Smile!

Customer service is important to your garden center because first impressions matter -- a lot! The employee greeting your customers and answering your phone is the most important person in your store from a customer service standpoint as they are the first contact with your customers. They must make your customers smile!

Sadly, amazing customer service has become the exception, not the norm. Poor customer service costs U.S. businesses an estimated $83 billion a year, according to Genesys. While 80% of companies think they’re providing superior service, customers say only 8% are hitting the mark (Bain and Company).

Here are three quick and easy critical customer service techniques you and your staff can implement today to start delighting your customers to keep them smiling, coming back, and telling all their friends.
 

1. Smile at customers

When a customer enters your business or office, greet them promptly and politely – just as you would greet a guest in your home.

Here’s how:

1. Smile. Make it a warm, genuine, heartfelt smile.
2. Look your customer in the eye and say “Hello!” Speak in a warm, upbeat, and friendly manner.

This may sound basic, but you’d be surprised how many businesses fail to greet their customers properly. According to Malcolm Gladwell, author of Blink, first impressions occur instantaneously or within two seconds. A simple smile and friendly “hello” are extremely powerful and can mean the difference between a customer spending their money with you (and possibly becoming a customer for life) and walking out the door to spend it with your competition.

In The New York Times bestseller Buyology, Martin Lindstrom discusses “The Smile Study.” Its bottom line? A smile from a salesperson leads to more sales.

Is your business smiling? A positive first impression sets the tone and dynamics for all future interactions and transactions. It can make all the difference in the world in increasing sales and transforming customer service!
 

2. Acknowledge new customers – even when you’re busy

How many times have you walked into a business and been ignored? There are countless stories of people waiting around at a store or business fully intending to make a purchase and many times a substantial one. After failing to be acknowledged, they simply leave and spend their money elsewhere. Don’t let this happen to you!

If you’re busy with a customer and someone else comes in, immediately acknowledge the new customer.

Here’s how:

1. Smile.
2. Greet the new customer with a warm “Hello!”
3. Look them in the eye and say: “I’ll be right with you” or “I’ll be with you in a few minutes, as soon as I finish up with my customer.”

Then, when you do get to them, say: “Thank you so much for waiting! What exactly can I help you with today?”

Or, if you know you’re going to be tied up for a while, say: “Hello, I’m with a customer, let me get someone to assist you.” Then excuse yourself for a moment with your current customer and find someone to help the new customer.

And if you’re working with more than one customer at a time and need to check in with someone else, excuse yourself briefly by saying, “Excuse me for a moment – I’m just going to check on another customer. I’ll be right back.”

You’ll find that, in most cases, both customers will be impressed with your service!
 

3. Answer the phone with a smile

When you answer the phone at your place of business, you’re the first point of contact with your prospects and customers. It’s critical that you make a great first impression.

How do you find the right tone? It’s simple — smile as you answer the phone.

You may not realize it, but a smile totally changes the tone of your voice and “shines through” the phone line. Try it and you’ll see — your happy, smiling voice will delight your customers and create a positive impression of you and your business!

Here’s how

1. Smile and say: “Good morning (or afternoon or evening)!” Be sure to speak clearly.
2. State the complete name of your business, or say: “Welcome to [your complete business name].”
3. Say: “This is [your name]. How may I help you?”

Be upbeat, warm, inviting, and genuine — greet customers just as you would greet a guest in your home.

Let’s use the example of a hypothetical company called Burton’s Chocolates. When the phone rings, here’s how most businesses answer

“Burton’s Chocolates!”

If you were a customer on the other end of the line, looking to spend your hard-earned dollars on a gift for someone you love, how would this greeting make you feel?

Now, let’s try it the right way: “Good afternoon (or “Good morning” or “Good evening”), Burton’s Chocolates. This is Pam. How may I help you?”

See and feel the difference?

In the first example, it’s as if the company doesn’t care about you, the customer. You may not even feel like you’re being greeted (because you’re not). The second greeting, by contrast, draws you in with a warm and professional welcome. It feels as if the person answering the phone is eager to serve you. Which business would you rather call?

Here are a few other pointers for amazing customer service over the phone:

1. Try to answer the phone within two rings, and definitely within three.

2. Call the customer by name when possible.

3. Always thank the customer for calling.

Parts excerpted from Smile: Sell More with Amazing Customer Service, Copyright © 2013 by Kirt Manecke. Kirt Manecke is the author of the award-winning book Smile: Sell More with Amazing Customer Service – The Essential 60-Minute Crash Course. He is the founder and former owner of an award-winning specialty retail business in Michigan. Visit SmiletheBook.com.