Bill Midgley

Jun 29 2005 By Bill Midgley, The Journal

I find it rather unsettling when going into a department store in London to be immediately "grabbed" by an assistant to ask what I want, and who then follows me around within no more than a yard, directing my attention to the latest line of products.

Inevitably, whatever I am seeking becomes no more than a basis for an explanation as to what else they have in store and what I should be looking for, not necessarily what I need.

Most of us (perhaps it's an age thing) like to go into the larger stores in particular and browse without being pressured. The opposite seems to be the case in the North, where very often it is even difficult to find somebody to give me any advice whatsoever.

And that is perhaps yet again an indication of the different attitudes between the North and the South. Whilst I may be critical of what happens in London, there is a willingness to serve.

Whilst in the North, to interrupt two shop assistants discussing their private affairs is almost to invite the wrath of the Gods to descend on one's head. It may be something about service still being seen as an unacceptable form of earning money, a secondary job.

But it may be seen as a means of those who work harder are better paid - and that applies to the South in particular.

We do need to look at ourselves in the North-East.

And we also need to promote ourselves more strongly. We need to recognise the customer, their needs and importance.

The comparisons between York and Ascot over the last week or so have been quite disturbing, with the somewhat arrogant, southern-based media making extremely disparaging remarks regarding the North, its weather and more particularly its people. Women without stockings, whatever next!

This is by no means a new phenomenon, but such stereotyped imaging tends to stick and we do ourselves no favours in playing to the image that the South seems to love.

This region needs investment, it needs people, it needs respect, and that will only come by working at these issues.

Giving the customer room to decide is far more effective in the longer term, as long as we remember who the customer is and who eventually is responsible for our jobs and the profits a company can make.

Bill Midgley is president of the British Chamber of Commerce.