When a customer walks into a retail store they expect to be served within a reasonable time frame and with common courtesy. When they are not served, and stand around waiting, they become angry. This anger is the result of being made to feel irrelevant, because the customer feels that they are not important enough to be served. This perceived "snub" can lead them to walk out, whether they wanted to purchase something or not.
As they say, people only get one chance at making a good first impression. The first impression of this particular retail store is not good, and the customer is therefore unlikely to return. If the customer came to this conclusion after waiting just one minute, then their expectations were extremely unrealistic to begin with. However, if they had waited for five minutes without acknowledgment then their firmly declared vow to never return is justifiable.
Body Language
The salesperson in the retail outlet, and the prospective customer, should manage their expectations of what constitutes good customer service and what does not. For some, being approached within a minute of walking into a store means the salesperson is "pushy," whereas for others it is "slack."
This is where being able to read body language is extremely useful to salespeople. If a customer enters a retail outlet and immediately begins looking around for someone, rather than looking at items within the store, then it is safe to assume they expect to be served immediately. For such a person, a one minute wait can seem like five minutes. However, if they slowly stroll in and lazily look around, then an immediate approach could be annoying to them. As a salesperson, it is critical to be able to "read" prospective customers.
For the potential customer it is also important to realise that their expectations may indeed be unrealistic. For example, to enter an extremely busy store and expect to be served immediately is obviously unrealistic, however it is annoyingly true that many people expect VIP service no matter what the circumstances.
What if client expectations could be manipulated? How powerful would it be to be able to change a customer’s expectations?
Under Promise and Over Deliver
The secret is to under promise and over deliver. If a customer is annoyed at not being served, and the salesperson cannot serve them for another five minutes, then the salesperson should tell them it will be ten minutes. The cutomer's initial anger can be overcome with an empathy statement such as “I realise this is very annoying for you, and I do appreciate your patience and apologise for the inconvenience."
Having manipulated them into expecting a ten minute delay, when the salesperson then approaches them within five minutes they should make sure they tell the customer how hard they worked to surpass their revised expectation. “I made an effort to see to you as soon as possible as I know you are in a hurry. How can I help you?”
Not only has the customer's expectation of being served immediately been modified into a ten minute wait, but the salesperson has now surpassed this expectation by seeing to them earlier than their "revised" expectation. By having their expectations exceeded the customer is now likely to recommend this store to others.
By manipulating customer expectations salespeople can make these expectations work for them. When a customer asks when something can be delivered, add two or three days to the expected time. If they complain, then speak to the manager and reduce this by a day, thereby winning the admiration of the customer. When the customer is then contacted to let them know their product can be delivered a day or two early, they are now inclined to believe this is the best customer service they have ever received.
Customer Awareness
A customer needs to be aware of these games that salespeople play, but the good news is that not many salespeople are actually good at their job, so a customer is unlikely to encounter such manipulation. As a client expectations are extremely important, but as salespeople they should just be an opportunity to under promise and over deliver.
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