Impressing patrons is the secret to a good business, and it is what sets a business apart from a failure. Your products do not alone make up your entire success - you, as the person running the business, is also partly responsible for it. In short, even if you sell top-of-the-line products, if you do not know how to entice customers to come back, then you fail.
So how do you charm your way into your customer's heart (and wallet)? Here are a few tips on how to impress.
Be upbeat, enthusiastic and positive. Have you noticed how a "greeter" is assigned near the entrance of your favorite fastfood store? Well, there is a reason why they're there. It is an inherent human quality to want to feel welcome at any place they visit. The first 30 seconds a customer walks in your store are the crucial moments that dictate whether they will stay or leave. It is important to appear upbeat - yes, even if you have your own share of problems - when dealing with a customer. Enthusiasm shows a patron that you are glad to serve him, and that nothing else matters but his satisfaction.
If you want your customer to be enthusiastic to do business with you, you must also be as enthusiastic to serve him and make him happy. Try to develop a pleasant standard greeting, flash your pearly whites (and try to look sincere when doing so) and extend your hand for a good and firm handshake. This makes a customer feel welcome, yet assure him of professional treatment. If you, however, are not too familiar with a relatively new client, don't try to be too chummy, because this gives the impression that you will not treat a customer with utmost professionalism, but rather as a close friend (whom people often take for granted). Learn to strike a delicate balance between a business relationship and a friendship, professionalism versus aloofness, and being upbeat as opposed to being overly enthusiastic.
Keep both the workplace and the staff looking good. Take a good look around your office or shop. Is it as spic and span as possible, or does it leave much to be desired? No customer wants to do business with an office space that looks as though a bunch of disorderly and scatterbrained people are running it. The dirtier the workplace, the more like it is likely to lose precious things, valuable data, and the dirtier the products (literally) for sale will be. It is also hard to concentrate in a messy workplace. If you have a dirty office, most probably, your employees are irritable and short-tempered.
Clutter causes the mind to be disoriented, thus affecting work. We are not suggesting that you remodel your office and purchase expensive furniture, because even the most costly furniture and the newest offices can get dirty when a whole staff of messy people work in it. Just take a predetermined half-hour or so each day to clean up the workplace to help encourage a positive attitude among your employees.
It is not only your physical office space that needs to look good - your people need to look good too. One definite pet peeve is walking into a shop or office and seeing people in rubber shoes, slippers and tank tops manning the place. Unless your shop is on a beach. or slippers and tank tops are what you sell, there simply is no excuse for tolerating half-dressed staff members in your office. Impose a Monday to Friday office attire (or uniforms, perhaps), and a dress-down Friday - but no slippers and tank tops, please. If you have very competent people who generally dislike following rules, schedule an in-house grooming seminar - teaching them the value of bathing daily, always washing their hair and properly combing, as well as tips on the proper way to dress for the office. It's always so nice to deal with staff that look professional and well-put-together - it's like they really put value in themselves in order to look and smell great for their customers.
Get to know your customer. Nothing can be more impressive than a business owner who takes time out to get to know his customers. It's like making them feel that they are important, and that their own personal lives are important also. Familiarise yourself with a customer's name, job, general place of residence, birthday, children, hobbies and even their pets! Especially when you already have a long-standing relationship with your client base, treat them as friends, not as nameless visitors.
This is different with the case stated on tip #1, where being too chummy with new customers is not recommended. Always remember that people generally feel more confident to entrust their hard-earned money to people they are familiar with. To reciprocate, allow you customers into your life as well. Share stories about your children, and maybe your own climb from school to mogul. You will find that once you have successfully established friendships with your customers, you will feel as though each workday is like going to a neighborhood party, where everything is enjoyable - and not just a means to earn money.
Under-promise to over-deliver. When you rave too much about your products and services, your customers will constantly expect to get what you promised. The trick in impressing customers is to under-promise, meaning, don't promise too much, and then go all-out in carrying out your promise. This gives the impression that you constantly working hard to give customers more than promised - thus making you the "excellent one." Even in business, it pays to not be such a braggart - you will only be putting yourself and your business under scrutiny when you do so.
However difficult any of these tips may be to you, remember that customers keep your business afloat. Whether you like it or not, you need to impress them, In order to convince them to keep coming back. Make a few adjustments in order to enjoy a world of difference for your business.
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