This week I am looking five cores of today’s newsagency. I have selected five that relate to every retail newsagency, or should at least. Each core is important because of traffic and that mastering it defines our business in the eyes of these we serve.
Core #5: customer service
Customer service can be the single most important defining differentiator for a local newsagency. It is mission critical. It is also hard work.
Good customer service is a whole of business activity, requiring unrelenting commitment from everyone in the business.
Here are some tips on delivering good customer service:
- Smile.
- Share good customer stories among staff at team meetings. This sure beats sharing complaint stories or bitching about customers.
- Bring a customer in to work behind the counter occasionally and learn from their insights.
- Follow passions. Gift your employees freedom to reflect their passions in the business where there is an in-store connection with products you sell.
- Offer meaningful service such as carrying purchases to the car or home delivery.
- Place all purchases in bags without question.
- Systemise everything you can – use your software to add value on receipts, thank shoppers and know them better.
- Use your software to make employees more knowledgeable at the counter – i.e. when you are close to selling out, bonus offers available or information about a product.
- Track traffic and adjust your roster so you can provide better service in busier times.
- Offer a rewards program which is relevant to your customers more so than to your business.
- Smile.
The purpose of this series is to remind newsagents what sits at the core of today’s newsagency business. And I am talking about today. Tomorrow may be different. Hat we need to do right now is manage for today to achieve the best we can with today’s traffic.
I am not including tobacco and lotteries in this list as not every newsagency has these.