How to Greet Customers in Retail - Never Say This!
Summary
TLDRIn this video, Kathy Donovan Wagner, founder of Retail Mavens, emphasizes the importance of customer greetings in retail for building relationships and boosting sales. She advises against intrusive sales tactics, suggesting a warm acknowledgment and giving customers space to feel comfortable. Kathy recommends starting conversations with icebreakers and open-ended questions to create a relaxed shopping environment. She also shares strategies for engaging with different types of customers, whether they're browsing or on a mission, and encourages retailers to practice these techniques to enhance customer experience and loyalty.
Takeaways
- 😀 Greeting customers warmly and genuinely can significantly influence their purchasing decisions and likelihood of returning.
- 🛍️ Avoiding aggressive sales tactics is crucial as it can make customers defensive and less likely to buy.
- 🎶 Acknowledging customers with eye contact, a smile, and a friendly greeting helps set a positive tone for their shopping experience.
- 🕒 Giving customers a moment to settle in the store allows them to feel more comfortable and relaxed.
- 🗣️ Starting a conversation with open-ended questions helps build rapport and relationships with customers.
- 🚫 Refrain from asking useless questions that don't foster relationships, such as 'How can I help you today?' or 'Have you been in the store before?'
- 💡 Use icebreakers and compliments to initiate conversations that lead to more natural and engaging interactions.
- 🛒 When customers indicate they're looking for something specific, ask open-ended questions to better understand their needs and offer relevant products.
- 🏃♂️ For customers who appear to be in a hurry, offer assistance to help them find what they need quickly.
- 👥 Encourage your team to practice these customer service techniques through role-playing to enhance their skills and customer interactions.
Q & A
Why is the way you greet customers important in a retail store?
-How you greet customers significantly impacts whether they'll make a purchase or become repeat customers. A positive first impression sets the stage for a better customer experience.
What emotional state should you aim to create in customers when they enter your store?
-You should aim to make customers feel welcome, relaxed, and comfortable, as consumer psychology shows that customers are more likely to buy when they are feeling happy and their dopamine is flowing.
What common mistake do salespeople often make when greeting customers?
-A common mistake is being too aggressive or direct, such as immediately asking, 'How can I help you?' or trying to sell a product right away. This can make customers defensive and less likely to buy.
How can you create a welcoming atmosphere for customers as soon as they enter the store?
-Acknowledge their presence by making eye contact, smiling, and saying something like 'Hello,' 'Welcome,' or 'Glad you're here.' If you recognize them, you can add 'Good to see you again,' even if you don’t remember their name.
What is a recommended strategy to engage with a customer after greeting them?
-After greeting them, give the customer a moment to get comfortable in the store. Then, approach the area where they are and start straightening or arranging products nearby. This allows you to start a casual conversation without pressuring them.
What type of questions should you ask to start a conversation with a customer?
-You should ask open-ended questions that can lead to a conversation. For example, if it's early in the week, you could ask, 'Did you do anything fun over the weekend?' or, if it’s towards the end of the week, 'Are you doing anything fun this weekend?'
What types of questions should you avoid when greeting customers?
-Avoid asking generic and closed questions like 'How can I help you today?' or 'Do you have any questions?' These don’t build relationships and can make the customer feel like you're just trying to make a sale.
What is a good question to ask when you want to understand a customer’s needs?
-A great way to discover their needs is to ask, 'What brings you into the store today?' This invites the customer to share their reasons for visiting and opens up the conversation naturally.
How should you handle customers who seem to want to browse on their own?
-If a customer indicates they just want to look around, respect their space. Continue straightening items nearby and stay accessible, but avoid hovering. Don’t retreat behind the counter, as it creates a barrier between you and the customer.
How can you approach a customer who seems to be in a hurry?
-If a customer walks in quickly and seems to be in a rush, you can say something like, 'Looks like you're on a mission. How can I help you get out of here fast?' This acknowledges their urgency while still providing helpful service.
Outlines
💬 The Art of Greeting Customers in Retail
The script emphasizes the importance of the initial customer greeting in a retail setting, suggesting it significantly influences customer purchasing decisions and their likelihood of returning. Kathy Donovan Wagner, founder of Retail Mavens, shares insights from consumer psychology, highlighting that customers are more likely to buy when they feel good, happy, and relaxed. She advises against the common but off-putting approach of salespeople being overly eager or intrusive. Instead, she recommends acknowledging the customer's presence with a smile and a warm greeting, allowing them to feel welcome and comfortable. The goal is to build a relationship rather than focusing solely on a transaction. To achieve this, she suggests starting with an icebreaker or a compliment to initiate a conversation, and then using open-ended questions to keep the dialogue flowing. Avoiding common but ineffective questions like 'How can I help you today?' or 'Have you been in the store before?' is crucial as they can hinder relationship building. The script also touches on the importance of body language and physical presence, advising retail staff to stay on the floor and be approachable.
