Data Zealotry

Every so often I flash back to a signature moment during my time in retail that solidified my disdain towards something I just came up with called “Data Zealotry.”

You have to understand this retail job is one I would still gladly be working today if not for their skewed system designed to hire fast, burn people out and repeat the cycle. You had to sell a certain amount of product per day without commission. Sales equated to hours and recognition. This meant it was expedient to always bring in fresh talent eager to please. The longer you worked there the more likely you would fail enough times outside your control.

Type A personalities can tell me it’s all in my head all you want, but the reality is some people want to buy and need help validating their choices, some have no intention and cannot be swayed and yes, a few people here and there may convert that day with the right tact. But company policy was “hypnotize everyone who comes in.” Even if I could do that, I wouldn’t use a valuable skill like that on wallets or watches, I knew from day one it was mostly luck. I pivoted towards justifying the need for service; someone had to change the batteries, adjust sizes, unpack deliveries and run the trash.

But the signature moment came one night I was working alongside someone who in every way contradicted my approach; stiff where I was warm and open, aloof where I was passionate about the product, blunt where I was tactful. But before I could realize what’s about to happen, a wedding party came in and she got the open before I did. I could only stare, mentally slack-jawed as she tallied up one of the largest sales of that year, maybe in the store’s history.

She went on to be promoted as key-holder and I assume as some point managed to smile over it, I eventually left the role to try my hand at an apprenticeship only to find it was with a verbally abusive Hungarian man and his spoiled daughter.

As I said, I mostly enjoyed that job and I suspect after covid wiped out half their stores there may have been a change in tack.

The lesson I learned is simple; data NEVER tells you more than half the story. Data doesn’t tell you how a customer can be won over on one day, but the sale goes to someone else the next. It doesn’t tell you why sales are low but customer entry is high (we had deliveries that day.) It doesn’t tell you how a store becomes more efficient when you let some people run support, because it looks like they’re not contributing because they’re not selling.

Do soccer teams load up on strikers and gun for the net? Yes, the ones formed by children. Professional teams have defense and wingmen to support the strikers, oh and a keeper to protect the net goes a long way too.

What you NEED is experience and the ability to recognize patterns using your own eyes and ears. And if you can’t get it yourself, you ask those who do have it. And if what they tell you doesn’t align with the data, don’t be shocked, life is lived not notarized.