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Small Stores Trump Big-Box Stores in Service
Why are some small specialty stores having their best year ever? Because more consumers than ever are putting an emphasis on customer service to determine where they do their shopping. The smaller stores recognize that they may not be able to beat the larger stores in price, but they can more than make up for the difference with the service they provide. Younger adults are now more than twice as likely to choose stores based on service. This shows that delivering excellent customer service is more important than ever before and shows no signs of fading into the background.
There is tremendous competition based on prices, so the smart retailers are focused on providing an experience, not just a deal. The Mom and Pop stores, small retailers, and specialty stores are finding their niche in delivering something that the big box stores just aren’t providing – an enjoyable shopping experience that engages the shopper.
Readers of this blog know that there are three ways to differentiate yourself in today’s market:
- Price
- Product
- Service
Service is the easiest, cheapest, and provides the largest return on investment and effort.
Read what a small retailer in Kalamazoo, Michigan has to say about providing a unique shopping experience that sets them apart from the larger stores.
“Certainly there is tremendous competition,” said Vicky Kettner of Downtown Kalamazoo Incorporated . They’ve gone to battle for your buck, placing billboards miles from downtown and right on the front lines of its big box competitors.
Their idea is to sell a holiday experience that consumers say is lacking in modern retail.
“When someone is looking for a relaxed environment, where experience is important, customer service is important and selection is important for the uniqueness of things, then we have a good story to tell,” she said.
To really provide a unique experience to increase your profits and loyal customer base, you’ll find all of the strategies and techniques right here at http://www.kristinaevey.com/products/5-steps-to-more-loyal-customers/
Huddles Pay Off BIG in Football and Customer Satisfaction
Successful customer service and football. What do they have in common? They both rely heavily on huddles. Think about it. In football, the huddle is when the play and strategy is discussed. It’s when they make sure that everyone has what they need to make the play and score the touchdown.
Customer Service Huddles Increase Customer Satisfaction
The exact same thing goes down in a huddle at the office. The manager, supervisor, or team leader gathers everyone for just a short time and makes sure that everyone knows what is needed to make that day go well for both the customers and the company.
The leader needs to make sure that everyone knows what is expected of them. All team members must understand their role in the big picture and needs to speak up if they need help or assistance.
It’s during the huddle that the day is mapped out and challenges are prepared for.
I strongly advise you to have 5-7 minute huddles DAILY with your teams. This should be part of the DNA of your business, team, or office. The huddles need to happen daily and consistently. As a leader, you need to ensure that they be short in duration and full of relevant information. They should cover what is being worked on, appointments for the day, any current customer issues, anything that is required or needed for a project to be completed, and requests for information and assistance.
Remember, prepare your team for success by giving them a game plan for the day. Find out what is needed, what should happen, what to do in case the unexpected happens, offer assistance to those who may need it, keep those working on projects accountable. Find out about the challenges facing your team. Be brought up to speed on customer issues and internal department issues. With huddles, these should essentially act as a game plan for the day.
Using huddles in the workplace makes everyone a winner.
Celebrate and Share Your Customer Service Efforts – with Worms
Customer service and satisfaction consultants often advise clients to share and celebrate our successes. It’s wonderful when someone on our team has done something far above and beyond their responsibilities to deliver excellent service for a customer. I advise clients to do this on a regular basis during every staff meeting.
By sharing successes, it opens up the creativity of the other team members as to how to surprise and delight their customers. Many of us stumble in our efforts to come up with a new idea, so I highly recommend repeating what someone else has done successfully. Call it copying, but if it works in the best interest of the customer, everyone wins.
The challenge comes when we have a few team members who are not used to recognizing their strengths or something that they’ve done well. While a herculean effort always makes for a good story, it is usually the smallest efforts and gestures made under the radar or behind the scenes that are most appreciated by the customer. So when we have those instances when no one can think of something that went well, I like to inject a little bit of fun.
“The Gummy Worm Award”
The Gummy Worm Award promotes Excellent Customer Service
When someone can’t think of something that they did well for a customer, give them an award of a bag of sour gummy worms. No one will want to have that bag of gummy worms for long, so the next meeting, they will most likely have more than one example of something they did well for a customer.
This is all in good fun, but reinforces the fact that we all need to recognize that simply by doing our jobs well, we make a difference in the minds of our customers. It doesn’t even need to be something directly job related. It could be that you made a phone call to your customer’s next appointment and informed them that the customer is on their way. It could be that you made an unscheduled proactive phone call to a customer about an issue they’ve been dealing with. Maybe you sent your customer an article that caught your attention because it relates to their industry.
I hope you get the point here. The above examples are small acts that make a big difference to a customer. None of them may seem monumental, but any one of them could be the difference that makes the difference to the customer and gets them to return to your business or renew their account with you. We need to reinforce to our teams that the small things count and will keep the focus on the positives, not the negatives that arise from time to time.
By having your teams share what has worked for them, it gets them to recognize what they do well, gives examples to others to follow, and keeps the focus on the positive aspects of customer service and the difference it makes to our current customers. When they try some of the strategies that have worked for their peers, their level of customer service improves, as does their feeling of empowerment and ownership in the company overall.
I’d love to hear your comments and strategies you’ve found useful in getting your teams to recognize their efforts.
Hire Right – Crucial for Customer Service and Satisfaction
Hiring the right people is the single most important factor in delivering the best customer service. In this video, I explain why and what you need to take into consideration……..
How has your hiring process helped or hindered the service your company delivers?
Empathy Counts with Upset Customers
Managing upset customers revolves around one thing – empathy. Instead of offering solutions first, identify with your customer and recognize that they are upset about the inconvenience and hassle in fixing the issue much more so than the issue itself.
Also, remember that the issue itself does not define you or your company, the way you respond to it does. Watch this short video for a real life example taken from a client meeting earlier today…..
