Greeting Customers in a Retail Store

A Genuine Welcome J J.

This is a series of articles on Retailing in India, targeted at Retailers wanting to improve their business.

First impressions count.

In a speciality store …

Speciality stores have seen the benefits of a greeter for a long time now, because, of the higher value of the products being retailed by them.

But in a large apparel store or a  super market ?

For some “crazy cost control reason ?”, most apparel stores and super markets in India, don’t have a greeter.

Even today,  where the small business owner runs the store, he sits just near the entrance and is always at hand to greet, welcome, smile at the visitor.

But with the “multi store franchisee / company managed store” format, the store manager is often on floor or in his “cabin / back office” , which is often at the back end of the store. Staff are always busy, packing and un packing or helping existing customers. Or just “discussing and chatting” with each other to be able to welcome and greet the new customer.

What is the Culture of our society  ?

Ex 1. We go forward and greet a friend or even an expected visitor at the door of your home , even at odd times ? as it is our culture not just in India, but in any part of the world.

Ex. 2 Even a small old time barber shop ensures that the owner greets you with a smile, when you enter the barber shop.

What may be are the reasons of not greeting?

Companies make huge efforts on the 7 Ps of marketing, ie Product, Price, Promotion, Place, Process, People and Physical evidence ( store)  in influencing the customer to come the store.

Staff Role ?

The staff are all standing around the  “hanging racks” and unlike a high end jewellery store or a traditional saree store, not behind counters either.

Who should be the greeter ?

In any kind of a retail outlet, select a person, who has a natural tendency to smile to welcome the customers.

In case you want to experiment, allocate regular sales staff members to take turns in manning the entrance of the store. And you will begin to see the kind of learning by the staff and also the customer satisfaction results in less than a week !

A simple smile and a "Welcome to our store today. Is there anything I can help you with?" is more than enough to begin with.

If the customer gives you the typical "Just looking" line, simply answer with a line such as "Welcome again, my name is Jyoti , if you need anything I will be nearby to assist you". Having  given the customer your name and also informed them that you intend to hover near them as they progress around your place of business so you do not appear as a sales person that is stalking them around the store.

That is all that is needed as a basic greeting.:)

At a later stage, we will show you how to sell even to a “just looking” customer.
How to guide the customer to a category of your interest ?

If the customer says, she is just looking, then offer to take her around the store, show her the new arrivals, talk about new services etc. This way, you will be able to guide her to areas of interest to you and your company and also may be help her make up her mind. It is quite possible she does not know what to buy and is just browsing.

For example, you might want to focus on the sales of high margin products, or bundled offers, whereby the ticket size of the bill can be increased, or there are opportunites for upselling, explain an add­­-on services etc etc

This would be a good opportunity to just show the entire range, as research has shown, that even regular customers don’t necessarily know all the products and ranges that are in the store, as they tend to shop for what they have already come to buy.

How not to greet the customer ?

Remember to "greet" not "confront". There used to be a famous store  store in MG Road , Bangalore, where a line of Sales people standing near the entrance, would pounce on you as soon as you entered. Don’t do that.

If a customer walks into your place of business and you pounce on them like the stereotypical "predatory" sales person, guess how they are going to treat you?

If you put yourself in their path like a road block and proceed to try to force them to engage you in conversation you will find yourself being evaded by the customer both physically and verbally.

No one enjoys walking into a store and being "confronted" by a sales person.

I would now like to thank Rick Segal for his GREAT formula of remembering the entire Sales Process .

Obviously, Greeting is the first portion of the GREAT formula and we have just learnt about it.

o    G - The Greeting—As flexible as retailing can be and how things can come in different shades of gray, we are very stubborn about one particular greeting that just keeps working and amazing retailers. The key to the greeting is building a bridge to researching. We have that bridge builder in the above examples.

If you just watch the kind of greeting that is done by you and those of your colleagues, you will understand the opportunities that are there….

We will learn about the rest of the GREAT formula in our next lessons….

What is the best form of greeting ?

An Indian Namaste with a genuine SMILE can do wonders in welcoming the customers . The Namaste with the hands folded says that you are thankful for the chance to be of service to them, and it does not involve the shaking of hands with the customer, something he or she may not be comfortable with when meeting a new person. A shake hand is typically done, when you either know the person or the customer volunteers to offer his / her hand first.

Action point :- 

Would you like to practice a new form of Greeting today at your store and share your experiences here. Why not even post a photo of you ?

We welcome your feedback 

Retailgurukul@gmail.com. 

The author has more than 30 years retailing experience in India.

Posted in: Greeting, Namaste, Welcome