As a retail manager, can you really afford to lose even a single customer in this hyper-competitive economy? These days, most customers are just itching to find a reason not to come back to your store. Yes, price is important. But so is customer service. If you’re looking for reasons why customers are starting to shun your store, you’ll have to take a long, hard look at exactly how your staff is “connecting” and responding to their needs.
Let’s start with the attitude your employees may be projecting toward your customers. If you’ve met with your most troublesome employees, taken corrective action/training and they still have an attitude problem, you’ll have to replace them. There are plenty of eager applicants willing to take their place. Remember, customers don’t give second chances. And they won’t be shy about the service they received, turning friends, family and business associates away from your store. Not to mention the “bad press” you’ll get from all their online tweets and blogs.
This brings us to the passion (or lack of it) your employees bring to the job. Scott Merrick, Training Account Manager at Signature Worldwide suggests that you hire for talent and passion, then train for skills. While most job applicants will tell you what you want to hear—that they love meeting and working with people—ask them how they recently resolved a real customer problem. “If they can’t tell you, they haven’t done it,” says Merrick.
Another reason your customers may be crossing over to your competition is your poor handling of complaints. Here, Merrick advises managers to be proactive and timely. “Never make your customers ask for a solution. And don’t make them wait for the solution,” says Merrick. He suggests that employees be trained to listen, reassure and “own” the problem. What’s more, a solution should be offered on the spot, not later after the customer leaves. When customers are screaming in your employee’s face, remind him or her that the customer is not angry at them, but the situation. The employee is simply a “venting wall” and the person the customer is looking to for a solution.
Finally, there's social media. If you’re not using it correctly, your customers will start to ignore you. The old days of resolving customer service issues by phone can be a real turn off to customers. Typically, when customers call an 800-number, they’re forced to navigate through an endless, automated screening system, which eventually connects them to an agent in an overseas call center. These agents may have poor language skills and be even further removed from the problem.
Smart retail companies are letting customers tweet their grievances and providing instant feedback. The trouble is, many retailers are ignoring this valuable customer service conduit. A recent white paper by LiveOps revealed that 60 percent of companies don't respond to customers via social media, even when asked a direct question. It’s important to let potential customers see how you respond to both loyal and unhappy customers.
The bottom line: If you want your retail customers to keep coming back, you’ll need to be proactive in anticipating and responding to their needs.
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