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Audit Your Customer Service Standards
So much is said in retailing
about customer service but not enough is actually done about it. The
goal of every retailer should be to deliver truly outstanding customer
service but management in most stores – even the major chains, have no
idea about the level of service they’re providing to their customers.
Customers will only come back to a retail outlet if they get good
service. To put it another way, poor service is a guarantee you’ll lose
customers. Since it takes about five times as much effort to get a new
customer as it does to retain one it’s well worth the investment it
takes to raise your standards of customer service to the highest
possible level.
Giving outstanding customer service has real economic benefits for
retailers. It means you don’t have to discount heavily to attract new
customers, nor will you have to spend a fortune on advertising.
You need to look closely at the level of customer service your retail
establishment delivers. Don’t look at it from your point of view but put
yourself in the place of customers who don’t know the location of every
product in the store, who don’t know all the details – colors, sizes,
etc. of products you sell, and who don’t know the sales team on a first
name basis.
Remember too that customer service is about your whole store. It’s about
the people, the premises and the total impression that customers
receive.
Your People
Start by taking a good look at your team members. Do they all have a
real customer service focus? If a customer is ignored or treated with
indifference, perhaps even rudeness, chances are you’ll never hear about
it. They’ll just go away and never come back.
Finding the right people for your sales team is the best way to deliver
outstanding customer service. It’s up to you to select those with good
people skills, and some just don’t have them.
No matter how smart or polished a person is, if they can’t instantly
relate to your customers they should not be the interface between your
store and the public.
There is a golden rule about customer service that never changes: The
customer comes first. Remember that and make sure everybody on your
sales team knows it. That really does mean ‘first’ - not after stocking
a shelf or when the phone call’s finished, but absolutely number one
first.
Are customers recognized and offered assistance immediately? Do they
have to come to a counter to get attention or do members of the sales
team go out to them? Watch carefully and see what really happens. If
customers aren’t being treated like the valuable guests they are your
sales will suffer.
Anyone on your sales team that won’t accept this principle doesn’t
belong there. To some degree a less than perfect attitude can be
corrected by training but it’s far better to be selective at the time
you’re choosing sales team members than to try to correct a staffing
mistake later.
It’s worth paying a market research firm to conduct ‘secret shopper’
surveys and get an objective opinion on each key member of the sales
team. The returns on this investment come back immediately.
Your Premises
Next, look at the physical attributes of your premises. It’s an
important part of the customer experience and is another contributor to
customer service.
Ask some people who are representative of your typical customers to take
you through the store and make comments on everything they see that
needs attention. Get their honest opinions of:
▪ Store lighting
▪ Displays
▪ Merchandise selection
▪ Store layout
▪ Colors of walls, carpet, etc.
▪ Appearance of sales personnel
▪ Temperature of the premises
▪ Location
▪ Parking, toilet facilities
You may find that your store’s appearance has become tired or dated. You
may find the facilities aren’t up to the standards of those offered by
your competitors. It’s certain you’ll find something needs fixing that
you weren’t aware of because your customers notice a lot more than you
do.
Your External Contacts
How does your store perform from the outside? That means checking out
your telephone service and your website, if you have one. Your
opportunity to deliver outstanding customer service begins at the first
point of contact between your store and a customer and that’s often an
electronic one.
Do you know how your team handles a customer’s telephone call? They know
your voice, naturally, but if you ask someone to call in with a simple
inquiry about a product you stock you’ll know how a typical customer is
handled.
Ask three or four people to call your store and tell you about their
experiences. You may find some telephone training is needed.
The same goes for that website you spent so much money on. Is it really
customer-friendly? Does it look as good as the competition’s? Does it
work like it’s supposed to? Don’t try and judge for yourself but get
others to take a look at it and get their opinions.
When you’ve seen how your people, your premises and your external
contacts work to deliver customer service, ask yourself the big
question: “Is my customer service outstanding?”
Retailers that don’t answer ‘yes’ to this question need to act
immediately to fix whatever it is that’s holding them back. If you can’t
answer ‘yes’ but your competitors can, where are your customers likely
to go for their next shopping experience?
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