With the busy holiday and end-of-year season approaching, are you sure your employees know what NOT to say to a customer? You might not want to believe it, but these are some responses we’ve seen from mystery shopping reports:
- “There’s nothing I can do.” We all know there is something someone in the organization can do. A better response would be, “Let me see what I can do”, even if they don’t think they can do anything. Employees should allow the customer to walk away feeling as though they were listened to, even if the problem can’t be resolved to their full satisfaction.
- “Now just calm down.” Not the best statement to make when a customer is in the midst of a fit of frustration. Let them vent, ask them to follow you to an area away from other customers, empathize with them – just don’t tell them to stop feeling what they are feeling. There comes a point in every tirade that an employee can assure the customer they are being heard and indicate what the next step would be.
- “We’re out of that, sorry.” Period. No other offer. In all likelihood, most places aren’t out of anything FOREVER. Have your employees call another store, look up the date it will be back in stock, take a number to call when they come in. Anything to honor the fact that you want this person’s business.
No business is immune from employees who do not have the training or insight into understanding how to best treat the customer.
Would you like to know what your employees are telling your customers? Contact Market Viewpoint and we’ll set up a mystery shopping program where you can ‘listen in’ on the conversations your staff is having with your customer!
