Customer engagement: getting it right

Engaging well with other people is vital in the retail sector, where you have to make a strong connection with your customers.

Without proper customer engagement, your sales pitch is simply empty chatter that does not communicate what you want to say, nor achieve what you wish to get done.

The first step of engagement is to understand who you are trying to engage with. Is it someone who has never heard of your product or company? Or is it a prospective customer, on the brink of making a serious purchase? It could also be an angry customer, calling to make a complaint and if the situation is not handled well, they will soon be an ex-customer. By understanding the view of the person you are engaging with, you will frame your words better, use a more suitable tone of voice, and deploy better body language.

Next, be clear what you want to engage them about. Of course, if you are clearing a building that is on fire, a simple belly-based shout of ‘Fire!’ will do the job. Try using that same approach to close a deal with a prospective client and you will likely lose the client. Retail staff must know what prospective customers are likely to ask, including the product’s special features, details of special promotions, product return policies, when new stock will be available and answers to all the other questions a buyer may ask.

The third step is to learn how to read other people’s moods in order to find the right way to engage with them.  Are they receptive to your message? Do they have any existing positive or negative bias about the subject you wish to engage them on? Can they physically hear and understand you well? Engaging someone well means setting up a dialogue where each party moves towards each other, feeling their way as they go. Look and listen for feedback, judge whether your pace and content is right and adjust your message accordingly.

Important as it is to know the answers, you only really engage with people when you ask them the right questions. A good example is the car salesman who knows his cars perfectly but fails to ask the customer what they want a car for. Sounds silly? Not at all. Some people need to transport children and dogs. Others, living on their own, just want to get to the shops or church. A few want to show off their magnificent beast. By asking the customer questions you are engaging them in the way most likely to create a sale. Some sales people forget this. They don’t achieve their targets.

Asking questions well is an art that can be learnt. When done well it demonstrates a care for your customer that is the surest way to make a sale. The end goal is understanding the other person and making sure they understand you.

Once you have achieved this, you are engaging your customer. Well done!

John Bittleston

 

* John Bittleston is the founder mentor of Terrific Mentors International, an organisation that provides mentoring, coaching and training.

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