Comfort Level

In my posts about the Valentine’s Day dilemma, I mentioned that purchasing gifts for their significant other takes most men outside of their comfort zone – into stores in which they do not feel comfortable. It’s possible to avoid this by shopping over the Internet, of course, but many people are still not comfortable with e-commerce, and even those of us who use it have invariably had issues with the shipping companies involved. I personally have had items purchased online arrive only after being immersed in stagnant pond water, dropped from at least 10 feet up onto a concrete floor, thrown off the back of a truck (or possibly an airplane), delayed by a National Day of Mourning (it’s a long story) or simply stolen, either by one of my neighbors or by the delivery person him/her self (the police never did find out).

For matters of convenience, scheduling, and being sure that the item purchased is still in one piece and actually in your hand on the day you need it, most people will still end up shopping in person, at least occasionally. This will, of necessity, eventually require them to enter a retail store that sells merchandise they know nothing about, are intimidated by, or simply feel uncomfortable being around. As a result, most people will eventually be faced with having to work outside of their comfort level, even if they are exceptionally good shoppers and even if they have never experienced this situation in any other aspect of their lives. The question I have to ask is, why?

In the workplace, being forced outside of your comfort level is almost inevitable, if you intend to receive promotion, learn a new skill set, master a new work function, or change jobs at any time in your career. One of the most important aspects of the manager’s role will always be training and developing the personnel assigned to them, and one of the key parts of this function is helping those trainees overcome their insecurities in learning the new duties. This is why a good training manager traditionally uses the five-step method of instruction (tell, show, try, correct, try again), repeating the last two steps as many times as necessary until the trainee is able to complete the task without assistance or prompting.

Obviously, one of the traits of a good manager is the ability to help new personnel overcome their discomfort with new tasks – and part of the definition of a good employee is the ability to overcome their own discomfort and find a new comfort level. The question is, given the nearly universal nature of the problem, why do so many businesses ignore this issue? Some retailers (notably the Lowe’s Home Improvement and Home Depot chains) will make a special effort to provide knowledgeable sales associates who can assist the customer in finding their desired merchandise. This can be extremely helpful to homeowners attempting to find the right tools and/or materials to complete a repair job, but even these services are going to be of minimal utility in attempting to match a gift to the skill levels or needs of the recipient, and most retailers do not make even this basic level of effort.

One can easily imagine retail stores adapting their personal shopper programs to assist inept male customers find gifts during the major holidays; one can also imagine certain other stores ( Sharper Image or any store selling sports memorabilia, for example) creating a similar service to assist the (admittedly much smaller) sub-group of women who experience similar comfort zone issues in shopping for their significant others. It’s unclear if such services would really provide a significant competitive advantage for retailers; the majority of the companies that claim to offer such conveniences to their customers generally do not live up to their advertising claims, and in many cases (lingerie stores assisting male customers, for example) there is going to be very little that the on-site personnel are going to be able to do to help anyway. Still, I have to ask: are you doing everything you can to help your customers find their comfort zone? And if not, why not? It’s worth thinking about…