Customer - Top Tips - Customer expectations

Customer Expectations

This document is designed as a quick reference guide to Customer

Expectations

This will enable you to gain knowledge of a particular skill, task or process.

This means you can quickly find the key information that you need and refer to it on an ongoing basis whenever you need to refresh your knowledge.

Introduction

To enable us to achieve our vision “We exist to improve our customer’s games” we must be constantly meeting and exceeding our customers’ expectations.

When customers come into our stores they have certain expectations. They expect to be offered our products, they also expect to be offered our services or support products with passion and fully understand how we will help them improve their game.

In order to exceed our customers’ expectations we need to be improving their shopping experience and ensuring they leave being delighted with all aspects of the experience.

As a member of store management think about how you role model the behaviours of meeting and exceeding customers’ expectations, every action you take every conversation you have will have a direct influence on your store team. When you are on the shop floor either serving or leading it is really important to think about what you’re doing and the impact you’re having not just with the customer but as a manager also with the team.

Customer - Top Tips - Customer expectations

What you need to know

Customers normally become delighted when we under-promise and over deliver.

To over-promise and under-deliver is a recipe for customers to become very dissatisfied.

You cannot assume that you know what a customer's expectations are ... you must ask.

Customer expectations will constantly change so they must be determined on an on-going basis.

As a manager you are a role model in your store, if you are giving world class service it will improve the chances that your store team will. The expectations of different customers for the same product or service will vary according to:

● Social and demographic factors

● economic situation

● educational standards

● competitor products

● Experience & Skill

Therefore, given all these variable factors, it is no surprise that one size certainly does not fit all

First Impressions

Take a look at your store from a customer’s perspective. Customers will be making judgements on your store from the minute they walk through the door.

They will be basing their judgements on:

● Colleague Attitude – Are all your colleagues willing and able to serve our customers? What’s stopping them? What impression are colleagues giving by their body language, tone of voice and words they are using?

● Store Presentation – Is the store ‘Ready to Trade’? Clean, tidy, easy to navigate etc.

Knowledge

Are all your colleagues developed to their full potential?

● Product Knowledge – this can be gained in a variety of ways. The Product, Trade Press,

● Product Roadshows and Manufacturer Training are all ways of keeping up-to-date with the latest products. Encourage colleagues to share their knowledge in team briefings or one-to-one ‘chats’

● Service Knowledge – is all your team up-to-date with the latest service propositions? Remember don’t over promise, ensure that customers are aware of the reality

● Competitor Checks – regular competitor checks and feeding back to the relevant departments is crucial to ensure we exceed our customer expectations in price and range.

Telephone Skills

The first impression a customer may have of your store is over the telephone.

Are your phones being answered? Are the queries being dealt with effectively? What can be done to address any issues with telephone calls into store?

Customers are the reason we work – not an interruption!