Picture a customer entering your business. They wander around for a while then approach the till where they see a staff member busy doing something with their back turned. The customer hangs back for a moment. The staff member hasn’t yet acknowledged them. After a couple of minutes the staff member STILL doesn’t acknowledge them. The customer places their items loudly on the counter to attract the attention of the staff member. Eventually the staff member turns around and the customer is given “a cold look” with no smile or warm welcome such as “Good Morning I’ll be with you in a moment”. The staff member loudly “sighs” and takes time to stop what they are doing. The customer immediately feels uncomfortable and that they are an interruption. The customer is just about to walk away when the staff member says “I was in the middle of something important..” in an irritated tone. The customer is now made to feel that they are “not important”. The staff member processes the items in a “can’t be bothered” manner clearly wanting to get back to their important task.
Unbelievable that an individual has behaviour like this you may say but sadly it happens. This is my own recent experience after visiting a business that normally provides a good standard of Customer Service.
To prevent the above from happening within your business, what can you do to ensure that YOUR customers leave having had a truly wonderful and memorable experience? Pay attention to YOUR customers: the more attention you give your customers, the higher the level of service they are receiving.
Follow these simple 7 steps:-
- Focused eye contact – look at YOUR customer
- Smile – give YOUR customer a genuine smile
- Warm welcome – “Good Morning, Good Afternoon, Good Evening…How lovely to see you again..” and say it like you mean it
- Acknowledge YOUR customers immediately – no matter what you’re doing
- Spontaneously chat – build an instant rapport with YOUR customer
- Ask questions and listen to their response
- Positive Body Language – along with all of the above will enable YOUR teams to give excellent service
Build a Customer Service Culture into your business to empower your teams to offer an exceptional service. Develop a set of Customer Service Standards so that your teams understand exactly what is expected of them and why. The more structure you have within your business the higher the level of service your teams will be able to offer.
Go that extra mile and give YOUR customers a service that is “second to none”. Let me share an experience with you. Whilst working within a local business I built a rapport with a customer who comes in on her own for lunch. She’s an interesting lady who’s led an amazing life and has some wonderful stories to tell. One day I went over to say hello. She took my hand and said “Justine, since coming here and meeting you, you’ve changed my life”. And it’s as easy as that. All I did was to follow the above 7 steps and showed a genuine interest in her. She will remember me forever and I will never forget her words.
Give YOUR customers an experience that they will remember for a lifetime, just like me and my customer.