Tag Archive for: customer engagement
Remember when we were talking about Customer Service Fluidity? One of the biggest elements of being fluid in customers service is adapting to the customer or rather Customer Service Adaptability.
Each customer is an individual. There’s this thing called ‘individuality’ that we need to take note of.
Humans are creature that adapt to environments. This is simply the way of the world. As nature is more powerful than us. In our world – Customer Service – the customer is all powerful. They make or [can] break your business. Adapting to customers allows you the power to control the situation, but without taking the power away from the customer. Customer Service Adaptability makes them feel served and appreciated. That’s the point isn’t it?
Also read this article: Retail Customer Service: Reality of Retail Industry
Let’s look at a clip from the series called “The Two Ronnies.” Here we will see a foreign customer entering the store. He then tries to purchase items on his shopping list. However, the customer has a very different (or rather unique) way of pronouncing words. The store keeper, as most of us would – speaking any language – tries to correct the speaker. Let’s take a look at what happens…
Well that was a good laugh!
Adaptability
Let’s analyse what happen in that short clip. The first thing the shop keeper (or Owner) tried to do was to send the customer away. Without understanding the customer fully. That’s closing the door on an opportunity. But of course, in this case the customer said something that would sound like “mouse.” Who would think that he was looking “mousse.” Eventually the shop keeper comes to understand what the customer is looking for. However, can’t help but try to correct the customer on the pronunciation.
The moment the customer takes his money away, the shop keeper gives in. Allowing the customer to pronounce the word however he wants to say it. This happens again when the customer asks for Tomato Puree. The scene brazenly shows that customers will take their money away if they feel that they are not understood or not treated right.
What’s interesting though, is that the customer will give you the chance to try to understand them. A customer that feels that he/she is not understood will first try to be understood. Its human nature.
A bonus here is that we see the Shop keeper’s wife entering the scenario and how quickly she adapts to the customer’s quirky pronunciation.
Basically, your level of adaptability to your customer will give you more opportunities. Most companies do this by finding out what a majority of their targeted demographic think like. That information will give you the insight into how to adapt to your customers and dealing with possible scenarios that will arise.
Customer Service Adaptability will allow for better Customer Service Fluidity.
Talking of insights
That’s one thing we do here at AQ. We look for Insights that would make a customer’s experiences more pleasing or had made it unsatisfactory. To know more on these Insights that we often look out for, check out our interview with our Insights Manager. Yes, we have an Insights Manager, that’s how much we want to provide quality service.
Do let us know on our social media pages, whether you had an experience where you felt that a customer service staff adapted to you well and made you feel comfortable and appreciated, or otherwise.
Every now and then someone walks into a store who does not want your attention. They’re not interested in your normal customer service tactics and skills; while they might appreciate all your efforts, they’ve no need of them. This is what we call a “Hands-Off Customer” in the sense that the customer service is not hands-on as it is with all the other stereotypes in this series.
Who is the Hands-off Customer & how to spot one…
The hands-off Customer can be a regular, but this isn’t necessarily the case. These are the people who come in knowing exactly what they’re looking for, probably where to find it in-store, and don’t want to be fussed or fluttered over. They’re on a mission and they’ve done the research; in sales-speak we might say that they are 90% of the way through the buyer journey and are now simply ready to grab what they need and pay.
It is essential for sales staff to learn to recognize a hands-off customer as soon as they’re greeted. The easiest way, of course, is to take a hint. When a customer says ‘no, thanks, I know I need’, it’s a good sign that they don’t need any staff hovering over them. As with the other types of customers that might walk into the store, learning to spot these hands-off customers becomes easier with time.
Correctly Identified a Hands-Off Customer, now what?
Having established that one of these types of customers isn’t open to the normal customer service tactics does not mean that they should not be serviced at all. After all, they’re still a customer and deserve to have the same great experience that all people who walk into the store get.
