holiday special Service With a Smile?
Sometimes no matter what you do, there’s that customer who wants more – now! Compound this with the holidays and it’s easy to let a situation get out of hand. Here are some tips on handling difficult customers with a smile. Kate Zabriskie
I
n the last two decades in particular, several key factors— increased retail competition, the rise of customization, and a near-total adoption of the philosophy that “the
customer is always right”—have combined like a perfect storm to spawn more than a few high-maintenance customers, or “customonsters,” among us. These shoppers want what they want, when they want it, and won’t hesitate to upset your employees and disrupt your business. Add to that the pressures of the holidays, and you can bet
that as the peak selling season gets underway, you and your employees will probably have to deal with the occasional customonster. Here are seven ways you can prepare for them as the holiday pressure starts to rise, and the release valves you can pull, to bring tense situations under control.
Make the Rules Determine what you will and won’t do to cater to your customers. If you will take back a T-shirt that was purchased 90 days ago,
126 Specialty Retail Report n Fall 2013
fine. If you will only do that for your “platinum” customers, that’s fine also. The point is to have rules in place, whatever they are. Otherwise, you are headed for a path of inconsistency and dissatisfaction as customers deal with various members of your staff who might be operating under different perceptions of your policies.
Teach the Rules Once you have set policies in place, train your employees about the rules. Remember that effectively dealing with customonsters is not always an intuitive process for employees. For that reason alone, one training session is usually not enough, but other factors like turnover will affect your need for retraining. To make your training count, give your employees specific and detailed instructions on how to explain your policies to customers. Don’t assume that your salespeople will pick the right words—train them on the words you want them to use. Give them a script to follow.
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