“Thanks for shopping; come again!”
Posted By Amanda Collins on August 5, 2010
When you walk through the mall, you’ll find greeters at the door of the best-managed stores. WalMart is known for its greeters. While you might think it’s just a job for retirees, the greeter serves a vital purpose in the retail world: to reduce theft and build the customer experience. Small business owners can learn a great deal from these greeters.
While most entrepreneurs don’t need to consider loss prevention (unless you have a storefront, of course), customer relations are at the core of repeat and referral business. From the moment a potential client interacts with the company, he is making a series of decisions on what the future will hold. Think about the many ways clients can first learn about you: in person, through word of mouth, advertising, Web site, or telephone. In each of these, you should be saying, “Welcome to [company]; how are you today?” Are you welcoming potential customers?
The other key component of a greeter is to thank the customer for coming and ask them to return. Too many people miss this step. While the initial contact seems like a no-brainer, the post-sale communication seems to fall by the wayside. Are you thanking your customers for doing business with you? I don’t mean implying; I mean literally thanking them. I send a thank-you card and, of course, add them to my drip-marketing campaign.
Remember that your first impression sets the tone while your last impression lingers. Make sure that you’re focusing on both—and everything in between—and you may be surprised at the results.