Excellent retail customer service is something that can turn a one-time shopper into a repeat buyer. What many businesses forget is that customer service starts from the moment they walk through the front door, to the moment they leave. It lets them know that the company values their business and will be there to help resolve any issues they might have.
No matter how good your services or products are, the one thing that people will remember is the experience they had when shopping at your business. This is why we’ve come up with five tips on how to provide better customer service so that you can turn a one-time customer into a repeat buyer.
Customer Service Skills 101
Make sure that your sales reps, cashiers, and managers have the requisite customer service skills needed to perform their job. There are four key points to great retail customer service:
Clear communication – Good communication skills are a valuable asset for a customer service job. Work to ensure that employees and managers are communicating clearly with the customer. Miscommunication can turn a small problem into a huge PR nightmare in just a few misunderstood words.
Knowledge – There is nothing more frustrating than walking into a store and having the salesclerk shrug their hands when you ask them a question about a product. Invest in training and other resources so that the sales reps know the difference between a widget and a doohickey—and the various reasons as to why the customer should buy one over the other.
Work Ethics – Customers appreciate it when a sales rep sticks with a problem and sees it through to a satisfactory conclusion. Ingrain this mentality into your reps and watch your customer satisfaction levels blossom.
Empathy and Patience – Some of your customers will be in a bad mood. Others will be in a rush. Still others will want to take as much time as they need to learn about the intricacies of your products. Your employees need to understand that there are people from all walks of life who will enter your store and that they should all be treated with empathy and patience.
Engagement
Train your sales reps to be engaged in their job. There’s nothing worse than walking into a store where every single employee has an attitude that makes it seem like they would rather be sitting in a dental chair getting a root canal performed.
Employee disengagement will sometimes stem from grievances or low morale. You can help avert this by setting up an anonymous suggestion box. Take note of their concerns and bring them up during the meeting and ask the workers for their input and suggestions on how they would like to resolve it.
Customer Feedback
Give your customers a way to provide feedback. Whether that’s a short survey on your company website, or a suggestion box strategically located near the front door, customer feedback can provide deep insights into the mindsets of your customers.
Perhaps there are several issues that you are unaware of. This could be causing a drop in foot traffic through your front door. By taking the time to understand the wants, needs, desires, and opinions of your customers, you’ll be better able to make an authentic connection that will resonate very well with them.
Resolve the Negatives Favorably
Excellent customer service extends to solving problems in a fair mannerism that makes the customer feel like you’ve heard, understood, and are working hard to resolve their concerns. This applies to social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter as well.
When a customer complains online, apologize, and then try to take the conversation offline—be it a phone call, email, or in-person. There’s no need to air your dirty laundry for others to see. Your customers will trust you more if they see how you fairly resolve other people’s problems.
Invest in a Smart Safe
Investing in an AMSEC CashWizard Smart Safe will help save both time and money. In addition to providing a highly secure area to store your cash until it’s time for an armored car pickup, a smart safe can help remove the mundane administrative cash handling tasks that take up a significant portion of the day. This means less time to worry lets you, your managers, and sales reps spend more time running the business.
Retail Customer Service is Important
It’s important to go the extra mile when it comes to customer service. That especially holds true in this day and age of social media and anonymous online reviews. Just one negative customer experience can have a cascading effect as the disgruntled customer takes to the internet to voice their concerns. By following the above five suggestions, you can help improve brand recognition, trust, and create a loyal following of happy customers.