Making Clients Comfortable
Continued education and a willingness to share knowledge are two essential aspects to closing the sale.
In this month’s Industry Awards feature, John Mueller, owner of Retailer of the Year Laketown Speed and Sound, discusses how he and his team educate customers, offering knowledge which eventually transforms them into repeat clients. Thinking about my own experience as a customer, I felt heartened by this approach. Everyone has different needs, but we all want a positive experience. Creating that experience in a retail environment, especially when it comes to making clients comfortable and undoing damage from any previous negative experiences, takes hard work and continued education. In our industry, a retail store that invests in its employees and remains committed to attending trainings will be better poised to offer that experience to its clients. How does your store support its customers?
Shaping a business through customer support
I remember being met with silence one day when I asked a question in an automotive repair shop. I’d gone there because I needed something done that I couldn’t do myself at home. The man behind the counter admitted he didn’t want to answer my question because he preferred to keep information private to “the trade.” After I told him I used to work in a garage and had a degree in automotive technology, he warmed up a little, but as a customer, I no longer felt welcome. An immediate distrust of the business began to grow within me, and I questioned going there for support.
How could this have been handled differently? What kind of support or education should a business offer to a DIY client? How might the way in which you respond shape a future relationship, and what kind of experience are you providing? It’s possible everyone has different answers, and that’s okay. What works for one business may not work for another. I tend to believe that when it comes to sharing information, a retailer shouldn’t be afraid to do so—after all, the client will only wind up feeling more comfortable with you. After that, they’ll keep coming back.
Education has never been more important than it is now
John Mueller shared something else that stuck with me. In the Retailer of the Year cover feature, he relayed an experience in which an industry colleague said “no one cares” about training events any longer. It brought me back to previous KnowledgeFest events, when I met attendees who showed up on the very last day. I handed them badges and told them about the education sessions they still had a chance to attend. They shook their heads, indicating they weren’t interested. Did they feel they didn’t need it, that it wasn’t necessary? They’d only come to visit the show floor, they said. Where they might’ve seen a waste of time, I saw a missed opportunity. Take advantage of educational opportunities. The way in which you obtain new information will impact how you communicate with your clients—or, how you don’t.
In our industry, a retail store that invests in its employees and remains committed to attending trainings will be better poised to offer a positive experience. How does your store support its customers?
