How to Walk the Floor and Talk to Customers

This may seem a strange topic to introduce. Yet, it is the most under-used skill by many retail managers, but one of the most important roles in their supervision.

1. You Are the Maitre of Your Business

Your role is take that of a maitre d'hotel. You should meet your guests (customers), welcome them and ensure they leave with a positive feeling about your business. You should set aside at least one hour a day to walk the store and talk to customers.

2. Overcoming Embarrassment

Many owners will not walk the floor and talk to customers because they get embarrassed starting a conversation. If this applies to you, then take out a sample of products and ask customers to try them. This always starts a conversation and then you can ask them what they think about your store.

3. Clean the Tables

An alternative approach is to clean the tables in a restaurant or work on bag filling at the checkout. These are ideal locations to start a conversation and really find out what customers are thinking about your store.

4. Walking The Floor Should Be Done Openly

When walking the floor introduce yourself to the customer as the owner. Get them to provide you with ideas on how they believe you could improve the service to your customers.

5. Vary The Time Of Day You Walk The Store

It used to be traditional for owners to walk the store at opening time. This is still a strong tradition in Japan where it still is a very formal arrangement. You will gain more from varying the time of day that you actually walk around. This will enable you to meet different customers and see your team and store at different activity points.

6. How Much Time Should You Spend On The Floor

Some of the leading retailers spend as much as 20% of their time walking the store. They also believe this is the most important and enjoyable part of their working week.

7. Feed Back The Ideas

Make sure you feed back comments to your team. Remember, praise in public, reprimand in private. Your team will be interested in your comment. Make sure they are aware of why your walking the floor. Make sure you talk to them as you walk the floor. This will relax them and make them feel your part of their team.

Management Memo

A message from McDonald's

One day while on his way back to the office from an important lunch in the best restaurant in town, Ray Kroc, owner of the McDonald's chain in the United States, asked his driver to pass through a few McDonald's car parks. In one he spotted papers caught up in shrubs along the outer fence.

He immediately went to the nearest pay phone, called his office to get the name of the manager, then called the manager to offer to help him pick up the offending rubbish.

Both the owner of the McDonald's chain in his expensive business suit and the young manager met in the carpark and got down on their hands and knees to pick up the paper.

As managers we are frequently more interested in the activity inside our business premises than in the building's outside appearance. The appearance of your building and it's surrounds is at the front line of your organisation's public image ? as Ray Kroc was well aware.

About The Author

John Stanley is a conference speaker and retail consultant with over 20 years experience in 15 countries. He regularly contributes to retail magazines around the world and has authored several successful marketing and retail books including the best seller Just About Everything a Retail Manager Needs to Know. Visit www.johnstanley.cc

---

At the Carwash; The Customer really is always Right

You have no doubt heard the saying that the customer is always right. When you are a customer you happy with this position, when you are the... Read More

How To Build Stellar Client Relationships

Your opportunity to build a stellar client relationship starts with managing the gap between your perception of how things are going and your client's.Begin the process here... Read More

Develop Loyal Customers for a Lifetime ? part 2 (11 ? 20)

Traditional marketing strategies encourage business owners to continually grow their businesses by adding new customers. In today's competitive world of business, it is more important than ever... Read More

One of the Secrets of a Great Customer Experience

A few weeks ago we conducted our annual "Customer Experience Study Tour" in London England. This is where we take delegates to visit a number of leading... Read More

How to Transform Your Voicemail into an Effective Medium of Communication

"Hi this is Randy. Leave me a message after the beep and I'll get back to you as soon as possible. Thanks and have a great day."Garbage.This... Read More

The Death of the Loyal Customer

One of my classes in management focused on the repeat customer. The course stressed the importance of the repeat customer to the financial welfare of the business.... Read More

Difficult Customers - Theres No Such Thing

A couple of years ago I had a call from a Customer Service Manager working in the paper industry. He wanted me to run a seminar for... Read More

CRM = Customers (dont) Really Matter

CRM was supposed to bring companies closer to their clients. The basic idea was to; find out what a client wants and needs, give it to them,... Read More

Whatever Happened To Customer Service?

Do you remember the last time you went into a shop and the person 'serving' raced over to you, greeted you with a lovely smile, heaps of... Read More

Basic Levels of Consumer Integrity that Presently Permeates Society

Reality is not always pretty. But here is a tad bit of it for you today. Well here is an interesting occurrence that is of interest. And... Read More

Over Deliver - The Key to Customer Satisfaction

Client satisfaction starts with meeting or beating the contractual obligations of the relationship. There are also some intangibles that can help you to over deliver to a... Read More

Stand Out in Business the Write Way

When was the last time you received a handwritten note from a business associate? It may be that it was too long ago for you to remember.... Read More

Service Equals Performance Equals Service

Service can be described as a "performance" of some kind involving two parties whereby one party is the benefactor and the other party is the performing party... Read More

Mexico: Online Ordering?Dont!

I got it into my head sometime in December 2004 that I wanted order a laptop computer. I thought I would get one from the hugely popular... Read More

Increase in Customer Sales = Increase in Customer Service

One of the most popular questions asked in online business forums or even by my customers and subscribers is this :"How the hell can I increase my... Read More

Customer Service Consultants

When all else fails in your company to meet the needs of your customer consider a customer service consultant. If you find that agents in your company... Read More

How To Build a Profitable Business

It's never too soon to start saying thanks to your clients, vendors and referral sources for what they contribute to your business. Everyone loves to be appreciated... Read More

What Every Manager Should Know About How to Prevent Customer Service Conflicts

There are five techniques that have been proven to be effective in resolving, minimizing, and preventing conflicts. And by conflicts I am referring to any of the... Read More

4 Customer Service Mistakes Companies Should Avoid Making

1) Being placed on hold endlessly. Don't you just love it when you call a company and they place you on hold, leaving you to listen to... Read More

How Do You Create Customer Loyalty?

Another sad fact of life is that these days, very few customers are loyal. Most of their loyalties lie with their bank accounts, and you can't blame... Read More

10 Customer Service Quality Statements to Measure up Against

It might sound quick and simple, to say how well your business does in satisfying it's customers. Hearing such as:-"We're increasing our turnover by 14% year to... Read More

How To Use Your Current Customers

Jay instructed a customer of his to offer a rare coin collection to new customers for just $19. He was actually losing a couple of dollar on... Read More

Renewing Customer Loyalty

Every business loses customers, but not many do much about getting them back. And that is a big mistake. Studies show that the average business looses 20... Read More

Customer Feedback: Everyone has an Opinion - USE IT!

Have you ever been in a department store and known exactly what you were looking for but couldn't locate any staff to help you find it? Think... Read More

Accountability

The Call Center world is an intense pressure-driven environment continually being shaped by pressure to ensure steady profitability and a secure competitive advantage.Accountability and a basic fundamental... Read More

The Number 1 Rule for Businesses - Be Professional

Have you ever walked into a store and things looked sloppy? Stores should have nice neat displays, right? Normally, yes, but sometimes they get a bit messy... Read More