Bricks and Mortar Retail How Can We Drive A Positive Customer Experience?
Louise Lally Training Consultant
Retail Learning and Development Consultant | Retail Expert | ?? Tedx Speaker | Retail Audits
Insight leads to action so what action are you going to take today? Let me tell you what action I want to take......
Many retailers are opening their doors this week and next week. They are anticipating many eager shoppers to be out and about and looking forward to greeting them at stores. All are coming into a new environment whereby many have adapted selling techniques and how to service customers to fit around the new social distancing that is now part of our new normal day to day life.
So how have we trained our teams to adapt in stores? We all have carried out the health and safety training and given support through the fantastic EAP programs out there but how have we redesigned our customer service proposition with our store teams.
How can we still have that customer engagement and great service?
For me this starts outside the store.
Having a nominated colleague outside the store informing customers of wait times and if they wish to get a cup of coffee and pop back into the store or if the queue is large then why not take the opportunity to serve your customer by taking a list of there order and either have it ready for them when they come to the top of the queue or taking there phone number and calling them when the queue is quieter and giving them that VIP feel of customer service.
NOW LETS TAKE IT A STEP FURTHER AGAIN.....
Why not use this time to get chatting to your customers about what they love about your store its products and services use this time to build up a rapport with them. Make waiting in a queue in an experience that your customers will never forget. MAKE IT FUN MAKE IT ENGAGING who said it needed to be boring? Do you have a customer loyalty program you can sign them up to or a database you can enter them into? Many many more things we can offer.
So the morale of this story is simply.....
There is so many ways retailers can make positive experiences with there internal and external clients by having a culture that empowers your team to drive innovation and customer service at the forefront you will enable your business to always be proactive and not reactive in driving your business forward.
The Orchard, Celbridge, County Kildare
4 年Love this , made me rethink a few things and I will adapt immediately tomorrow , thanks for posting ??
Head of Membership Engagement at Retail Excellence Ireland
4 年Great read Louise
Sharing wisdom and experience in Marine/Hospitality/Retail/NGO -SME's. Public & Private Sectors/ Family Run Businesses to Large Organisations. - Scale up - Compliance - Funding - Training
4 年Great post Louise . Always include your customers .. simple but true .
Performance Coach, Runner. Speaker. Facilitator.
4 年Brilliant Louise. Reconnecting with customers and building rapport. Engaging and listening.
EMCC Accredited Team & 1:1 Coaching Programs. TEAM COACHING that Supports Teams to be more Effective, Accountable & Future Focused . ?? + Reviews below ?? ??Speaker for Your Event Results Driven Coaching ??
4 年Great Article Louise and such a valid observation ... Retailers rarely get the opportunity for their customers to stand still and to have a captive audience in a queue is a great way of turning what could potentially be a negative ?? experience into a positive ??one... Engagement is key and there are so many options that can now be looked at in regards to talking to your customers in a new and improved way and by the time they get inside the premises they have already had a positive Customer Journey ... There are so many options that Retailers could now be looking at in regards to how to engage with this new captive Audience ... ? Data Capture | Get the iPad out and speak to your customers ? Brand Awareness | Talk about your Brand ? possible Deals you have in-store | Inform ? Product Demos | Interact and engage ? Entertainment ?? | give something Back The list is endless ... I was B&Q on Sunday and the guy managing the Queue was Friendly , informative and more important he was charismatic and engaging . I watched him speak to the people in the line informing them of wait times etc and I loved his professional manner , well done B&Q Newry ... Louise Lally CIPD MIITD you will have given a lot of people food for thought ??