🛒 Building Relationships Over Sales in Retail
In the second paragraph, Kathy continues to discuss the strategy of building customer relationships in retail. She points out that customers are often conditioned to expect and deflect from sales pitches, which is why it's essential for retail staff to focus on conversation and relationship building. She provides practical advice on how to engage customers by asking open-ended questions that encourage them to share more about their needs. Kathy also addresses the challenge of customers who prefer to browse independently, suggesting that staff should respect their space while remaining available and approachable. She shares her experience of how acknowledging a customer's mission or purpose for visiting the store can lead to more effective assistance. The script concludes with a call to action for retail staff to practice these techniques through role play and to adopt a customer-centric mindset that prioritizes relationship building over simple transactions.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Greeting
💡Customer Experience
💡Dopamine
💡Salesperson
💡Acknowledge
💡Conversation
💡Relationship Building
💡Open-Ended Question
💡Icebreaker
💡Product Knowledge
💡Role Play
Highlights
Greeting customers has a significant impact on their purchasing decisions and likelihood of returning.
Customers are more likely to buy when they feel good, happy, and relaxed due to increased dopamine flow.
Customers often enter stores defensively, anticipating aggressive sales tactics.
A good salesperson's job is to make customers feel welcome, relaxed, and comfortable.
Acknowledge customers immediately upon entering, maintain eye contact, smile, and greet them warmly.
Give customers a moment to get comfortable in the store before approaching them.
Initiate a conversation with customers rather than focusing on making a sale.
Use open-ended questions to start a conversation and build a relationship with the customer.
Avoid asking useless questions that don't contribute to building a relationship.
Use the phrase 'What brings you into the store today?' to invite customers to share their needs.
Customers are often programmed to deflect salespeople, so building a relationship is critical.
Stay on the floor and continue tidying up to maintain a presence without being intrusive.
Offer information about products when customers show interest, but respect their space if they prefer to browse.
For customers who are on a mission, be direct and offer assistance to help them quickly.
Train your team with these tips and practice role-playing scenarios to improve customer interactions.
Subscribe for more retail tips, tools, and strategies to improve profits and become a richer retailer.
Transcripts
did you know that how you greet
customers in your retail store has a big
impact on whether or not they will buy
from you whether or not they'll become
returned customers it's true keep
watching and i'm going to share with you
what you should never ever say to them
and also what you should say to them to
make sure that they're having the best
customer experience ever
[Music]
hey there i'm kathy donovan wagner
founder of retail mavens and mom of
america's most fun family it's true and
i love to share the science of retail
and the science of consumer psychology
with independent retailers like you so
that you can get more profits and better
sleep make sure you hit subscribe and
click that bell to get notifications to
know when i share more retail tips and
strategies many retailers i work with
either feel awkward greeting a customer
when they walk in their door or they
fall into a standard response because
they think that's what they're supposed
to do the problem with this is that
you're not setting your customer up for
a great experience in your store and i
know that's what you want to do i know
you're known for your customer service
consumer psychology tells us that a
customer is more likely to buy when
their dopamine is flowing what does that
mean when they're feeling good when
they're happy and when they're relaxed
the problem is is that often when they
walk into a store they expect to be
jumped on they're programmed to expect a
salesperson to walk right up into their
face and try and sell them something
they don't need or don't want and that
they're going to be forced to push the
person away so they get all defensive
right the truth is people don't like
salespeople because there are sales
people like that and they give all of us
good salespeople a bad name they do walk
right up into their face and like hey
how are you how can i help you today
what are you buying today what can blah
blah that whole thing sets the customer
up for a bad experience they're already
on the defensive ready to deflect people
they're tense they're obviously much
less likely to buy your job is to help
the customer feel instantly welcome to
feel relaxed and to feel comfortable so
how do you start when a customer first
walks in no matter what you're doing if
you're behind the counter or unboxing
something or talking to another customer
the first most important thing to do is
to acknowledge the customer maintain eye
contact look at them smile say hello
welcome glad you're here if you
recognize them tell them good to see you
again it doesn't matter if you don't
remember their name it's so important to
acknowledge their presence and to show
them that you're genuinely appreciative
that they took the time to come into
your store today then give them a moment
or two to get comfy in your store you
don't want to tackle them right away you
want to allow them to take it in and
revel in this beautiful first impression
that you've set up for them then what i
recommend doing is going to nearby not
close by but in the area where they are
start straightening a display or a
counter and start sizing something just
to be closer to them and more in the
