Engage Your Customers Emotionally to Create Advocates

I appreciated and enjoyed reading this article very much.

It dawned on me however that what we have after trimming away the fat is a symptom of a much greater cancer. Indifference and Apathy.

Gone are the days of Golden Rule selling. The principle of selling to others as you would like to be sold to negates absolute efficiency in that certain actions and steps are taken to express how much you appreciate the customers patronage, and the opportunity to service their respective needs.

Many are today too short sighted to realize that immediacy isnt the key in successful selling. The reward for your efforts arent always made manifest in teh short run; however the rewards do come. In actuality sooner than you would think when you are actually paying attention to the task at hand and not to your compensatory cache.

These are the days when many sell out of a pure and unadulterated desire to grow rich. Selling devoid of principle and the understanding of the "Psychology of the Sale", never amounts to customer loyalty, satisfaction, or retention.

We live in a thankless world if I may be so gloomy as to say. Salespeople are the occupational barometer of this system of things/thinking that we live in and adhere to today.

The upside is those organizations that understand this, not only do their part to sustain decency and well mannered selling techniques; they also set themselves aside from the rest of the selling herd by connecting with their customers, and in so doing providing them the very human and equally important human product as well as whatever commerical product is being marketed.

Often the least paid personnel in retail work at the point of sale. Yikes! The customer may have responded to an advertisement, had an entirely wonderful experience with a floor sales associate carefully selecting the right product(s), but when they get to the cash register, the entire process circles the drain.
This is a symptom of improper training. I learned this lesson my first day in training at a convenience store years ago. The Supervisor said, 'make sure that each customer knows that you care that they have decided to come into your store and spend their money with you.' Heavy emphasis on the 'you.'
Secret shoppers and employee bonus checks help remind employees that the whole process starts with the customer. I don't miss those days, but the lessons learned have helped with many a project since.

Colin,

I agree with you completely, businesses need to look at the emotional aspects of the customer experience and to take this into consideration when establishing business practices and processes. I am looking forward to reading your new book.

I would like to offer an alternative view of your supermarket experience. This is an all too common experience. As research by the Gallup organization indicates, nearly 75% of employees in America are at least partially disengaged at work. That means they are physically present but to some degree, psychologically absent and consequently indifferent to how they impact your emotional state.

Certainly, one could argue that businesses need to get their employees engaged. Unfortunately, when some do, they create a script that dictates how to interact with customers. Very often this comes off as fake. I am not suggesting they quit trying. In fact, I advise my clients to acknowledge the importance of employee engagement and to devise practices that improve their emotional experience as well.

While we (customers) are waiting for them improve employee engagement, we do have choices. One is to do what you did and hope the alternative store treats you better. Another is to become emotionally indifferent to keep from getting annoyed. But, indifference is like apathy—who wants to experience it.

For the past 8 months, I have been taking a more proactive approach and am very pleased with the results. I started by becoming overtly friendly with the most disengaged clerk in my local supermarket. I greeted her by name, smiled, asked how her day was going and tried to find something positive to say. These days, I will get a smile even if I am the third person in her line. She instructs the bagger that I like paper for me, greets me by name and we have a 30 second conversation that is personal and civil.

Since then, I am proud to say, I have converted two more clerks. But, the really interesting thing is that other employees recognize me. It is not uncommon for the guy in the produce department to say hello and recommend something that is especially fresh, or for me to get a smile or a wave from the guy behind the seafood counter. Word-of-mouth amongst employees?

John I. Todor, Ph.D.
Author of Addicted Customers: How to Get Them Hooked on Your Company.

Many people who are clerks in stores or on the phone may feel like they are at the bottom of the respect ladder. Some may feel invaluable because of their low pay and the disrespect many customers seem to show them. I have experienced customers treating clerks like they were with out a face or feelings. Sometimes ignoring a clerk makes others feel more important than the clerk, and seem to have a feeling, how ever brief, of superiority. So this feeling of being less than or more than bounces back and forth between customer and clerk. The clerk may retaliate to the customer and act superior and try to make the customer feel like "nothing of importance". May be the clerk is subconsciously thinking "this is only a temporary job and I will not be submissive to you". So where do you find a balance? If people would just recognize the dignity that each of use wants and needs we would get it back in time. I love to compliment and engage clerks to show I value their service and in return I hope to receive service from them.
This usually works. Some people just have a hard time being friendly. Many stores and services are so on a fast paced race they cannot and do not take time to train employees on the fact, if someone does not come in that door and purchase something then they will have to let the clerk go for lack of sales. And the main part of the clerk’s job is not to ring up sales and count money and stock shelves, but to be sure the customer has had a good experience in their store. I take this back to schooling and home training. Children often mimic their parents. If parents and teachers would have a class once a year for each grade on manners, respect and dignity, many people would benefit and create a greater understanding of our human nature.

I have had two recent bad experiences with checkout clerks. At a combo drugstore-grocery store in Chicago, the clerk closed her line right in front of us. We had already been waiting through three customers. Then she put up the "line closed" bar and turned off her light. It was the only store near our hotel and we didn't have a car, so we didn't do what I was inclined to do: leave our full shopping cart and exit the store. We went to the next line and waited through three more customers. I asked that checkout clerk whether it was customary for a clerk to close a line in front of a customer without warning. She said, "I wouldn't do it, but some people do."

Several years ago, I listened while the male cashier and bagger greeted the much younger, much prettier woman in front of me. They asked her how she was doing, joked a bit and thanked her. It put me in a pretty good mood, until I, too, had one of those transactions with absolutely no conversation. The cashier didn't greet me; he gave me the credit card slip to sign without saying anything. The bagger didn't speak. No one said thanks. If they hadn't gone gaga for the other woman, it wouldn't have bothered me. But I kept thinking that my money was as good as hers. So I have not gone back since.

I always say hi to cashiers. But I'm not looking to be their friends. I'm just looking for some basic courtesy. I hated it when Safeway made its personnel greet you every time they encountered you. I'd be trying to find raspberries and I'd have to stop and say hi to the produce worker because he'd been ordered to say hi to me. I'm not looking for false courtesy. But I would like clerks to be reminded that customers aren't a chore to get through; they're the bread and butter of the business. When I worked as cashier and clerk and customer service rep, I was trained to thank people. And I did so, without being told twice.

Gwynne Young, Managing Editor, CustomerThink

And you're right. I loved it when my local grocery store installed self-service check-outs. The only problem is that the technology is really touchy. The monitor "thinks" you haven't bagged your item, and—uh-oh—you get the nasty "Wait for Attendant." When it's really and truly self-service, I'll like it even more.

By the way, I've been doing my own count of how long I can go without getting a thank you from a check-out clerk. So far, only the dry cleaners thanked me. The latest twist I found is that clerks say, "Here you go," when they hand me my bags. So I am compelled to say, "Thank you." And bing! I have wound up thanking the clerk for my business.

Gwynne Young, Managing Editor, CustomerThink