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YOU DON'T WANT TO GET ON THIS LIST
By Daniel Felsted
I am an extremist—I freely admit it. How so, you ask? Each of us keeps a mental note of who gives us great service and who doesn’t. I do this too. But what makes me an extremist is that I keep a written copy of these two lists. Mine are titled: The 10 Best Shops to Visit and The 10 Worst Shops to Visit—Don’t Even Bother. Obviously you want to get on the first and never want to be found on anyone’s second. Unfortunately many business owners don’t know that they are on someone’s Worst Shops to Visit list.
Let’s first look at some of the reasons why your customers put you on their Do Not Visit list.
• Rude employees
• Uninformed employees
• No support after the sale
• Poor product selection
• Little or no follow-up
• Information given that is perceived as false
• A messy or unkempt shop
• Employees that are unprofessional
As you can see, sometimes it is a simple thing that will ruin the relationship between your company and your customers, and most of the time it’s for life. The following quote from Debra J. Schmidt, an expert in customer service reinforces this.
"68% of customers leave because of an attitude of indifference by a single employee."
Ouch! Are you training your employees adequately? Are they your biggest asset or your biggest liability? They should be the number one advocate of your business and its products or services. If they are not, you need to look at how well you train them. Most of the time, employees are not trained well enough and consequently don’t meet customers’ expectations. Be proactive: prepare your employees to excel every time they deal with your customers.
You cannot rely on any previous training your employee has received. You must hold regular training classes with your employees; the only thing more expensive than hiring a customer service coach is not hiring one. Your reputation is on the line every time an untrained employee deals with a potential customer.
Some things you can do to prepare your employees to meet your customers are:
1. Provide opportunities for your employees to become proficient with your products or services
2. Empower your employees to solve the problems of your customers
3. Set goals with your employees
4. Regularly train and coach your employees in best practices and customer service techniques by either hiring a professional or developing materials in-house
5. Set goals with your employees
Now let’s look at ways to get on your customers’ Best Shops to Visit list.
Following are strategies that help you build lifetime bonds with your customers and keep them coming back.
• Greet all customers with a smile and by name when possible
• Maintain extra friendly and informative staff
• Be helpful at all times
• Have a clean and organized store
• Dress like the experts you are
• Provide educational materials
• Follow-up with all customers with problems
• Delight each customer at every contact point
You can significantly increase your revenue by focusing on such customer service strategies. Study after study has shown that customers want to be educated and treated fairly and that they are willing to pay more for such services. It’s a no-lose situation!
If you are not sure where to begin, look for a customer service expert that understands how to build lifetime relationships with customers. Have them help you develop a plan that will engage your customers and which includes your employees in the process.
To get you started I have developed a simple guide called How To Get Your Customers To Pay More and Do It Happily! If you are interested, send me an email and I will forward you a .pdf at no charge. This guide lists 25 ways to engage your customers and obtain their loyalty.
Congratulations to those few businesses who have made the switch from my The 10 Worst Shops to Visit—Don’t Even Bother list to my The 10 Best Shops to Visit list. If I have noticed, so have others.
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You have permission to use this article for personal use. If you want to use it for other purposes contact me and I'll gladly give you permission. All I ask is you contain the following:
Daniel C. Felsted is a marketer of ideas. The Image Foundry is a full service corporate marketing training consultancy. Specializing in customer service, employee training and developing internal marketing strategies that grow your business—fast.
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