Great customer service used to be the secret sauce to retail. Fast. Friendly. Consistent quality. That was enough to keep customers coming back in the door. There were even retail sales training courses on smiling and using pleasant, positive language. The most successful retail stores deployed customer service strategies that were honed by behavioral psychologists. While still useful today, smiles and pleasantries aren’t enough in the current oversaturated retail environment.
Yes, customers still want quality and great service. But studies show they want more. They want a relationship with somebody they can trust. They want more than product reviews. They want an expert, somebody who knows their tastes, budget, upcoming needs, and will let them know when the things they want are on sale.
The data is clear that there has been a major shift from products to relationships. In addition, today’s customers are sophisticated. They use technology to enhance human relationships. Retail has to keep up or die. And in a lot of cases, it has died.
In this comprehensive Clienteling 101 guide you’ll discover:
- The difference between a customer and client
- What clienteling is and why you need to start doing it now
- How clienteling helps you build trust through personalization
- Clienteling best practices and activities
- How to overcome clienteling barriers and get started