How then do we service customers who don’t want to be serviced? The trick lies in adapting your style. Just because a customer says they’re ‘fine’ and ‘don’t need help, thank you’ does not mean that staff has permission to neglect this customer. Rather than hovering, or actively up- or cross-selling items, staff might keep a vigilant – albeit distant – eye on this hands-off customer. Check to see if they do indeed find what they’re after. It’s always possible, after all, that they can’t find the exact thing they wanted even though they know that the store carries the product. The idea is to be helpful when needed; the customer is already inspired, that part of the sales trick is done but it’s important to keep them inspired.
When the customer has found the item they’re looking for and is at the cashier ready to pay, a small amount of customer servicing can be accomplished. A quick “did you find everything you were looking for?” will generate the correct experience – staff let them be, but they are always aware of the customer’s status and needs.
Don’t forget to say goodbye!
After the purchase has been made, the farewell is equally important. Don’t let the customer think that they’ve been dismissed simply because they didn’t ask for help. Make them aware of the fact that staff was aware of them. No one truly wants to be ignored – left alone? Maybe, ignored? Never.
What’s left to say…
Even though a hands-off customer doesn’t need help doesn’t mean that they should be dismissed out of hand. What’s more, the same customer coming back might not be a hands-off customer; the next time they might need some real customer service. Be ready for them.
Essentially, the rule of thumb is as follows: No customer should be ignored, all customers should be serviced to some degree.
One of the previous articles published concluded that it is possible to turn window shoppers into customers. It didn’t go into the how’s or the why’s, but it did explain the who’s. Window shoppers have a variety of reasons why they are not ready – or willing – to purchase. Determining their openness to a sales pitch – or indeed, further conversation – is the primary step to establishing whether or not they can be turned into potential customers. Once that has been determined, the question is then: how?
How to convert a window shopper into a customer
In essence, any person who walks into a store is a potential customer. It is the purpose of the customer service representative to close the deal.
This begins and ends with one term: connect.
Connect
Connect is the first stage in any customer journey. It involves greeting customers, engaging them, and building a rapport with them from the moment that they walk into the store. It is sales staff’s job to connect with potential customers. This is true for every type of customer that walks into a store, be they a regular, an unpleasable customer, or a window shopper.
As we have discovered, most people are willing to wait up to 2 minutes before they are offered assistance. Essentially, that means staff has 2 minutes to establish a conversation with customers the moment they walk in.
How to Connect
One of the first things that staff needs to learn is how to not give a prospective customer the option of shutting down the conversation straight away. This mainly means not asking the ‘Can I help you?’ question. Why? Because this is a closed question, all the window shopper has to do is say ‘No’ and that’s it. Not the best way to start a conversation.
Instead, train staff to ask open questions that enable the shopper to answer in more detail:
- “Hi there, have you been here before?” leads to “Let me show you around!” or “Welcome back, let me show you our new arrivals!”
- “Welcome to [insert store name here], how are you?” opens the conversation to further small talk.
- “Hi, I noticed you looking at [insert products here]…” this sort of conversation starter allows for staff to talk about product benefits and features, opening the conversation even further and hopefully sparking interest in the window shopper.
Developing these types of conversational tactics will also impact the sales pitch. Pitching becomes easier when staff has established a conversation with a customer. Things can go wrong at any stage in a conversation, however, and it’s important for staff to realize how to make their pitches. If the conversation has been about purple socks, for example, it makes little sense to suddenly start talking about the specials on tennis rackets. Common sense rules supreme: it’s vital to adjust the sales script to the customer.
Another thing that shouldn’t be forgotten is your unique selling point (USP). Giving customers, window shoppers or otherwise, a reason why they should make their purchase with your business and not the competition is the best way to convert them. It’s not always easy to put your USP into words, but it’s important to do so.
So, what makes window shoppers different from other conversions?
Nothing. The big secret to converting window shoppers into customers is to treat them like any other customer that walks in. All the tricks of the trade that staff learn when talking with customers, closing deals with regulars, can and should be applied to window shoppers – after all, you won’t know if they’ll become customers unless you try it out, and at the end of the day, isn’t that they point?
