Are You Preventing Customers from Coming Through Your Door?

When Kate, a friend of mine, was ready to purchase a new car, she and her husband visited several dealerships in the area. At one local lot, the salesperson approached her husband and began his spiel about the car they were looking at. Even after a pointed comment—“You’re talking to the wrong person here”—the salesperson continued to address Kate’s husband.

Needless to say, Kate did not buy her car from that dealership. In fact, since she lives about 3,500 miles away and still felt the need to share that story with me, imagine how many people she’s told in and around her hometown.

Could your sales staff be inadvertently keeping your customers from coming in your retail establishment?

Ask yourself if any of the following situations might be roadblocks in place that are preventing customers, both new and returning, from coming in.

1. You’re not addressing the decision-maker

In Kate’s story above, the sales rep assumed that her husband would want the details about the car, which was obviously the wrong assumption. If a couple comes into your store to purchase something, do your customer sales reps know how to identify who the decision-maker is?

An open mind asking pertinent questions goes a long way to ensuring your staff receives the right message from customers. This should be a fundamental part of your rigorous retail sales training.

2. You’re not going above and beyond

If you’re not giving your customers an exceptional shopping experience, they’ll likely take their business elsewhere. While this might be difficult to do, especially around the holidays when you have seasonal staff on board to help with the gift-buying rush, it’s imperative. People aren’t buying products; they’re buying an experience, human to human, that will bring them back time and again.

Does everyone on your team have a relentless focus on going out of their way to delight your customers?

3. You’re not capturing contact information

To keep customers coming back, you need an avenue to collect either their phone numbers or email addresses so that you can send them personal invitations to upcoming events or sales. When you regularly communicate with your customers, you’ll naturally keep your business in the forefront of their mind. Then the next time they have a need, they’ll automatically think of you. Customers appreciate when you make it incredibly easy to stay in touch and do business with you. A local restaurant puts order forms for their specialty pies at every table so that customers can simply fill out a form and turn it in to their server to order pies during the holidays. Make it easy for everyone.

4. You’re not being seen

Whether your shop is off the beaten path or right on a major thoroughfare, if you don’t give potential customers something to see that grabs their attention, they’ll continue to walk on by. Are you making appropriate use of your display windows? Take the time to discover what your customers like best and fill your display window with those offerings. Not too many items, but a thoughtful, focused display that you change out twice a month. If your shop is on a side street, use additional signage to help people find you.

5. You’re not rewarding your best customers

Everyone knows about the fish bowl where you drop in your business card in the hopes of winning a free lunch. Make it easy for your customers to be rewarded for their loyalty, whether that’s a special offer for your best customers or free gift wrap during the holidays. A popular bistro regularly Tweets that the first 25 customers through their door get the soup of the day free with their meal. Whether your gesture is small or large, it’s the thought that counts and keeps them coming back for more.

The best way to address all of these issues is to have a formal training process for all of your employees. With a highly trained team, your customers are guaranteed to be delighted and amazed.

Make sure your people understand how to reward returning customers and how to collect their contact information. Train every employee how to provide exceptional customer service and to consider how your business can best be seen. When every employee is customer-focused, great things can happen.

Natural Training has proven training methods that are customised to your company needs and goals to help every employee become a brand ambassador, from the groundskeeper to the CEO. Contact us today to learn how to build a customer-centric culture that will keep customers coming back again and again.

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