How To Improve Customer Attitudes

Some companies have wonderful customer service. They are available 24/7 and can be contacted by telephone, email, or through a chat session. The workers are well-trained and don’t leave a customer hanging with a problem. Good customer service improves customer attitudes toward a business. It starts with the hotdog stand on the corner. Here are some ways to help your customers have good thoughts about your walk-in business:

1. Know Your Customers by Name. If I walk into a store and a clerk says, "Hi, John! How are you today?" I think that I’m important. If a clerk says, "Hi, John! How can I help you today?" I know I’m going to get what I want and be on my way. Here is how to get a new customer’s name. The clerk greets the customer and says, "Hi, I’m Nancy. I’m sorry I don’t remember your name. Did we meet before?" I like to know the people I’m doing business with and I want them to know me. Not everybody thinks this way but a personal contact is always appreciated.
2. Stock What Your Customer Wants. It’s amazing how many stores are understocked. You want a spool of orange thread and they have a zillion colors but not orange. Computer inventory control helps. If the inventory gets down to 3 spools of orange thread, orange thread is ordered immediately. When you tell a customer, "Oh, we don’t carry that," and the customer thinks that your store should be carrying "that," you have made a negative impression. Where is your customer going next? He or she is going to that store that does carry "that."
3. Know Your Products and How They Function. When I go into a hardware store and say, "I need one of those little thingies that goes in the whatchamacallit; that’s what I want. I also want to know how to install it"....can you answer those questions?
4. Keep Your Business Clean, Well-Organized, and Efficient. Don’t make your customers walk an obstacle course to get to what they want. Keep aisles clear of boxes, ladders, and your pet dog. If you have a business such as a barbershop, medical office, law office, etc., and you have magazines to read, then keep them organized. Chuck out-of-date issues and any issues that look shabby, dirty, or downright unsanitary.
5. Make Your Place of Business Attractive to the Senses. The senses pick up light, sound, odors and textures.
   • A texture might be if you are walking on walnut shells to get to the oranges, when your feet are sticking to the floor or when you grab a box of cereal and there’s dust on top.
   • Too bright lights and too little light can cause customer distress. If you can’t read the label on a can of peas, there is not enough light.
   • Color is important. Pick a pleasant color scheme for your store. Warm colors, cold colors, which do you use? Warm colors bring a pleasant shopping experience but your jewelry store may have a cool color scheme of "buy-expensive-jewelry blue." Sometimes a combination works, such as blue and gold.
   • When a customer walks into a business for the first time, he or she may be entering an uncomfortable world, especially if there is no greeter. Music can help. Now don’t choose music that will scare an older woman out of her skin if you are running a flower store. The music should be appropriate to the store. I often hear Chinese music in a Chinese restaurant. Get it?
   • Last, odor. If your store has a musty odor because you run a pet store, then you should do something about it. Consider an air purifier. Restaurants often pipe their food odors out to the front of the business. A potential patron walks by, smells the odor, and says, "Agnes, are you hungry?"
6. Ask Your Customers to Tell Their Friends about Your Business. Have business cards on your checkout counter. Ask customers to tell their friends about your business. Always ask your customers if they found the items they were after. Then say this magic phrase, "Did you forget any gift items or would you like to purchase a gift certificate for that special person?"

Why not?