Deliver consistent brand experiences

- Selling happens when you deliver a consistent and remarkable customer experience. As a retail sales manager, it's up to you to ensure the customer experience is consistent for all customers. If you look at any thriving retail business in any industry, whether they're selling shoes or jewelry or burgers, it doesn't matter. The ones that thrive and succeed are the ones that deliver a remarkable customer experience. Here are four key strategies to consider when thinking about your customer experience from a retail sales management point of view. First, remember that your customer-facing people are the single most important point of contact with your customers. Happier employees will lead to happier customers. You need to motivate your team and you need to encourage them and engage them positively if you want them to deliver a great experience. Second, remember the power of first impressions. I had a job once where the owner would go crazy if customers weren't greeted the moment they walked in. This became part of what we did. We consistently smiled, made eye contact, and immediately engaged the customer. If we didn't, we would be disciplined. But over time, we learned this was a great way to kickstart a positive experience for the customers. Third, become great listeners. We all want to sell and drive more people to the cash register, but one of the most important things you can do is train your people to become better listeners, to diagnose the situation before they prescribe a solution. Remember, logic makes people think, but emotions make them act. People buy with their hearts. It's important for us to tap into this, and we do this by encouraging our people to be great listeners. Finally, create a customer experience map. Take the time and map out or list in order what happens from the moment a customer first comes into contact with your business to the moment they actually become a paying customer, and what happens after that? How are they greeted when they come in? Or how are the phones answered? What happens at the cash register when they're checking out? What information are you trying to capture? What's the first email they get after a purchase? These four strategies can go a long way to creating and driving a great customer experience. It doesn't need to be difficult, but one of the biggest problems is many businesses are just too inconsistent. It's good sometimes, not as good the next, and bad another. These are why so many businesses have such a mixed bag of online reviews. You're better off taking specific steps to become consistently good, which is better than being occasionally great.