Month: December 2016

In my last blog post, I talked about how emotional intelligence serves both doctors and customer service staff well. After all: they are both caregivers!

Below are three simple tips any retail service team can start using tomorrow to improve customer retention, boost sales and set themselves up for a great 2017.

If there is a theme over all of these it is this: You are a caregiver. Make sure you are 100% focused on the customer and their experience.

1. Smile, always, even on the telephone (yes, you can hear someone smiling on the phone!) Any person who is a cyclist or cyclist-to-be is your family. They are with you in a huge minority population that rides a bike in their spare time. They are your friend. They are a brother or sister you never knew you had. Treat them like it.
2. The customer gets your undivided attention. No phones, no distractions, no conversations with co-workers, no excuses. Introduce yourself, ask their name and, if they don’t want to be bothered right now, tell them where you’ll be and remind them of your name.
3. Listen for a way to delight a customer. Ask a lot of questions. And not just questions about their needs, but about the customer personally. Don’t just meet the needs they tell you about; listen for the unspoken needs as well. Delighting a customer by fulfilling these unspoken needs is a key to retaining a customer for life.

Bonus tip: Ask for a positive review. People are far more likely to recall a negative experience vs. a positive experience. Writing often helps solidify events in a person’s mind (like taking notes)…so you win twice. The customer remembers the positive and endorses your business.

Happy New Year to you all!

I heard a story on the radio the other day about how patients under the care of female doctors generally had stronger recoveries and less chance of a return visit or death following care. What was interesting was the reasons attributed to the male/female variance by doctors familiar with the study: Emotional Intelligence.

“I’m assuming the difference is because of the way that women, in general, communicate. It’s about being better listeners, more nurturing and having emotional intelligence…this study shows us — just possibly — that if female doctors, on average, communicate better, their style might be more effective in treating disease and preventing death.”

-Dr. Sarah-Anne Henning Schumann

As I drove, I thought about how closely aligned that description was with customer service. Customers who are ‘cared for’ have ‘healthier’ relationships with the businesses they visit. I’ve seen both great emotional intelligence and also some terrible levels of awareness in retailers over the years. Truthfully, this extends into humanity in general, too!

Simply, it seems to come back to the golden rule: “Treat others how you would want to be treated.” The most basic aspect of empathy and emotional intelligence! How do you treat your closest friends? How do they treat you?  THAT is how to treat your customers.

There are countless articles from all manner of sources on how to greet, assist and sell to customers who walk in. Foot traffic for most retailers is NOT increasing, so it makes lots of sense to provide a great, personalized experience for those customers who do walk in.

I decided my next post will be a very short, very easy set of tips an outdoor retailer can follow to ensure that their customers are being led to a great experience at their location.

I wish you all the best this winter, my friends. Celebrate that which is good in your life and double-down on anything that isn’t.

The team at Winged Wheel is excited to announce the launch of our first training course!

Staffing: Hiring, Training and Retaining a Great Team

This is a topic that countless businesses both large and small struggle with. I’ve heard many great leaders and managers say “People are the hardest part!” This course will arm you with great guidelines like the USMC Leadership principles and Level 5 Leadership, while also giving you tips and tricks on everyday items like interviewing, employee handbooks, and simple performance evaluations. Easy to use tools that can start making an impact TODAY!

Plus, it comes with a free one-hour coaching session to ensure you’re getting the most from our course.

Enroll today at the introductory price (good through the end of 2016 only) and get the philosophies, tools and techniques to take your team to the next level!

A BIG thanks to all those who took my poll over the last two weeks. I was excited, but not surprised to find that the two leading course topics are:

1. Service
2. Service

Honorable Mention: Service also ranked a very close 3rd place!

Okay, I’ll stop messing around and share some more details. Customer Service (sales floor etiquette of greeting, engaging and assisting) and Service Department Operations were the two topics that had the highest requests for my next round of online education. Customer Service (retaining customers post-sale) was the close third place.

If you didn’t vote in the poll, but would like to, go here.

I am thrilled with the opportunity here and couldn’t agree more with the assessment my network provided. We’ve all been in retail environments where we weren’t well-served, weren’t thanked for our business or sometimes weren’t even greeted at all! You may vow never to give that experience to one of your customers, but are you delivering on your promise? Is every person on your team?

Customers are getting more and more fickle. 79% of consumers will take their business elsewhere within one week of a poor experience. Retailers are going to be more and more dependent on great customer service skills in the future. With the knowledge to hire, train and retain great staff and the tools and techniques to make every interaction a great experience, there is no reason a retailer will not thrive in the years ahead.