Five Things Your Staff Needs to Know

– Doug Fleener

1. 1. It is okay to admit to your customer that you made a mistake. We all make mistakes. Most of us hate to admit that fact to customers. Maybe we said we would ship something out and we didn’t, or said something about a product to only discover we were mistaken. Customers will almost always forgive you for a mistake if you own up to it. They’ll rarely forgive you if you don’t admit to an error or try to cover it up.
2. Never lie to a customer. Sounds obvious, doesn’t it? You’d be surprised (I hope) how many retail associates think they can be fuzzy with the truth but don’t think of themselves as lying. The problem with this is that if something is not the truth, it’s a lie. Never say to a customer “I don’t know if we’ll get any more at this price” or “This is the last one and I think a customer is coming back for it later so if you want it you better buy it now” unless it is the truth. It’s an easy habit to get into, but it’s one that will cost you more than sales, it will cost you customers.
3. One of the smartest things you can say in retail is “I’m sorry.” I’ve written before that I used to think saying you were sorry meant you were admitting you were wrong (Not that there’s anything wrong with that). It doesn’t. It means you’re expressing regret and sympathy. Most unhappy customer issues can be resolved by saying you’re sorry.
4. Always first tell a customer what you can do. Don’t dwell on what you can’t do. How many times have you, as a shopper, returned an item or had another issue at a store and the first thing someone told you was what you can’t do. I once went to a store to exchange a shirt and before I could even say anything the employee told me that I couldn’t get a refund. I didn’t even want a refund. But after being spoken to like that I really didn’t want to keep doing business at that store, either.
5. We should do whatever we can within reason to keep a customer. Lately I’ve been talking with clients whose every customer’s visit is the visit of a lifetime. Each time a customer comes in the store we need to do everything we can to ensure we keep that customer for a lifetime. When they’re there to make a purchase we want it to be such a great experience that we keep them for a lifetime. When they have a problem or are unhappy we should do whatever we can to keep them for a lifetime. Here’s a good thing to remember; it might even make a good sign for the backroom. We don’t make or save a sale; we make and save a customer.