How service impacts sales

- Great customer service can be the catalyst to driving sales. If you want to compete in this new crazy world of retail, you need to set yourself apart and you need to provide a compelling reason for customers to take the added steps of doing business with you versus doing it with somebody else. It doesn't matter if you're selling in a brick and mortar shop, or if your retail business is online. The concepts are the same. Simply, great service impact sales positively, and poor service impacts sales negatively. Make no mistake about it. Today's customer is more willing than ever to share negative experiences with the world. But they're also willing to share the positive experiences, too. Here's how to influence the positive experiences that customers love to share. First impressions are everything, whether it's in the real world or online, that first point of contact is everything. The speed of response or the speed in which I get help for my challenges or the time it takes me to be addressed, or the feeling that the person I'm talking to truly cares about my needs and interests. Make sure your first impressions are on point and your people understand that the start of the experience is one of the most single most important points of the entire customer experience. Provide quick solutions. People want things fast. This is the reality of the new world we live in. People want things resolved quickly or they want to get to the heart of the matter as fast as possible. In customer service situations, one of the absolute worse things we can do is pass customers around from person to person trying to find a solution. Speed is of the essence. Consider the big picture. Look, nobody wants a negative review, or a negative story about them. But people are far more willing to share the negative than they are to share the positive. It's best to stay calm and try and resolve any specific service situations as quickly as possible, provided their complaints, criticisms, or concerns are valid. The faster you can move from a specific customer service challenge, the better it is for your business. Recognize the positive things you do. There's a simple exercise I do with a number of my clients called the Hierarchy of Wonders. Here's how it works: sit with all of your employees and your customer service reps and just ask everybody to share specific examples that they've done that have created the most positive impact with your customers over the past few months. Ask them to share anything. Like most of my clients, you're probably going to hear some really interesting examples that you didn't know your people were doing. Use this as an opportunity to see if some of the experiences shared can be part of your daily practices. There may be adjustments needed in your policies or the way you do business. Understand that service is the total driver to retail sales success. You need to keep your eye on the target all the time but you need to take a proactive approach to providing amazing experiences for all customers.