I only understood the name of the brand, so I brought everything to the counter. She started screaming at me and called me stupid because she asked for something that we didn’t have at the store,” said Omima, who works at a cosmetic store.
“I started crying in front of her and she said this was not professional. I believe management should have told me how to deal with angry customers and not to take things personally.”
Fouzia works as a saleswoman at a lingerie shop. She felt embarrassed when a customer asked her to find the perfect lingerie for her daughter. “We were never trained to take measurements. When the customer asked me to measure her daughter, I felt very embarrassed to admit that I didn’t know how to do that. But it’s my job,” she said. “Salesmen never did it and that’s why the company did not train us to do it. I have already demanded management to teach every saleswoman how to do measurements for customers.”
Companies were faced with a large turnover in saleswomen. They cannot be trusted with a job, said Sarah bin Sahal, Nayomi retail manager. “We cannot invest in saleswomen because they keep quitting jobs before completing their three-month probation. We have tried to give them courses and teach them marketing techniques, but before you know it, they quit the job and applied somewhere else,” she said.
“We are in constant need for serious women to work in the showrooms and we cannot be picky. Anyone who applies for a job is automatically accepted. This is why the quality of the service is not as we would like it to be.”
Bin Sahal would like the Ministry of Labor to start a new service of holding a work number for each saleswoman. “It would be a lot easier for us to know about the employees through official channels, rather than calling a competitor and ask for a reference,” she said. “I would love to see a folder with all the work history and the reasons why she left the previous jobs before I choose her to work in our shop.”
According to Bin Sahal, the ministry has demanded all employers to ensure the employees get the necessary training for a job. “The Ministry of Labor has signed contracts with a number of learning institutes that can provide all the marketing and sales tools and skills,” she said. “To enable us to do so, we need staff who are willing to stay with us so we can invest in them and give them the training.”
Arab News repeatedly tried to contact the spokesperson of the Labor Ministry for a comment, but all attempts failed.