A. The most effective change you can make won’t cost you a dime. Have a training session(s) with your employees and teach them the advantages of maintaining a pleasant and positive attitude. Ensure that every customer who comes into your store is greeted with a friendly smile and courteous salutation and is provided genuine, interested assistance and never leaves, with or without a purchase, without being thanked and asked to return.

In today’s world far too often we are ignored when entering a store and seldom given voluntary help when looking for an item. Instead we have to ask for help and then be subjected to indifferent, curt responses or, in some cases, actually ignored. In today’s business climate example after example show that common courtesy and customer appreciation is either non-existent or rapidly declining. Consider the many circumstances where the treatment you received left you with a feeling that you never wanted to visit that facility again or that you were being taken for granted, i.e.,

• You go to the grocery store and can’t find an item so you go to the "customer service" counter where anyone of the following may occur--- the employees behind the counter are having a discussion between themselves and completely ignore you until they have completed their conversation or, should you have the audacity to interrupt and ask for help, you will be the recipient of a cold, hard stare and an "ice cold" ‘Yes, may I help you’? After which, should you feel an inclination to say "Thank you", you seldom if ever will get a "You’re welcome" response. Rather you get an indifferent, "No problem" response.
• Frequently you read in the "Whine and Dine" column in the newspaper of people going to a restaurant and being taken to a table by the hostess and then sitting for a considerable period of time while being completely ignored. During such times their efforts to get the attention of some of the wait staff are met by a staff that has all gone deaf, dumb and blind. If the customer ultimately goes to the reception area and complains to the hostess, who in turns seeks out a waiter and directs them to their table, they are served by a waiter who is now upset, irritable and, to say the least, not pleased to be their server.
• On a recent visit to a major hardware chain store I went to investigate the details of a rather expensive item. I found the item but was having trouble understanding the guide as to which models were available in which colors, trim, etc. I went to seek help and found the person in charge wrestling with some type of computer problem. I said "excuse me" several times and finally he looked up and said "what do you want"? I explained my problem to which he advised that I could go home and look the manufacturer up on the computer and the get the details I needed. If I had wanted to do this I would have never gone to this store to begin with but I happened to feel I needed to see this item not some picture on a computer screen. Needless to say I left this store, went to a competitive store, got what I wanted and you can be sure I’ll not return to the initial store again.

The other day during a break at one of our seminars, a conversation involving the poor attitude of many retailers and their employees was taking place and it was astounding the numerous examples people were relating regarding the problems they had experienced at banks, drug stores, book stores, restaurants, grocery stores, etc., etc. Time after time individuals related they had changed their place of doing business or had reported such instances to the establishment’s management only to receive similar, indifferent responses from them. Some had taken the time to write the home office about the lack of courtesy they had received and in return received either no response or some type of form letter. In only one instance did anyone receive a letter thanking them for reporting the lack of courteous treatment and advising they would make every effort to correct such inappropriate activity.

I think you can see that if you address this important phase of your operation in a complete and effective manner, you will indeed have a distinct marketing advantage over most, if not all, of your competition.