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From the Editor: Are You Greeting Customers as Nice as You Think?

Recently I had the pleasure of visiting a variety of indie owned stores in a nearby community of my hometown. It was a Saturday morning, and the stores were beginning to get busy as I started weaving in and out of them. While I was thrilled to see customers shopping their local businesses, what I wasn’t thrilled about was the lack of customer service that welcomed these guests.

When I walk into a store, I instinctively look upward and towards whatever living body I see in the space. Typically, this means I locate a sales associate – or even the store owner – standing or sitting behind their cash wrap. Often this means I find someone engaging with a customer, and rarely I look around to find no one (stock room visit maybe?). But unfortunately, when I do find someone, 9/10 times they don’t even say hello.

“Hello” is a rather simple word – yet a powerful one. It’s quick, it’s friendly and it introduces an understanding of “I see you.” To a customer, this simple understanding goes well beyond the simplicity of the word “hello”. Instead, it opens up the understanding that they are being given attention and if needed or wanted, they are more likely to get attention from that particular retailer. Yet despite this very simple word, too many retailers are neglecting the power of “hello” in their store communication. Now I could go on and on and on… you get the idea… about what more could be said beyond “hello”, but let’s take some baby steps here.

If you’re the retailer – the owner, the face of your business, the boss – say hello to everyone. No exceptions. We know you are busy, but is this really that hard? Look up from what you’re doing and smile, say “hello” and then let the natural interaction of customer / store associate take place. Sure, I’d love to see you standing up and in front of your cash wrap any and every time someone is in your store, but again, baby steps.

If you’re the retailer and have a team underneath you – whether full time, part time or even an intern – train them on how you expect them to greet your customers. They are your face of your business, which means they are helping to shape your store reputation. Is how they greet your customers meeting your expectations? If you don’t even know how they are greeting your customers, consider having some friends / family / etc. act as mystery shoppers for you to find out.

Here’s the point I am trying to make… Often in retail, we get so focused on the big picture of our stores that we neglect the little things that can make huge impacts, as well. This is just my friendly little reminder to not let this happen, and I encourage you to say “hello” like you mean it. It’s this simple act that will keep customers returning and feeling welcomed – or on the flip-side  the lack of a warm welcome to your store could be the reason a customer never visits again. Which side would you like your store to be on?

As always, I share my thoughts with nothing but love and respect for the small biz merchants out there. Wishing you each much success!

Sincerely,

 

Nicole Leinbach Reyhle 

Founder & Editorial Director 

Retail Minded 


Comments

  • Mary Petillo
    April 25, 2013

    I totally agree! I found that following “Hello” a minute later with “Please let me know if I can answer any questions for you” worked well. Often the customer turned to me with the word “No” on their lips because they weren’t looking for anything in particular but were expecting me to say “May I help you find something?” Instead, they ended up saying thank you to me in response to my offer to help with questions.
    This way if they are looking for a special item they will let me know immediately and I can source that item. If they are “just looking”, sooner or later they will look at an product label and ask me a question, opening the door for me to now potentially sell them something. However, the customer felt in control of the exchange.
    Sadly, I have had salespeople so used to the negative answer to the “help finding something” questions that they approach me after “Hello” with the phrase, “just looking today?” Really? It would have been better if they stopped at Hello.

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