Posts Tagged ‘John Connor’
Four Best Practices for Increasing Customer Loyalty
Monday, January 28th, 2008
The best methods to improve your customer service are practices identified by a national "mystery shopper" company. You can use these tools that were found while performing over 175,000 service, quality, and cleanliness evaluations of businesses all over America.
1.) Solve Small Problems on the Spot: Near my house is a Speedy Stop convenience store, and I stop there a couple times a week for coffee. Last week I was in there, and as I got to the counter and reached for my wallet, I realized that I’d forgotten it! There was a line behind me, I was embarrassed, and all I could think to say was, "I forgot my wallet, I’m here several times a week — can I return with the money?"
The senior-citizen clerk behind the counter picked up my coffee, set it down closer to me, and said, "How about if you just have this one on us?" Instantly I was relieved, thanked her, and went on my way. Two points to make here:
A.) The employee - whose demeanor was that of a kindly aunt - had the presence of mind to see my situation, and help me out of trouble. Business people have become jaded to the word "empowerment", but within sensible limits it is a terrific idea to give employees some authority to solve customers’ problems right on the spot.
B.) It is a smart move to hire seniors for customer contact jobs. While there are always exceptions, seniors who are willing to work in customer service are "people persons" who enjoy customer contact - and the consumer public loves to interact with them. It cost the store pennies to give me that coffee. The results? Well, in addition to solidifying me as a customer, through this tip I’ve just told a lot of people a positive story about the
Everyday convenience store in Oak Hill, Texas. And that "Word-of-Mouth" is the best promotion you can get.
2.) No Robots: When a manager is overly regimented, customer-contact employees can seem "mechanical" in what they say. Give employees two or three options of "scripts" that you want them to use for a given piece of information. This way, they can pick the wording that fits best for them. Also, they can vary what they say, so it’s not so cookie-cutter in delivery.
3.) Suggest Another Helpful Product: The most frequently missed question on the Mystery Shopper reports is whether any suggestive selling was done. Suggesting items helps guests decide on purchases, and is a FREE way to noticeably increase your profits. We believe up-selling should be mandatory, yet - as mentioned above - it is most effective when employees are encouraged to identify their own favorite products, and let them describe them to customers with real enthusiasm.
4.) Smiling: Many front-line employees have trouble with this. Let them know that a smile starts with the eyes. Have them practice raising their eyebrows as a lead-in to a smile. It sounds stupid, but it works. Let them have some goofy fun by watching you do it, and let them tease you (and each other) about it. Laughing about it together will remove any of the "un-cool" negative aspects of smiling.
Implement one of these practices each week for a month. You’ll see the results start to appear before you flip the next page on your calendar.
Tags: best practices, customer loyalty, customer service, Growing Your Business, John Connor, PR
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