Talking to customers - points of no control??

retail's a funny business - we put the most junior staff in front of our most valuabel asset - the customer. How do you make sure those customer contact points are not points of no control?

The Point of no Control

These days, its rare if ones hopes of a great customer shopping experience match ones expectations.

We still hope to be greeted warmly and promptly; helped when we need help; treated with courtesy and respect, as a valued customer and thanked for our business.

Sadly, our expectations tend towards having trouble attracting the attention of a sales person; being treated with indifference; getting poor sales advice; and being left for ages at the till to pay.

The interaction between a customer and a salesperson is really a point of no control" for the sales management of that business. The Sales Director or Head of Sales should ignore management of the point of no control" at their peril.

From the moment the customer enters the store, the Head of Sales takes on full responsibility for getting the sale. The Marketing team have done their bit, and the Supply Chain guys should have the product waiting in the right place.

If the Head of Sales can predict with a high degree of accuracy how each customer interaction will go, how likely sales conversion will be and the probability of repeat and recommended business, then the wait for the weekends sales figures will be a much less stressful experience.

Managing the point of no control" requires a refocus on all aspects of people management in the stores -- from staff profiling through recruitment, induction, training, target setting, performance management, communications, reward and recognition.

Given the gap between customer hope and expectation, my guess is that point of no control" management has not figured too high up the agenda of many High Street (and especially Retail Park) retailers. Im not saying that all people management areas are neglected everywhere, rather that there is precious little evidence of an effective, all-embracing strategy towards the whole issue of sales people management, wherever I go shopping.

Ensuring recruited staff are most likely to give payback on their induction and early training costs; providing common-sense behavioural and attitudinal coaching to all staff and store management; maximising motivational levels of store staff -- all of these things are crucial in pointing a retailer towards meeting a customers hopes, rather than just their expectations, and so give clear sky between them and their competitors.

Sales Culture can help make interacting with your customers a successful activity for you, through a variety of sales management techniques and behavioural processes.