Countdown to Customer Service: Applying the Golden Rules

Quality customer service is the keystone to success. You might offer the best, most unique products in the world along with competitive prices, but if your customer service falls short, you may as well exit the retail business immediately.

Smiling Faces

An essential component of great customer service is a great staff. While larger companies and corporations may be mired down by employee handbooks that dictate customer service guidelines, independent specialty retailers are able to select employees with inherent customer service capabilities.

Joyce N. Cook, owner of Joyce's Unique Boutique in Clear Lake, S.D., may have taught the rules for good customer service in business classes at South Dakota University, but her talent for selecting the right employees is what's made her business continue to grow every year.

"Good customer service is paying attention to your customers' needs and going the extra mile to get whatever they need," she explained. "We operate with that in mind in our stores. It comes naturally to the people I hire."

When she interviews potential candidates, Cook looks for qualities of "natural" customer service abilities in their personalities. She poses questions to the applicants and tests their listening skills. She also asks every applicant what he or she would do if an irate customer approached him or her with a complaint.

"The response that I want from them is that they would listen to the customer intently and remain calm because it takes two to make an argument. Finally, the question they need to ask the customer is, 'What can we do to make this right with you so that you are a happy customer when you go out the door?' Usually, that calms them right down," Cook continued. "We do what they ask, even if it costs us money. We have so few complaints that the few we have can be handled that way."

Once you've hired the staff, setting an example for them is essential. Cook's upbeat, sweet spirit is detectable over the phone so it's no wonder her employees have emulated her model. In your own store, you may want to consider checking out what's happening when you're not around to set the example. Establish a Smiling Faces Contest in which you ask customers to submit the names of their favorite employee each month. Honor the winners by mounting a photo on the wall and presenting them with a discount to a local restaurant.

You can even partner with the local restaurant, providing their star employees a gift certificate for your store in exchange for the restaurant certificate. Encourage your local Chamber of Commerce to create a Mystery Shopper Program that evaluates the customer service local businesses and their employees provide.

Loris Ann Crawford, owner of gift/gourmet store Seasons in Del Rio, Texas, asks her staff to consider their own personal preferences when approaching customer service. She reviews customer service techniques during regularly scheduled staff meetings, as well as works daily on setting an example with her own behavior.

Crawford teaches her employees to listen to what the customers have to say, and then work toward solutions that benefit both the customers and the business. Kenneth E. Stone refers to this practice as the LEAR method of handling customers in his book Competing With the Retail Giants: How to Survive in the New Retail Landscape (John Wiley & Sons, 1995). LEAR is an acronym for Listen, Empathize, Ask Questions, and Resolve the Problem. All your employees should practice this method of handling customer problems, with the end goal always being to send customers away in a good mood. Train your employees on your policies and then empower them to take care of any problems that may arise, even if it means losing a small amount of money.

"Management of the customers' experience starts when they walk in, and ends when they walk out," Stone writes.

In his book, Stone discusses how people who don't issue complaints are deceiving because while they don't complain to the business they're mad at, they do tell other people about their problems. Businesses are often lulled into a false sense of security. They think they have no customer relations problems, but that may not always be the case.

Stone encourages you as a business owner to solicit complaints, making it easy for unhappy customers to tell you about problems they encountered. He also suggests you maintain a record of why complaints occur and later analyze them to see how they can be prevented in the future.
This may well be worth the effort since Technical Assistance Research Programs, Inc. (TARP) Industry Specific Data found that there was a 35- to 400-percent return on investment for retailers who established complaint departments. Further data shows that 82 percent of customers with major complaints will purchase from you again if their complaints are resolved quickly; 54 percent will purchase again if the complaints are simply resolved.

Preventing Complaints

Clearly, the most important element to operating a successful business is maintaining good customer relations.

Ted Davis, Jr., co-owner of Davis Cookware in Nashville, Tenn., said his wife Mary Lou set the standard for customer relations. He uses her as a role model in operating his own business today.
"Mary Lou was the epitome of customer service. She was interested in her customers and enthusiastic about her store. And she was a gracious person. You couldn't help but learn from her," Davis said. "That's really the only thing that can keep you in business. Everybody can get the same products, but hopefully over a period of time, you earn the customers' respect. Product knowledge and customer service are the things that earn you customers."

Davis and his son Ted Davis, III pay close attention to details. Customers are always greeted when they walk through the door and their change is counted back to them when they make a purchase.
"We've been counting out the customer change for over 30 years. It may seem like no big thing, but there are a whole lot of things that go into customer service - smiles and sincere 'thank yous' go a long way."

Crawford also makes sure her employees greet customers as they walk in the door.
"We don't follow them around, but we do make sure they know that we are available to them if they need anything," Crawford said. "We try not to use the question, 'Can we help you?' Instead, we ask, 'What can we help you with?'"

Stone recommends greeting customers as well, noting that what bothers customers more than anything else is being ignored when they are in the store. Other no-nos include store representatives on the telephone who turn their backs on customers, finishing paperwork before assisting the customers, and ignoring customers who are ready to make a purchase. An important tip to pass on to employees is to be sure they make contact with each customer waiting to be helped so that even if they are busy with another customer, they acknowledge the next person in line.
Ted Davis, III said he finds customers who aren't familiar with their store are surprised when they walk in.

