This Post is Authored by Gowri Subramanya (During migration the authors name could not be migrated)
In the rat race to stay ahead of other competitors, can retailers make it to the end by trying to compete on price alone? The answer being a departure from common perception is a No. If price is not the only driving force to buy, then what is that customers are looking for? The solution is an alchemy of price, quality and customer service.
The technical and human element of service is what inspires loyalty in customers. Both the product and the process are important:
Product-refers to the solution, system, response, resolution, deliverable or result. Whatever form the product takes, customers want it to work properly, to meet their needs, and to have quality. This is the technical element of service, and customers are not likely to be happy without it.
Process-refers to how customers feel they have been treated. Excelling in the technical element alone may not keep customers coming back unless you also attend to the process. In fact, for many customers, the process is more important than the product. This is the human element of service. The human element is exceedingly important in achieving a high level of customer satisfaction.
Retailers are awakening to the growing realization of providing quality customer service. Quality customer service is not about cost or packaging, it is about giving customers exactly what they need – however simple or complex their needs might be. This makes quality easy to define and not some abstract concept. Quality is measurable and objective – it is what the customer requires. If customers are given quality service they are satisfied, sometimes even delighted. They become loyal customers and encourage friends, family and colleagues to become customers as well. This adds up to success of the organization and a winning position in the market place, ahead of the competition.
A market research was conducted by Portakabin Builders, to find out what inspires loyalty in its customers. A customer satisfaction survey was carried out on vast majority of its customers. Questions were asked on all aspects of customer service and scores were recorded on a scale of 1-10 (where 1 is poor and 10 is excellent).
Most customers (53%) said the top factor was the experience. This related to how the customers felt they were treated during the process of buying. Value was the most important aspect to 34% of customers, while just 13% thought that product was vital - this is because they had come to expect top quality buildings from Portakabin. They were therefore most impressed by the level of personal interaction with the staff and with the overall level of support they received.
Similarly, a study was conducted by Colorado State University (2006), to understand the dynamics of good customer service. The study identified four variables namely; consideration, commitment, caring and communication that might indirectly influence customer discretionary behavior (CDB). CDB was defined as any behavior a customer voluntarily performs, beyond purchasing products or services, which may be helpful or harmful to an organization. Specifically, it was hypothesized that these variables would influence customer evaluations and mood, which, in turn, would influence CDBs. Observational and survey data was collected in two grocery stores. Structural equation modeling analyses indicated that courteous service had an indirect influence on customer commitment behaviors. Specifically, as cashiers displayed more courtesy, customers provided more positive evaluations of service and were ultimately more likely to recommend the store to friends and shop at the store even if other stores were closer.
What should recruiters be looking at while hiring front line sales teams in Retail ?
In the highly competitive Retail environment, the need to recruit more customer-sensitive service providers is being increasingly felt. The new-age buzzword is Customer Service Orientation.
Customer Service Orientation implies a desire to provide satisfactory service to customers. This means focusing efforts on discovering a customer’s needs and providing the best possible solution in a friendly, courteous and timely manner. The facets of Customer Service Orientation being:
1. Personalized Service Orientation- refers to an individual’s desire to communicate and develop a rapport in personal interactions with others. An individual who has a Personalized Service Orientation typically prefers:
· Taking an interest in people
· Listening Attentively
· Remaining Patient
· Socializing and seeking closeness to people
Why Personalized Service? Personalized Service is required to make a favorable impression, discover, understand the customer’s needs and build rapport with the customer.
2. Persuasive Service- refers to an individual’s desire to convince others of a certain product or idea and handle objections. An individual who has a Persuasive Service Orientation typically prefers:
· Convincing others of a certain viewpoint in order to gain co-operation and agreement for particular plans, ideas or products
· Acknowledging objections and can offset these against specific benefits
· Highlighting overriding advantages of product/service/solution
· Negotiating in order to reach a compromise in case of a disagreement
Why Persuasive Service? Welcoming objections and questions indicates that the customer has some interest in the product. Persuasive Service would be required to convince the customer to commit to some desired course of action, in order to move the sales forward.
3. Helpful Service- refers to an individual’s desire to respond to others needs by taking proactive steps to assist him/her. Such an individual would be naturally helpful towards customers, and has a desire to assist others. An individual who has a Helpful Service Orientation typically prefers:
· Going out of his way to satisfy others
· Deriving satisfaction out of helping others
· Offering extra help to others
Why Helpful Service? Helpful Service would be required to ensure that the customer is fully satisfied, and build trust so as to retain the customer.
The Bottom Line:
If the individual has the desire to provide good service to customers, it will be natural for the individual to do what is required to succeed. If the right customer service orientation is combined with proper sales and product knowledge training, the individual can be a top performer.
However, if an individual does not have the inclination to provide good service to customers, he or she will not find the job of a customer-facing position enjoyable but more of a chore. Even with proper training, people without the right service orientation will succeed only by forcing themselves to do the job and people with this amount of drive, desire, and discipline are rare.
In the end, it may be the service - not just the price - that dictates whether or not customers can be retained for the long term. Good customer service begins and ends with treating customers the way you would like to be treated yourself.
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