Customer Service

In today's competitive retail environment, your unique selling point (USP) alone is unlikely to offer a substantial advantage to your store. If it did, it is likely to be copied or matched by your competitors quickly. The level of service you offer is often the only difference between you and your competitors in the eyes of your customers.

It has been suggested that the cost of acquiring new customers can be five times more than the cost of keeping your current customers using good service.

Many marketing textbooks discuss the 'value of life-long customers' to highlight the dollar value of future sales lost if a customer is dissatisfied. This in turn impacts on the store's profit.

Effective customer service helps to keep existing customers.

Who is Responsible For Customer Service?

A common issue in retail stores is identifying who is responsible for ensuring that the required level of customer service is applied. Realistically, every employee is responsible for delivering what the customer requires, needs and expects.

In the customer's eyes any employee is the company regardless of their role. The critical issue in customer service is to ensure that every member of your team understands this and acts accordingly.

Customer Complaints

If we could 'do it right the first time, every time' we would save significant time and effort plus make a big impact on the store's profit. But, despite our best efforts we sometimes get it wrong. How we handle these dissatisfied customers will determine whether they become lost customers or loyal customers.

Dealing with Customer Complaints

In some stores, a customer complaint is seen as a negative situation. This approach takes a limited view of the possibilities. Generally, a customer complaint provides a chance for you to identify and correct store operations that are not up to scratch. In short, a customer complaint is an opportunity to grow and improve.

Sometimes customer complaints can be negative experiences especially in the beginning. But if handled effectively, a complaining customer that has their problem satisfactorily resolved can become a positive spokesperson for the store. To a large extent its how you handle the situation that creates the end result.

When faced with a customer complaint we have the choice of reacting in a negative way or dealing with the complaint in an efficient and caring manner. If your complaint resolution procedures are up to the task, you or your team will be in a position to effectively solve the complaint. If not, they should be reviewed.

Your store policy should reflect this need to deal with complaints positively. A sample policy follows:

Dealing with Customer Complaints

To ensure that our customers receive an acceptable resolution to their complaints, all employees are required to follow these steps when dealing with a complaint.

Introduction

To increase likelihood of satisfying a customer complaint follow our five golden rules:

Listen with understanding
Ask questions
Apologise
Take fair and corrective action
Remain courteous

Listen

When a customer complains, actively listen. Take note of the problem and do not interrupt. When the customer has finished you might say something like: 'Mrs Smith that is not good enough. Let me see what I can do to correct the problem.'

Ask questions

Effective questions can uncover a wealth of information. Use open-ended questions to clarify your understanding of the problem and to draw out the information you need to resolve the problem.

For example 'When did you first notice that it wasn't working properly?'

Apologise

When there is a legitimate complaint, apologise for any inconvenience. This is not an admission of guilt. It is courteous to acknowledge that your service or product has inconvenienced the customer.

Take fair and corrective action

Ensure that the solution you offer is fair and just. Obtain the customer's agreement to it and make sure you honour your commitment. There is nothing more annoying to a customer than hollow promises.

Remain courteous

Remain calm and courteous during the conversation. To effectively address the complaint, you must maintain control of the discussion. This does not mean that you should do all the talking. Your goal is collect the facts and solve the problem. Courtesy may help you to change the customer from irate to friendly.

If The Complaint Cannot be Resolved

If you cannot resolve the complaint satisfactorily for the customer and within our store policy, refer the matter to your supervisor immediately.