Holiday Returns: Three I's with a Smile

– Doug Fleener

A retailer said to me that returns are “just a fact of life” and you have to “grin and bear it.” I agree with him about the importance of the grin but I differ about the need to “bear it.” Virtually all retailers will have a number of returns after Christmas; how the retailer handles those returns can ultimately determine whether December is a good or a GREAT month.

These are three common mistakes retailers make when it comes to holiday returns:

1. They assume the customer wants a refund. Wrong.
2. If the customer doesn't have a receipt, or they have a gift receipt, the retailer assumes that the customer will only spend the amount of the product they're returning. Wrong.
3. They assume that if they can just break even on the few days after Christmas they are doing well. Wrong.

With the proliferation of gift cards, the post-holiday period has become almost as important to a retailers' top line as the weeks leading up to Christmas. These additional sales offer retailers incredible opportunities to add to their overall December. With the right approach to handling post-holiday returns a retailer can not only save sales but create them as well. We recommend that all your staff members know and execute the “Three ‘I’s with a Smile” approach to handling returns.

Intercept all customers before they get to the counter. Greet them with a warm smile, a heartfelt “welcome” and an offer to take the return from them. In most stores associates ignore customers with refunds, or at the very least just point them to the counter. This is not only a big mistake that ends up increasing the amount of returns, but makes the person with a return feel less important than person making a purchase. A store manager I once worked for told me that any retailer can make buying something a good experience for a customer, but it takes a great retailer to do the same with a return or an exchange. Try to engage the customer as close to the door as possible without making them feeling accosted.

Identify why the customer is making a return. Since you are assuming the customer will make an exchange (and quite possibly spend even more money) listen carefully to what they say as you will gain information that will you help your next step be the correct one. One important thing you need to know is whether the person returning the product is the original buyer or received the item as a gift.

Influence the customer by suggesting or recommending products that better meet their needs than the product they are returning. The customer may object to this and state that he/she just wants a refund. With a smile and the information you’ve gained from your identify step you can easily try to overcome the objection by stating what you've learned from them. I think we owe to the customer and ourselves to always try and overcome at least one refund objection. This can save a retailer thousands of dollars in returns. If the customer objects again then of course you escort them to the counter and get their return handled cheerfully and efficiently.

My store manager told me, “You know, any retailer can make buying something a good experience for a customer, but it takes a great retailer to do the same with a return or an exchange.” The same can be said for sales over the next few weeks. Deliver “Three ‘I’s with a Smile” and you’ll maximize every single customer opportunity.