Retailers Must Practice New Rules Of Engagement

Customers Offer Loyalty To Retailers They Are Connected To

Customer Loyalty continues to become more and more elusive to retailers. Large big box retailers cultivate loyalty through meeting the needs of budget minded consumers based on price points and selection. Service has taken a back seat to price in the big box model. Not surprisingly, customers never feel really connected to these faceless retailers and a cheaper price at a competitor around the corner instantly transfers these customers’ “loyalty” to another retailer. Their loyalty is superficial and really only loyal to the dollar and not the retailer over the long term.

Today, our easily distracted customers will be genuinely loyal to retailers they feel connected to. Make these new rules of engagement part of your customer service model and your team will build long term loyal relationships in a modern market that has largely become indifferent and impersonal to the customer:

1) Schedule staff to cover your sales floor and enable them to interact face to face with the customers on every visit. This is a dramatic contrast to many retailers who now have one employee for every 10,000 square feet for sale floor area. Most customers in those stores expect to fend for themselves and may never even see a store employee during their entire visit to the store, let alone receive some old fashioned customer service.

2) Use technology to make your organization available 24/7. Even the smallest retailer must have a website and simple email channels that enable customers to contact you with questions and concerns. Make sure someone gets back to customers within a day and avoid over-automated phone systems that make it difficult for customers to talk to a store employee, even during business hours.

3) Survey customers and offer the top three venues of communication they prefer. You may find that some customers still prefer to write a letter and drop it in the mail, or even fax requests to you. Whatever you discover, let your customer base tell you what methods they prefer and then offer it. Older customers or those that are less technically oriented may be unable to or dislike using email to communicate with your store, and expect a direct phone line to a real person on the other end.

4) Respond to customers in a personalized manner. Customers will not be loyal to customers who respond with cookie cutter and “canned” responses. Personal responses should always be handled by a store employee who offers their name in case the customer has further questions or concerns. A customer will always feel more connected when they receive a response from a person with a name as opposed to “The Sales Team” or the “Customer Service Response Unit”.

5) Study and listen to what customers ask for and see if patterns are emerging. If many customers contact you about your open store hours (i.e. only open 9 to 12 on Saturdays and closed Sundays), you may want to change them to meet the needs of the customers and let them know of the change. An email or letter to a customer advising them that based on their concerns as well as other customers, you’ve now extended Saturday hours to 5 PM for example will impress them and show them that you are listening to them. These customers will feel connected and their loyalty will be long term in contrast to the faceless competitors.

Follow the new rules of engagement with your customers and you’ll make them feel more like partners than customers. Their hard-earned loyalty will be yours as long as they feel connected.

Take Action Today:

1) Make the new rules of engagement part of your customer service model.

2) Examine how you communicate and respond to customers and ensure that your systems cater to the specific needs of your customer base.

3) Get back to personalized communication with customers and make them connect with real employees in your store.

4) Continually survey your customers and engage meaningful dialogue to understand what changes they expect if they are to stay connected and loyal to your organization.

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