A Customer Experience List for the Store Staff

Here are twenty signs you're focused on delivering a great retail experience.

1. Rather than greet customers who walk into the story you actually meet them at the front. That's what friends are for right?

2. You personally see it as a challenge when a customer says, "I'm just looking."

3. You're bummed when the customer's "just looking" really means leave me alone. You know most people say it as a natural reaction to other store's bad service.

4. People comment how you're always in a good mood. You and I know better, but we'll keep that our little secret.

5. Customers ask for you by name. Even better, you know theirs when they do.

6. Customers will wait for you to come in to buy something even if you're not on individual commission. While you've told them they don't have to wait for you, you've also told them how much you appreciate the gesture. By the way, never dismiss the customer for doing so.

7. Even on the busiest days you pretty much know which customer has been helped and by which employee.

8. When the store is really busy you always work with multiple customers at once. More often than not the customers who didn't know each other end up buying together like friends do.

9. You always assume the customer will be making a purchase, and you're actually taken back a bit when they don't. Of course you would never show that to the customer. 

10. Since you get to know your customers so well when they say they'll be back to purchase something you know if that's really the case or not.

11. You're surprised when a customer returns a product you sold since you take such pride in matching customers up with the right product.

12. You know that an apology without some type of action is unlikely to make things better for the customer.

13. You enjoy the challenge of an upset customer. Sure most people on the team would rather chew glass than deal with that customer walking in that looks loaded for bear, but for some strange reason you actually enjoy it.

14. You work with a customer the same way if the president of the company is watching or you're alone on the floor.

15. Some people might think you're really competitive, but really you just love to win every single sales contest. Oh wait, you are competitive.

16. You're happy to jump in and help your colleague make a sale, but you'd never considering interrupting them unless it was an emergency.

17. You welcome feedback from your manager and colleague since you're always out to improve.

18. You're always checking to see how your sales, ADS, and UPTs are compared to your colleagues.

19. Nothing makes you happier than to see your customer happy.

20. Even if you don't do all of these things every single time, you keep striving to do so.

21. You go above and beyond for your customer whenever you can.

As a retailer I appreciate what you do. As a consumer, I love what you do. Thank you.

                   - Doug & Matt

Comments

[Joanne]

I'm new to your blog, but we've been getting your e-mails and appreciate your insights. I have not noticed, in my short tenure with the e-mails, any mention of vision and mission with your experience model. We made it our mission back in 1986 to "deliver a unique experience while shopping" at our Village in Lancaster County, PA. The experience was the important part of that mission and we all went about defining it for ourselves, within certain boundaries, over the next number of years. But the mission was driving our intention of delivering that experience. You have lots of great definitions - what's driving people to deliver it?

[Doug Fleener]

Hi Joanne and thanks for your insight and question.

One of the challenges of writing about the customer experience in both a Daily newsletter and blog is the wide variety of retailers.

Many of these retailers are just like your company that see the customer experience as the foundation of what they do, and others who have a more traditional customer service approach. So when I share these experience drivers I'm hoping that it fits in with the mission of the company, or at the very least into the personal values of the reader.

Some companies see the experience as a strategy, and others as a mission. I don't think one is right and one is wrong, but rather just perspective. In the long-run what I see as important is that companies focus on the customer they serve rather than the products they sell.

The one area I see some companies fall short is that their mission is more aspirational that reality. I always like to remind people that the store experience isn't what we say it is, but rather what the customer says it is. So employees have to be 100% bought in to delivering a memorable experience.

From what I've heard and read about your company it is truly a great experience.

Thanks again.

Doug

[retail mystery shopper]

I found this article very interesting and extremely helpful. I just sarted in retail. I can relate to some of the things you were saying about customers and our reactions. I just hope I can become a great retail saleswoman in the future. Thank you so much.

[mystery shopper]

What an excellent article. This article has enlighten me and broaden my horizons on how to be the best in retail. This has really motivated me to do better at my job. Thanks.