 |
 |
 |
           |
 |
 |
 |
|
 |
 |
|
|
|
 |
How to Walk the Floor and Talk to Customers
This may seem a strange topic to introduce. Yet, it is the most under-used skill by many retail managers, but one of the most important roles in their supervision. 1. You Are the Maitre of Your Business Your role is take that of a maitre d'hotel. You should meet your guests (customers), welcome them and ensure they leave with a positive feeling about your business. You should set aside at least one hour a day to walk the store and talk to customers. 2. Overcoming Embarrassment Many owners will not walk the floor and talk to customers because they get embarrassed starting a conversation. If this applies to you, then take out a sample of products and ask customers to try them. This always starts a conversation and then you can ask them what they think about your store. 3. Clean the Tables An alternative approach is to clean the tables in a restaurant or work on bag filling at the checkout. These are ideal locations to start a conversation and really find out what customers are thinking about your store. 4. Walking The Floor Should Be Done Openly When walking the floor introduce yourself to the customer as the owner. Get them to provide you with ideas on how they believe you could improve the service to your customers. 5. Vary The Time Of Day You Walk The Store It used to be traditional for owners to walk the store at opening time. This is still a strong tradition in Japan where it still is a very formal arrangement. You will gain more from varying the time of day that you actually walk around. This will enable you to meet different customers and see your team and store at different activity points. 6. How Much Time Should You Spend On The Floor Some of the leading retailers spend as much as 20% of their time walking the store. They also believe this is the most important and enjoyable part of their working week. 7. Feed Back The Ideas Make sure you feed back comments to your team. Remember, praise in public, reprimand in private. Your team will be interested in your comment. Make sure they are aware of why your walking the floor. Make sure you talk to them as you walk the floor. This will relax them and make them feel your part of their team. Management Memo A message from McDonald's One day while on his way back to the office from an important lunch in the best restaurant in town, Ray Kroc, owner of the McDonald's chain in the United States, asked his driver to pass through a few McDonald's car parks. In one he spotted papers caught up in shrubs along the outer fence. He immediately went to the nearest pay phone, called his office to get the name of the manager, then called the manager to offer to help him pick up the offending rubbish. Both the owner of the McDonald's chain in his expensive business suit and the young manager met in the carpark and got down on their hands and knees to pick up the paper. As managers we are frequently more interested in the activity inside our business premises than in the building's outside appearance. The appearance of your building and it's surrounds is at the front line of your organisation's public image - as Ray Kroc was well aware. About The Author John Stanley is a conference speaker and retail consultant with over 20 years experience in 15 countries. He regularly contributes to retail magazines around the world and has authored several successful marketing and retail books including the best seller Just About Everything a Retail Manager Needs to Know. Visit www.johnstanley.cc
MORE RESOURCES:
Customer-Service - Google News |
|
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
Transforming Disgruntled Customers into Your Biggest Advocates "I am writing to complain about the widget I bought from your site the other day."Sell anything and eventually you will be on the receiving end of a sentence like this. A White Paper: Profiting with Kindness In 2002, there wasn't much interest for Kindness in business, and some business people would question, "What does kindness have to do with business, anyway?" Is this a for real question or just to prove a point? Or perhaps they couldn't figure out what being kind really had to do with business. Or perhaps the word was a jargon word, an unfamiliar language. 6 Reasons Why Complaining Customers are Golden With Some Tips on How to RespondTt has probably happened to you if you own your own online business. You get an email or even a phone call from someone who is upset or unhappy with this or that about your business. Poor Customer Service - Are Your Customers Driving Away Other Customers Every customer you have is a word-of-mouth advertiser for you. Unfortunately 90% of this free advertising is negative. 11 Moments of Truth These moments come when a customer or client?1. Hears someone else praise you or your work. Difficult Customers - Theres No Such Thing A couple of years ago I had a call from a Customer Service Manager working in the paper industry. He wanted me to run a seminar for his team, on "How to Deal with Difficult Customers". Moments That Matter Many years ago, I was a first year apprentice assigned the task of pressure washing a set of condensing coils on the roof of a grocery store on Capital Hill in Seattle, an upscale part of town.It was a 90-degree day, in late August. If Everyone Thinks They Give Good Service, Why Do We As Customers Think Its Poor! First of all let's look at what customer service is all about.If you go into a shop and talk to anyone who works there you expect to be treated with respect, not sold to and to have en enjoyable experience. Wholesale Buyers Versus Retail Customers Are wholesale buyers and retail customers really different? Frankly, there are two answers to this question: yes and no. Yes, because they are different from the buyers and those selling to buyers' point of view and no, because the principles that apply are the same for both types of buying. The Marvelous World of Metaphors Recognize metaphors from every angle and round up more insight into your own innovation. Nobody can do it better than you can!A metaphor is a figure of speech in which a word or phrase that means one thing is used to describe an object or ideas to which it is not literally applicable -- a ship is said to plow the sea. Tips for Curing Bad Customer Service Bad customer service is everywhere these days - unmanned front desks, surly servers, clueless staff, employees talking on the phone, and managers who refuse to acknowledge a customer. It's no longer an exception . Stand Out in Business the Write Way When was the last time you received a handwritten note from a business associate? It may be that it was too long ago for you to remember. On the other hand, if you have gotten one lately, you know exactly who sent it and when. Whats For Lunch? As an entrepreneur, I'm always intrigued by small businesses, home-based or not, that exceed the expectations of their customers in a big way.Let me tell you about one of them. How Not to Get Stiffed, Improving Your Collection Procedures Some businesses have slow paying customers or past due balances because they didn't "train" their customers in the beginning.It is important that your customers know your credit policy and/or terms of payment, BEFORE they become a customer. Minimize The Pain of Check Recovery $350 million in bad checks are written each and every week. That fact alone makes bad checks a serious problem for American businesses. Customer Service Tips - Is Your Business A Leaky Bucket? Customer service and customer service training are vital for any business.But, is your business a leaky bucket?This is a question I always ask small business owners who attend my marketing seminars. One of the Secrets of a Great Customer Experience A few weeks ago we conducted our annual "Customer Experience Study Tour" in London England. This is where we take delegates to visit a number of leading Customer Experience companies for a behind-the-scenes look at how they approach the task of building a great Customer Experience. Customer Service and Call Center Outsourcing, Whats The Buzz? The buzz is all about customer service and call center outsourcing, also known as BPO (Business Process Outsourcing). According to Gartner, the outsourcing market in Europe has grown with over 6%, BPO with 10%. Turning Customer Mistakes Into Raving Fans When you make a mistake with a customer, should you write them off as lost -- never to return again?Nope. There have been numerous studies which show that a customer who has had a problem and gotten it resolved in a timely manner and to their satisfaction is a more loyal customer than one who has never had a problem. It Is All About Customer Service! In this day of terrible customer service, it should come as no surprise that serving your customers, also known as visitors to your web site, must be a top priority. Forget about return on your investment, how your site looks, keywords, meta tags, and the like.
|
 |