This year, I felt hope blossom for a more joyous season when I encountered some exemplary examples of great customer service during this busy holiday season. I've already admitted, as a Snob, I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE being catered to, so these experiences put the holly back into my jolly.
So, if you are in the retail game, and you want to draw the shopping dollars of snoblettes everywhere, take heed to this advice . . .
1. Create a Customer-Centric Experience
I was recently at a charming retail client of mine, Deborah's Gracious Gifts, at closing time to work on their POS. It was about 5 minutes after closing time when a customer tried the door. The registers were already shut down for the night, and the salesperson was just waiting on a backup to run.
I have seen this situation before. In fact, I have been that customer, at times when I was 5 minutes before closing time. Most often this story ends with a "Sorry we are closed." if there is any acknowledgement at all.
Not in this case. The salesperson went to the door, opened it and invited the customer in. Shocking! Now, the customer realized that the shop was closed, but had a VERY specific gift in mind, and luckily it was in stock. Surely, the salesperson, with her cash register closed, would make arrangements for the customer to come back? Not even, she went out of her way to do a manual transaction (unheard of in this retail day and time!), even though it meant more work on her part. While she was writing up the sale, she invited the customer to browse around, and was rewarded by having items added to a nice-sized retail ticket.
Knowing this retailer, and having seen the staff at work many times, I can tell you....this was not an isolated case, but rather a culture of customer-centric retailing. Other stores should take note - this is how you keep customers coming back!
2. Going Postal
I mean this in a positive way. This past month, on 3 separate occasions, I was delighted at the warm & friendly service at my local post office.
For the most striking example, I went to send a letter overnight. The postal employee let me know that they could not guarantee overnight for the region of delivery intended. Then, he went on further to fully discuss my options, and made recommendations for my need and budget, not in a know-it-all kind of way, but rather in a manner that indicated that he wanted to help me. He save me a good bit of money, and got me delivery in the best time possible. During the process, we laughed and exchanged friendly personal comments which made me leave with a smile. From the POST OFFICE. What???
3. Service Abounds at the Wal-Mart???
Yes, you read that correctly. Seriously.
I recently participated in a charitable shopping excursion to purchase gifts for 60 area teens who were otherwise unlikely to receive any gifts this year. Imagine, many shopping carts and five hours at the local Wal-Mart. Sound like fun? It didn't to me either, but I've got to do something to get check marks on Santa's good list, right?
As we were shopping, several store associates decided to lend a hand in trying to pick out outfits and gifts, once they realized what we were trying to do. This was invaluable, as they knew the departments and where the best deals were located to make our dollars stretch. They were clearly having fun with it, and so did we.
After ringing up many over-flowing carts full of merchandise, the manager who was helping us discovered that their check approval system went down. You would expect that this would have meant scrambling to find alternate payment, however, the assistant manager was having none of that. She personally called her service provider and let them know they needed to find a way to work this out. Which they did, and she sent us on our Merry way with a smile.
I have to admit, it was sort of a surreal experience, but the bottom line is that at that particular Wal-Mart someone was encouraging the employees to take ownership of their job and take pride in a job well done.
Perhaps if all retailers behaved in a similar manner, I would not dread the very thought of shopping.
Disclaimer: none of these places have paid for any advertising. In fact, they do not even know I am blogging about them. These are just some great experiences that I've had recently.