presence of them now you're getting
ready to first exchange words for them
and what i want you to know is that all
you have to do is start a conversation
that's all it is you don't have to worry
about the sale you're just here to build
a relationship because your true success
is going to
count on having relationships with
customers not just one-off transactions
so that's the reason why when you think
about this from a conversation
standpoint and from relationship
building and not worrying about the sale
doesn't that take the pressure off it
takes the pressure off you and it takes
the pressure off them everything comes
across so much more honestly and openly
and enjoyable for everybody so start
with an icebreaker of some sort
compliment them on something they're
wearing something that's going to lead
to a conversation what always leads to a
conversation an open-ended question
that's what your goal is is to get to an
open-ended question of any sort it's on
a monday or tuesday hey do you do
something anything fun over the weekend
or if it's a thursday or a friday i used
to always say hey are you doing anything
fun this weekend it's just anything to
try and get the conversation going like
i said to try and develop a relationship
questions you should never say the
totally useless questions that will not
create relationships and instead will
stop them from forming is saying things
like uh how can i help you today we're
saying hey if you have any questions i'm
just gonna be right here or i don't even
like have you been in the store before
i'm not even crazy about how's the
weather you wouldn't say that to a
friend if you were really starting a
conversation with them now you might in
some sort of context like you might say
oh my gosh what a beautiful day it was
just like this last sunday when we went
sailing what did you do last sunday it
was so beautiful wasn't it you see how
that starts a conversation so you can do
that but any of those other useless
questions just
scream at the person i am a salesperson
and they will go running so that's what
you want to do is try and get into a
conversation and then you'll sense when
the conversation naturally slows down
and that's when it's time for you to
discover how you can best serve their
needs you don't do this by interrogation
this is the phrase that i have found
that works like magic every single time
so what brings you into the store today
this invites them to share their ideas
with you right and shows them that
you're available to show them products
it's all said in those words what brings
you into the store today what's so funny
though is that because we're all so
programmed to have a sales person in our
face in a store we're so programmed to
not ask for help in a store what i've
discovered people so often say is
they'll say things like oh nothing i'm
just looking for a baby gift bingo
i had a kids store so that's all i
needed to know but it's amazing how
programmed we are to deflect salespeople
so you really have to work on building
that relationship and just focusing on a
conversation that's what's so critical
about this
and then as long as they're sharing with
you keep asking open-ended questions so
that you can learn more and showing them
relevant products in your store asking
what else do you need to know so for
example you could say to that how fun so
who had the baby and just getting them
to talking now it for sure happens that
the person might indicate that they just
kind of want to walk around by
themselves okay no problem at all give
them the space to do so and just stay
out there and continue straightening or
whatever because the thing is is the
second you go behind the counter then
there becomes this wall between you and
the customer as much as possible stay on
the floor keep resizing keep
straightening do whatever you need to do
and then what i would often do is when
they pick up something say hey can i
just tell you something about that item
and sometimes they'd say oh no it's okay
i'm fine
totally cool other time they say oh yeah
sure and then you can go into whatever
it is you want to share about that
particular item the point is is that if
they look like they have a question
about something or they're lost or
looking for something it's your job to
respond accordingly and you want to make
sure that you're there for them and that
they don't have to come looking for you
the other kind of customer that comes
into the store is the person who's on a
mission that's the person who's just
like
walks right in really really super fast
and i would just flat out come from
behind the counter and say hey looks
like you're on a mission how can i help
you get out of here fast and they would
smile like they welcome that that's not
something sales people say but it's
something that you would say to a friend
right to a person at a relationship with
that is so powerful often they'll say oh
wow that takes them aback oh yeah i have
to find a baby gift can you help me i've
got like 15 minutes yeah sure let's go
and then just start talking to them
asking them open questions that's the
best way of greeting a customer and
setting it up for success in every way
teach these tips to your team have them
watch this video and then role play play
with the scenario over and over again
with them so that they get used to it
and more comfortable to opening the sale
with someone and working to create a
relationship with that new raving fan
that just walked through your door hey
if you found this helpful but you're
thinking kathy
i need to get more people in my store
that's my problem stay tuned because i
have a couple videos for you that you're
going to love and don't forget to
subscribe with the bell for more tips
tools and strategies so that i can help
you improve your profits sleep better
and become a richer retailer
happy retailing
[Music]
you
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