Your customers aren’t numbers. They are people. A simple greeting is all it may take to personalize your service and start a great relationship.
On her blog Customers Are Always, Maria Palma brought up some excellent points about treating customers. In her post, she quoted the Trainer’s Blog on how to deal with waiting customers:
Acknowledge the customer who is waiting. We all want to be noticed. A smile and a sincere greeting, or “I’ll be with you in just a moment” to the person who has just joined the line goes a long way. Explain to your employees that as long as they don’t engage the second customer at the expense of the person in front of them, they have the opportunity to make both customers feel valued. And, if there was a wait, employees should acknowledge it by saying something like, “thanks for your patience.”
Our family loves to eat at a nearby burrito restaurant Freebirds. Every time we go in and progress towards the front of the line, an employee will greet us and say “we’ll be right with you.” They do all this while they are assembling the burrito for the person ahead of us. No productivity is lost. No other customers lose out because of this greeting. It is efficient, personal, and welcoming.
It is a powerful reminder of what a simple acknowledgment can do for your customers. Customers know they are there, but do they know that you know they are there? Don’t leave it to guessing, say hello and welcome your customers!