Stanley Marcus

“Consumers are statistics. Customers are people.”

“I love to sell, to visualize something for someone and make them see it.”

“What we learned was that the collective glamour of a specialty store could sell a lot of merchandise.”

“Seeing so much of the same thing suppresses the desire to buy.”

“I suspect that most retailers are so busy buying goods, taking care of markdowns, and so on that they have too little time to give thought to creativity.”

“I saw an ad for an expensive car and got so excited about it, I called the dealer. 'How are those new cars?' I asked. 'They're fine,' he said. I thought he'd offer to let me drive it for a weekend. He didn't. I expected a salesman to call. No one did. I didn't buy the car.”

“You have to empower your sales staff to use their judgment and go beyond the standards set down on paper and by the computer.”

“I took to heart the instructions my father drilled into my head. Respect the customer. Pay attention to her. Take her package to her car. You broke your neck to get what she wanted because you never knew when the next customer would come along.”

“Other than things like toothpaste, I don't buy anything that isn't sold to me.”

“I went into a Beverly Hills shop to buy an attache case. They had 250 cases on their shelves. I asked an attractive saleswoman if they carried one made of belting leather. She said 'no.' That was the end of the conversation. She made no attempt to show me another case that would provide equal service. I didn't buy an attache case.”

“If the salesperson is busy, he or she should nod and say 'I'll be with you in a few moments,' so the customer won't mind waiting.”