Wednesday, September 12, 2012

Customer Contact: Putting Your Best Face Forward (Action Wednesday/People)



Hello, I’m Jim Glover, That Branding Guy, for Once a Day Marketing™.  Today is Action Wednesday and we are going to talk about simple things you and your team can do to enhance your brand.

If you’ve been following Once a Day Marketing™ you know that I talk about a brand being simply everything and that it resides in the minds of your customers.  The first impression a customer has with your front line employees is critical to having your brand perceived as good as it can possibly be.  Next we are going to discuss a few tips you can implement to enhance the interaction between your staff and your customers.

I could talk for hours about actions to enhance your customers’ experience; I will only share a few here.  Your assignment for Action Wednesday is to develop a list of items related to your particular business.

One thing that is sure to leave a poor impression is for a customer to walk into a business and not be acknowledged.  When the staff doesn’t say hello or let the potential customer know they will be right with them, a customer will not feel valued.  Another negative experience along the same lines is walking in when two employees are chatting among themselves and continue that discussion rather than addressing their customer.

If you have employees that smoke, ensure they take their smoke break away from the front door of your business and out of sight of customers.  Having the customer walk through a cloud of smoke to get to your front door will detract from your brand.

To make a positive impression, have your staff practice putting a smile in their voice when they talk to customers, it sets an upbeat tone for the interaction and creates a pleasant atmosphere.  Customers don’t care if your employee is having a bad day and that is something that should not be shared.

The last is a simple gesture; acknowledge your customers’ departure.  That happened to me just today at the bank.  As I was leaving some who was not waiting on me said sir, have a great day.  It made me feel good as I was leaving, a simple thing to do and enhance the brand at the same time.

In the future consider various actions, especially cost effective items, you can implement and your team can rally around, to enhance your brand when you have that face to face encounter with your customers.

That concludes Action Wednesday.  Join us tomorrow for Recon Thursday.  To discuss an online or face to face service engagement and enhance the marketing and branding for your organization, contact James Glover: (505) 501-1330 or onceadaymarketing@gmail.com.  I’m Jim Glover, That Branding Guy, for Once a Day Marketing™ and we’ll see you next time.

© 2012 Once a Day Marketing™.  All rights reserved.

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