by Carol Ritter
This week I spoke at the first annual Lehigh Valley Marketing Expo. The topic was “extreme customer service.” I gave the attendees ten strategies for exceptional customer service. The first tip was to hire “big” personalities. If you want someone who can connect with your customers, hire someone friendly, outgoing and trainable. Also, hire someone maybe a little edgy – a person with the courage to sometimes break the rules.
So, this week I started Christmas shopping and boy did I meet “Mr. big personality.” I walked into a boutique and a well-dressed gentleman greets me with: “Welcome, can I help you?” The people next in the door were a group of women – mom, daughter and “Aunt Equity.” He gave them a very friendly greeting and discovered that the aunt was footing the bill. They shopped and shopped and the aunt bought and bought until it was time to leave. The “big personality” employee said that it was wonderful to meet them and that he hopes they come back.
When I stepped up to the counter to pay, we realized that they had left their credit card behind. The employee and I chased them for a few blocks until we were finally able to catch them. They were overjoyed, saying they wanted to use it and couldn’t find it. The aunt said, “We are going back to that lovely store.” That’s the way to build a brand.
If the person you are hiring will be working with your customers, remember this quote from the founder of the Virgin Group and successful business man, Richard Branson:
“Clients do not come first. Employees come first. If you take care of your employees, they will take care of your clients.”
Carol S. Ritter, past President of the National Speakers Association in Philadelphia, is an accomplished professional speaker, coach and educational consultant specializing in innovative leadership, outrageous fundraising, million-dollar marketing and building organizational alliances throughout the country. FMI on Carol’s creative leadership with bulletproof ideas for recruiting more members, more money and better leaders: www.caroltalks.com, 610-442-4545, tellkids@aol.com, “Like” Carol on Facebook at Caroltalks and CarolCoaches.
