Think of Each Customer as the Reason you Opened the Store

"How are you?"

We hear it 50 times a day. More than that? Depends on where we are. If we are entering a store, the greeting "How are you?" is a phrase we have heard at least a half-dozen times so far today, and this greeter surely doesn't care, any more than the previous six, about how we are.

"Can I help you?" is just as lame. For the shopper, the question is hard to answer. For the hourly employee at a big box store, it's the only greeting in the handbook.

On the other hand, a greeting should be personal to the individual and assure the shopper that he or she has come to the right place. It helps if the store has useful information to share and helps the visitor feel familiar -- not like a stranger. A vac shop with a diverse product line -- More to Offer -- has a distinct advantage: a fresh message to share.

"The big advantage we have as independent dealers and distributors is the unique relationships we have with our customers," said Rob Wheelock, chief operating officer of VCP International. "When we customize the greeting to fit the person, the occasion, or any sort of mutual expectations, we benefit from that advantage."

The Dallas Morning News recently reported the results of a shopping trip by Garrett Boone, owner of the regional Container Store chain. Boone went from store to store, big shops and small, with a virtually unlimited budget and a lot of personal interests. Boone told the newspaper that if he could, he would ban forever the greetings, "How are you doing today?" and "Can I help you find anything?"

Boone explained that the lines are so overused they have become meaningless, and potential customers dismiss them and the people who utter them.

At a specific store offering expensive men's apparel and in another with high-end housewares, Boone walked in and received no greeting. People who might have made sales with a little effort and some imagination lost his interest and his purchase because they either lingered beside their cash registers or didn't observe him long enough to recognize what interested him and then to respond accordingly.

A salesman in another store complimented Boone on the hat he was wearing, and the personal interest led to a sale. In one store, Boone was looking at sunglasses. The clerk approached and asked if he needed lenses to fit his favorite frames or wished to buy a combination of lenses and frames. The second approach amounted to a compliment because it acknowledged the shopper's grasp of the concepts of high-end eyewear.

Wheelock said, "Instead of an empty greeting, try this: 'Good morning! I hope you saw our sale flyer' and offer them a copy."

If the customer looks familiar add a "Welcome back," and better yet a name, if you recognize the person.

Don't have a flyer? VCP as well as many manufacturers help dealers by providing the elements they need to find or make their own custom flyers to support sales and special offerings.

"People visit stores where they are comfortable," Wheelock reminded. "Just like Mr. Boone, retailers can learn a lot about what works by putting themselves in the place of their customers. To get some insight, we go to stores that offer things that interest us, and then pay attention to what makes us feel like our visit matters."

Speaking of shopping, Wheelock has some go-to's on the Web that he considers helpful for all of us who serve customers for a living.

A favorite is www.businessknowhow.com, and a good current article there is Jeff Mowatt's "For Openers, Five greetings that boost sales to walk-in visitors." Like Wheelock and Boone, Mowatt lists some turnoff greetings and offers several useful rules of thumb to test whether your own customer greeting is effective.

"If we don't have them from 'hello,' it will be a real struggle to serve a potential customer," Wheelock said. "VCP is emphasizing our 'More to Offer' theme these days because we truly believe that a diversity of product offerings is a natural way to attract shoppers, to greet them with some useful information and to send them on their way satisfied with the purchases they have made and resolved to come back again soon."

In addition to its huge selection of vacuums and other floor care machines, VCP offers product lines in the personal and property security arena and the Casabella, Akro-Mills and other product categories to help its dealers diversify the merchandise they offer, building traffic, sustaining loyalty and boosting profits at a critical time.

There are many ways a sales person can make the shopper's experience satisfying and worth repeating, according to Wheelock. He said, "When I think of each visitor as the reason why I opened the store this morning, I give that person my full attention and the benefit of what I know and can do for them. If they get my interest and respect, I get their business. Fair trade."

Reprinted from Floor Care Professional, April 2010