By
Bob Phibbs
Some amount of juggling customers is necessary for any retail store looking to provide customer service.
Unless your model is self-service, everyone from your cashiers to your manager to your retail salesperson must weigh and prioritize multiple customers' needs in the blink of an eye.
Just as juggling too many balls can overtax the best juggler, there are a finite number of customers that a single employee can properly handle.
Once that limit is reached, no one benefits. The customers are unhappy, the employee is stressed, and the business suffers.
If you have a tiny 300 sq. foot boutique, your size limits this issue, but there are a lot of retailers out there working on two-person coverage - or even one- to cover 3,000, 4,000, and higher square footage stores.
You're kidding yourself if you think they can adequately deliver the customer service aspect of your business.
You must balance the time you give each customer with the number of people in the store.
Your crew needs to limit the time they speak with each customer when the store is slammed, or you'll frustrate other shoppers who only need to be recognized and greeted to feel appreciated.
Here are some areas to focus on getting shoppers' needs met.
The Checkout Line
It's been said that the last place you want to delay a customer is when they are waiting to pay you. While this is true to a certain point, it also misses the mark a bit. Once customers have found their items, they are considerably less stressed, and while a line may be inconvenient, most customers will not get too upset if it keeps moving.
The problem arises when the cashier is given too many responsibilities other than simply checking customers out. If they are also tasked with answering the phone, greeting customers, pitching a service warranty or rewards program along with any of the other myriad duties that management feels can be fulfilled in the cashier’s downtime, like stocking shelves, there has to be a problem with customer service.
And giving them a shiny new iPad won't change that.
Learn What’s Important To Train A Retail Manager
The Sales Process
Similarly, retail associates assigned to work on the sales floor must be trained to prioritize serving. Assigning them additional duties such as stocking, “facing,” or cleaning is worthwhile, but not when management implies or says that the assigned duty is more important than delivering exceptional customer service.
If your customer is ignored so that these procedures can be completed and only engaged when they are at the counter, your staff is missing the point.
And you're leaving money on the table.
Who Should Juggle
Juggling indicates that the customers should figuratively be “touched” quickly and then moved on. Ideally, customers must be handled to whatever degree necessary to ensure their satisfaction in line with your store volume.
For example, on a busy Saturday afternoon, your employees don't have the luxury of chatting with a sporting goods customer about their favorite place to fish like it was a dead Tuesday morning. They have to juggle customers a bit.
Your manager’s job is to observe situations, look for the bottlenecks, and then deploy the right assets in the right places. They should know who is waiting for an order, who hasn't been greeted, and who is on break next.
This process means that a store manager should rarely be seen behind a register ringing up customers.
Your manager should walk the sales floor, check on customers, and get ahead of any potential problems. Prioritizing or juggling is the main job of a good manager.
The Bottom Line
Balancing the conflicting needs of low payroll and excellent customer service will always be daunting. Upper management must recognize the need for adequate, if not ample, employees in a location to provide good customer service properly.
If they don’t, sales and profit will steadily decline. And, if their customers start searching elsewhere for superior service, the business will enter a downward spiral from which it probably will never recover.
I'm sure, like me, you can already name names...
