BEANS, BACON, BOLOGNA,
AND BEAUTY
PRODUCTS
America's Favorite Retailers Have One Thing In Common - Great
Customer Service
One of the first jobs I held was with
K-Mart. Back then K-mart was one of the top retailers in the country.
I was proud of the fact of all the people working at our store, I
generated more sales than any other person.
My success was based on one thing. I
was good at announcing the "Blue Light Specials." Most people reading
this probably won't know what a Blue Light Special is, but when I made
my announcements shoppers came running to my department with money in
their hand. That was a long time ago and things have really changed
since then. Now K-mart is at the bottom of the heap.
In May 2007, Quality Digest completed a
customer satisfaction survey of the best and worst retailers as ranked
by consumers. Here are the results.
|
TOP 10
Wegmans
Trader Joe's
Nordstrum
Publix
Amazon.com
Kohl's
Whole Foods Market
Costco
Barnes and Noble
Bath and Body Works |
BOTTOM 10
Dick's Sporting Goods
Sears
Best Buy
Albertson's
Big Lots
Circuit
City
7-Eleven
Home Depot
K-Mart |
In addition to ranking the best and
worst retailers, the survey analyzed the primary reasons shoppers choose
one retailer over the other. As a business consultant who specializes
in hiring, service, and employee retention, I consider this as the most
important aspect of the survey.
Consumer trends and brands change
rapidly. What is popular today becomes history tomorrow. However,
there are two factors that consistently build customer loyalty, no
matter what business you are in.
Which is more important--the price of
the product, or the shopping experience? Quality Digest asked people to
choose between two factors that would cause them to recommend a store to
others. The first factor was "value" which equates to the feeling they
"got their money's worth." The other factor was the "shopping
experience" which included a gamut of elements such as friendliness,
helpfulness of employees, checkout lines, cleanliness, and location of
the product.
Front Line Employees
Provide the Key to High Customer Satisfaction Scores
In the end, the number one reason people
choose a retailer is the "shopping experience." The survey further
showed the major contributor to the shopping experience was "employee
helpfulness." Value and price are important, but in this survey as well
as others, the number one reason shoppers come back over and over again
is the shopping experience.
Hiring good employees and then training
them on good customer service skills remains the driving force of either
creating a positive or negative experience.
Trader Joe's is a different kind of
grocery store that provides both value and a pleasing shopping
experience. Coming in at #2 on the list, these stores are growing
rapidly in popularity. One interesting customer service technique one
store uses is the Trader Joe's Fearless Flyer. This unique marketing
tool generated an additional $40,000 of business during one weekend.
Visit my blog at
http://chartcourse.blogspot.com and see the Trader Joe's video
discussing the flyer.
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
Service First Videos
Need a good frontline customer service
training program? We are in the process of revamping and reshooting our
videos. Once the new videos are completed, the price will increase by
$400. You can wait and order the new program later or take advantage of
the current price. Go to this page to see samples of the videos:
http://www.chartcourse.com/servicevideo.htm
Greg Smith's cutting-edge keynotes,
consulting, and training programs have helped businesses reduce
turnover, increase sales, hire better people and deliver better customer
service. As President of Chart Your Course International he has
implemented professional development programs for hundreds of
organizations globally. He has authored eight informative books
including 401 Proven Ways
to Retain Your Best Employees.
For more information, visit
www.ChartCourse.com or call (770) 860-9464.
