Building customer relationships
I love working retail first and foremost. Sure you get your fare share of people you wanna punch in the face and kick them after to make sure you inflict enough damage, but you also get those customers that you connect with on a very good scale. Recently we had to take a class based on our customer engagement model. The class was about 3-4 hours, but that’s besides the point. This class taught us about building a customer relationship and trust with our customers. After this class I did my best to try to work and put the new skills I learned into action. At first I came up short as they didn’t need anyone so I of course got ready to go home. As I got ready to leave they caught me at the door and asked me if I could work, to which we all know I said yes. The only problem at this point is I am not in dress code.. Cue dramatic music, I am always prepared my friends, I told them I in fact had my work clothes in my bag and was ready to go put them on if they did in fact need me. SUCCESS, That is the way I spell success. You may at this point be asking yourself “What does this have to do with building a customer relationship Zach?” NOTHING, ABSOLUTELY NOTHING. It is however giving me a chance to show you to always be prepared for anything work related. Now we move on the real reason for this blog.
Building a customer relationship is like building a friendship, you walk up, say hello, ask if they need anything. If not you tell them you will be around if they need you, and start to walk away. Then it kicks in, they are looking for something and someone to help. The customer is cold towards you if you are not confident, have product knowledge, and if you do not look or act in a professional manner. Once you have the customers interest it is time to do introductions and make that sell. Now Introductions do not always have to be a “Hi my name is ________”. Sometimes names do not even have to be exchanged. If you engage your customer and show that you are interested in them and their needs, they will reciprocate the same respect back to you. Sometimes you may have to stand there with a customer for 30 minutes even, but if you are kind and considerate and listen to them they will do the same when you speak to them about the products and features etc. I know some companies base their performance on how much gets out the door, and all businesses do have a budget to keep, but think about this.
Budget and sales Vs Customer Relationship and loyalty.
Every day you hear a manager or boss say “We need to meet budget, get it done.” Sometimes that is not always possible. The problem herein lies. Your workforce has not been properly equipped to handle a customer relationship, they have been equipped to make a sale and move on. If you do that you may as well close up shop, or offer better deals to your customers. Meeting a budget is fine and dandy, but what about when it comes down to Having loyal customers? If you have loyal customers that love to come in and spend their money great, but what about the ones that come in and just look around and never buy anything? They are more than likely taking your price to a competitor and having them match it, because they have had a better relationship with the customer service staff. And when the customer does that you of course lose that sale and get that much further away from budget.
Customer relationships and loyalty begin in how your attitude is. I would like to think that I have a good attitude all the time. It isn’t true but hey no matter what is going on I put on my game face when I go to work and take care of the sadness, or what have you when I am home or on break/lunch. Because when you are on a sales floor, cash register, ETC, you always have a customer on your heels asking for help. So if you can drop your attitude at the door and put on your game face for the work day feel free to pick it back up at the end of the night when you walk out.
Believe me people we are getting to the point here but I thought I would drop a little bit of wisdom and kind of get you thinking about things a little more in depth. Let’s get back on track shall we? Customer relationships keep people coming back, because they know they are going to get great service, and be treated like a VIP. With my customers, I ALWAYS ALWAYS make them feel like people rather than a sale. If there is a point I am making it feel like a sale I stop, and ask the customer if I can step away for a second for a drink of water while they discuss things with their significant other. That gives me a chance to not only get a drink but also allows me to get it back on track from being a sale to the person being a person first and foremost. If you treat a customer like a sale and do a robotic script you are digging yourself a hole, Buyers today know when they are being led astray and will quickly tell you they are no longer interested.
So once I have the customer engaged and we are exchanging questions and answers, jokes, and information about other offers we may have, I go in for the sale, I make sure I meet their needs with the product, and suggest what I think would be best for them but also leave room for them to move up or down the scale according to budget. You would be amazed how some people actually go into a place looking for a computer, are handed to a sales associate and told “This fits your needs and this is what you want.” I bet you didn’t think that maybe that customer is looking for you to go “Okay This is what I suggest for you, but for X amount more you can move up to this or for X amount less you can move down to this if you are on a strict budget today.” I found that 8 out of 10 times a customer will actually take a look at the more expensive product and go “you know.. I think I can stretch my budget just a bit to accommodate this purchase.” They are looking for a customer service rep that is going to go out of their way to offer anything and everything, give your customer the world.
Once you have the customer and product getting ready for the door, again offer them the world, do not force it on them but let them know “Oh hey I know I mentioned it earlier but I wanted to mention it again to make sure I give you the best experience. We offer ______ , and that helps with _____. So if you ever have any problems you can bring it to us and we can help you.” Also never put pressure on them to buy it then, always make sure your business or company has a time frame where they can go home and really evaluate whether or not it will pay off for them in the long run. For instance Best Buy’s Black tie protection plans. They cost more money at purchase time but they offer protection on things that manufacturers don’t. Now if I am buying a PS3 and they offer me a $60 plan that covers my system and controller if they break, I am going to jump on that. A PS3 controller runs me $60 anyway so if I spend the $60 now to protect the system, and controller in the box I don’t have to come in, in a week and spend $300+ for another PS3 or another $60+ for a controller if they break or something happens. I have actually saved money in the long run and have made an investment in my products future. But if I can not afford it at the time I do have 30 days to come back and attach that to my product.
When you are finished with the sale some customers may ask for your name, (name badges help with this), so when they come in next time they can possibly have you come shop with them and give your opinions and make them feel comfortable while they are shopping so they don’t feel overwhelmed by another service person. I feel that if the customer likes you and would rather deal with you than another co worker based on your customer relationship take the chance and give them a name, and days you work. This will aid in their buying decision days because they know if they come in on a day you are working they are going to get that VIP treatment and shopping experience they are looking for.
In closing I would love to say thank you for taking the time to read this and kind of see my view on how I now approach my job and customer relationships. If you have any questions or concerns email me at zachallensmart (at) gmail.com or follow me on twitter http://www.twitter.com/zacharysmart . I am also a freelance product tester so if your company has a product that they would like a consumer to test and give an unbiased opinion on again go ahead and shoot me an email and let me know.
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