Customer Service Matters: Why Every Greeting Counts in Retail
Customer service – or the lack thereof – is always a hot topic, so we decided to conduct our own experiment, spending three hours at a top-tier mall on a busy Saturday afternoon. Our plan was to purchase something in every store where we were greeted or acknowledged by a store associate. To be fair to our wallets, we did not count the shops that had a greeter stationed at the front door. And we did not have to be greeted within the first moments inside the store; any associate who approached us was likely to result in a purchase.
“We all need to be more diligent about how we
care for our customers; we need to reverse the
trend from lip service to actual customer service.”
We made just three purchases that day: one at a shop that sold leather goods and two at Nordstrom. Amazing, but true. In a perfect customer service world, we would have run out of money before we ran out of stores.
During our time at the mall, we observed or were treated to the following:
Associates who acknowledged customers with a brief glance in their direction.
Associates who never looked at, nor spoke to, customers as they rang up their purchases; the majority of these associates never even thanked customers or invited them back to shop again.
Associates who could only muster a “May I help you?” in such a way that the customer knew they really didn’t mean it.
No greeting or acknowledgement at all.
We know this is not a fun topic, and we know that many of you reading this will be offended because you’re certain this could never happen in your store. But can you really be so sure? We know you have personally experienced shoddy customer service in all kinds of establishments; is it so hard to imagine that it could happen right on your own sales floor?
We also know you probably cannot afford to hire enough associates to do all of the things you’d like to do in your store, so here’s a three-step, no-cost plan to elevate your customer care:
Practice our 7-Tile Rule: Every single time any associate comes within seven floor tiles – that’s seven feet – of a customer, they MUST acknowledge them. That acknowledgement might only be a sincere smile, but trust us, that smile will work wonders. If you come across a customer five times, then she needs to be acknowledged five times.
It’s better to respond to a customer than to react. A reaction is a throwaway answer with no eye contact. A response requires maintaining eye contact, smiling, and providing a thoughtful answer to the customer’s request. A reaction makes a customer feel like they are an interruption; a response makes a customer feel like they are the most important people in the store.
Engage customers in conversation. Talk about trends, upcoming classes or events, products, or even the weather. The goal is to break the ice and make customers feel at home in the store.
Every retailer on the planet needs to be more diligent about how we care for our customers, reversing the trend from lip service to actual customer service. Consistently good customer service. In 2025, let's give our customers the number one spot on our “Things To Do Better” list. And let's all start right now.