Thanksgiving is a holiday that brings to mind all of the little things we are grateful for, many of which we sometimes take for granted throughout the year. And yet, we know that gratitude is something we should work to express and feel throughout the year, not just on one special occasion.
The truth is, thankfulness can be really powerful in our personal and professional lives, and it’s also something you can leverage for your retail business. In this article, we’ll explore a few ways you can make your customers thankful this year and next, and explain how gratitude in customer service can set your business apart. With that in mind, here are three tips to help you drive retail success by demonstrating an attitude of gratitude.
Tip #1 – Show Your Customers You Are Grateful
Your customers are the lifeblood of your business. A statement like that seems quite obvious, but we all know from personal experience just how poor some customer service can be. Whether it’s a delayed flight leaving you stranded in the airport with no explanation or compensation, a poor experience with a rental car company, or a retail store employee who won’t even pretend to help you look for an item, most of us have encountered bad customer service at some point, and we know what it looks like.
Your customers are the same way. They know what bad service looks like, and they know that they deserve and should expect better. It’s not an attitude of entitlement; it’s just the basic understanding that they are spending – or thinking about spending – their hard-earned money at your business, and they deserve a little respect and deference. They also just want to be treated with kindness and respect, like most people.
By expressing gratitude for your customers and their business, you can acknowledge their importance to your business while also making your customers feel more at home in your retail establishment. Be sure to coach up your employees to thank every customer for shopping with you, whether they end up making a purchase or not. It doesn’t have to be a cheesy or forced interaction; we say thank you to others all the time, every day, in a very casual way, and a thank you from a retail employee to a customer needn’t be any less natural. The important thing is to express to every customer that shops with you how much they mean to you and your business.
Tip #2 – Express Gratitude in Your Marketing
Just as you express gratitude to customers directly in your store, you should adopt a total customer focus and attitude of gratitude in your marketing materials as well. Any time you put out a social post, a flier, a magazine ad, an email, or any other form of promotion, ask yourself, “Where does my customer fit into this? Am I addressing them and what's important to them? Do they get the sense I am grateful for them from this ad?”
Everything you do should be customer centric, and all of your marketing should demonstrate that you know where your bread is buttered when it comes to your business. Thank your customers often in every marketing asset, and align your marketing with your in-store customer focus.
Tip #3 – Be Generous in Enhancing Your Business
A big part of gratitude is giving back. And for all the work you and your team members pour into your business, and for the revenue your customers bring in with every purchase, there should be gratitude repaid with investment. After all, if you aren’t generous in upgrading your business, how will it ever grow? Take the thankfulness you feel for your retail success, and pay it forward by investing it in your business’s future success.
One area of focus that is a great example can be found in your consumer finance program. An outdated consumer finance program is a drag on your business and a bummer for excited customers looking to make the most of finance flexibility. By leveraging a complete consumer financing platform solution like FormPiper, you can generously reinvest in your retail business and show your customers and employees that you are grateful for their business and hard work, respectively.
With FormPiper on your side and an attitude of gratitude driving your customer interactions, you’re sure to find much more to be thankful for when it comes to your retail business in the weeks, months, and years to come.