"They are so unaccustomed to being waited on, they are sometimes taken aback when we greet them at the door," he explained. "We say 'Hello' and that confuses some people. We ask them, 'Do you like to cook?', and they don't know how to answer sometimes. A lot of people are so defensive when you approach them, it has become difficult for us to know what to expect. If they go into a mall, they may spend an hour or two and never have any store personnel talk to them. They've gotten used to not being served and have lost the expectation of being greeted by someone, or walking into a store and daring to ask for help."

Regardless of the unpredictability of customers' reactions, the Davis' plan to continue providing the exceptional level of customer service they've come to be known for over the past 30 years. Every customer who walks through the door will be greeted and directed toward the bar of complimentary specialty coffee set up just inside the door.

If you believe the customer is always right, think again. While you want to make the customers believe they're always right, you still have to arm yourself so you don't give away the store.
"I see so many articles about customer service and what to do when something goes wrong," Davis said. "Sometimes, the customers are wrong. It is possible. They take something home and they break it. I am not a mass merchant who is able to bill it against their invoices when they have returns."

The first step in making sure you protect your business is to have a concise return policy that is clearly posted in your store. Crawford said those written policies are critical. "We have a written policy on returns that's posted," she explained. "We have found out that people try all kinds of things, but there is an exception to every rule, and we tell the staff that they have the option of getting the manager or the owner involved."

Crawford continued, "We're flexible on all of our policies. We have only had a few times when people have had really ugly fits at the register. We can't say the customer is always right because there are some times when it just does not happen that way. On the other hand, we always try to make the customers feel like they're right."

Expert Knowledge

Furnishing individualized service is endemic to specialty retailing. Whether the store purveys books, music, cookware, or food, personalized service inside the retail environment is what keeps customers returning. To provide a high level of customer service, everyone in your store must possess knowledge about your product inventory and be able to assist customers with respect and enthusiasm.

"I tell my customers I am here to answer any questions they might have. If they ask me if we have vegetable peelers, I can tell them we have 16 styles. We have 20 mortar and pestles, nine types of green tea, 50 black teas, and 15 flavored teas," Ted Davis, III continued. "Sincerity is one thing, but there's an authenticity that is essential to specialty stores. I know my inventory. I know my product. I can explain to a customer why I carry a specific item."

One of the ways that Davis personalizes his service is to provide samples of gourmet teas to customers who purchase a quarter-pound or more.

"I might give away a quarter-ounce of samples in a baggie. I ask whoever is shopping with them what they might like and check to see what their kids might enjoy," he explained. "I had a woman phone me today who had bought four teas and I gave her 11 samples. She loved some of the most expensive ones I gave her to sample and I made a $100 tea sale by giving 50 cents worth of tea away. But the most important thing is that she's happy and she's going to tell her friends how delighted she is with our service."

Additional services you might consider offering customers include delivery service, gift wrapping, classes, color matching, mailing services, and samples for at-home testing.

Crawford treats her customer base to specials twice a year. Her annual events include a Garage Sale in March and a Christmas Sale in October. More than 1,000 postcards providing loyal customers with a 20-percent-off discount on merchandise are mailed out prior to each event. Another loyal customer service program Crawford provides is a Frequent Shopper Card that gives customers $5 off for every $100 they spend in the store.

"When it comes to customer service, there is no competition in town. There is competition as far as pricing, but no one has our service. Wal-Mart may have greeters, but that's as close as it gets," Crawford explained. "We allow our customers to take wall art home to see if it works in their house and there's no charge for that. We have a very lenient policy with layaway. We work with our customers. More importantly, we work for our customers."

Crawford also participates in a community charity drive for the local hospice. Hospice sells tickets for a certain amount and Seasons honors the tickets at three times their face value. In other words, if someone makes a $10 donation, they can purchase $30 worth of Seasons merchandise.
"We do all the advertising for the event," Crawford explained. "We raised $3,500 for Hospice in our first year. It's a great organization and we want to give back to them. It also fosters a lot of goodwill."

Crawford, Cook, and the Davises have extended their customer service policies far beyond the mere provision of samples and being friendly. These stores epitomize what local independent merchants should provide to their customers. Small businesses are capable of offering a higher level of expertise and technical advice in a more personal manner than the mass merchandisers can.
One attribute Davis is deservedly proud of is the level of knowledge he and his father have about the products they carry. He is constantly seeking the same level of service in national chains and is happy to say he has yet to discover it.

"Here's an example for you. I called Home Depot for a Werner ladder because it's the brand that I like. This great guy named Bob answered the phone and said he was a retired contractor and sure they had Werner ladders. We selected the model number and everything over the phone," Davis continued. "Well, the next day when we went to get the ladder, the salesmen said they didn't carry Werner ladders, they carried American ladders. Corporate had made the decision to change the brand they carried and no one who worked in the local stores knew it. My customers don't have to worry about that in my store."

In his book, Stone points out that this is one area where independents can directly compete with national chains. He notes: "In the vast majority of discount general merchandise stores around the country, it is difficult to find anyone who knows the merchandise well enough to explain it to a customer."

Such an advantage should be pointed out to consumers in the local community through advertising, newsletters, periodical articles for newspapers, and in-store marketing materials. It should also be backed up by in-depth employee training on every new product that comes into the store. You need to be able to explain to employees why you selected a particular product so they can pass that knowledge on to your customers.

Still, you have to be careful when dispensing advice. You don't want to talk down to customers and you also don't want to give them the impression that decisions they have made in the past were wrong.

Learning to placate all the personalities that walk through your store's door each day may seem like an enormous task, but in the end, it's what will set you a notch above the masses.