On any given day, millions ofย customersย enter any one of many convenient stores. For travelers and people justย passing through, a stop in yourย store may be a one-time event. In the case ofย customers living or working nearby, theย customer serviceย they receive could, over time, representย thousands of dollars ending up inย your cash register. Customers whose antennae pick up the wrong โvibesโ from the people who wait on them couldย very well decide to take their business elsewhere. An astute store owner or manager is one who urgesย his employees to considerย the messages theyย send to those entering the establishment.
Is Your Convenient Store โ โConvenient?โ
MSA and Paradigm Sampleย have teamed up withย Convenience Store Decisionsย to better understand todayโs c-store customers. Panel research has determined that customers cite โconvenient locationโ and โease in getting in and out quicklyโ as ranking at the top of their list of reasons to shop at any one particular store. With this in mind, are your employees helping customers accomplish their goal or being way tooย slow, if not ignoring them altogether, in getting them out the door?
All too many convenience store employees hold up customers by:
- Talking with other store employees, often finishing their personal conversations before finally acknowledging the customer;
- Electing to finish mopping the floor, putting up stock, or performing any of a number of tasks before returning to the register to wait on the customer. The message the customer perceives is, whatโs convenient for the employee is more important that what is convenient for the one with the dollars.
- Ignoring the customer while talking on the cell phone. Customers feel that they are inconveniencing the clerk and may decide that, from now on, the nearby full-service grocery store checkout line might prove more expedient & friendly than your convenience store.
As you try to maintain and grow your business, remember that your storeโs health is only as healthy as the messages, subtle or otherwise, your employees send out to regular customers.