Q: One of the big chain bookstores recently opened up near my small book store. Already I can see my business starting to decline. Is there something I can do to contend with the bigger store or ought to I just accept the inevitable? — Peter Q.

A: A smart man once said, “The inevitable is by no means a certain factor.”

Do not be so quick to close the book on your business, Peter. You most likely cannot contend with the superstore on volume of inventory or on price, but there are other issues you can do to help maintain the clients coming in your doorway. One of the best ways to make sure consumer loyalty is to offer exceptional consumer service.

It’s humorous that you are a bookseller. Allow me tell you about my final visit to one of the big chain bookstores just a few weeks back.

I took my teenage daughter in to find the traditional book, The Once and Future King, for a school undertaking that has to be carried out over the summer. It was a Sunday afternoon and the store was crawling with clients. We invested fifteen minutes scouring this great warehouse of a bookstore, but couldn’t find the book anywhere. We also couldn’t find anybody who worked there to ask for help.

Lastly, I went up to the front counter and asked the apathetic looking teenager who was manning the sign-up if they had the book in stock. She looked at me as if I’d asked her to do advanced calculus in her head and said, “I dunno.”

I asked if she may check her computer for me. She looked at me once more, this time as if I’d just asked her to rotate the tires on my automobile with out a jack. After a minute of tapping the keys with her lengthy fingernails (which had been painted black, by the way) she said, “Yeah, we have it.”

“Great,” I said. “Exactly where can I find it?”

She glanced at the screen once more and said, “It says that it’s in the classics section.”

“Great,” I said once more. I use the phrase “great” a lot when I am attempting to restrain myself from strangling incompetent product sales individuals. “Exactly where may the classics section be?”

She did not bother to look at me or the computer this time. She just shrugged and said, “Beats me, man. I’ve only worked her a week. “

I wanted to ask if there was anybody who had worked there lengthy sufficient to know exactly where the ^%$# classics section was, but by that time there had been a dozen or so individuals lining up behind me to pay for publications they had somehow managed to find on their own.

I went home and ordered the book online. So much for supporting my nearby bookseller.

It’s a shame your store is not located near me, Peter. I’ll wager if I walked in and asked for a duplicate of The Once and Future King you would be in a position to tell me nearly to the square inch exactly where the book is on the shelf in your store. I’ll also wager that if you did not have a duplicate in stock you would go out of your way to buy it for me.

That is what exceptional consumer service is all about: going the extra mile to satisfy your consumer. That is what will maintain clients coming back to your store time and time once more.

Superior consumer service prospects to higher consumer satisfaction, which prospects to repeat business, which prospects to the holy grail of the retail business: consumer loyalty.

Right here are a few tips on how to deliver exceptional consumer service and develop consumer loyalty:

1. Anyone on your staff who deals straight with the clients ought to be well groomed and dressed appropriately for the job. Customers over 25 many years aged will not get a warm and fuzzy feeling if the man processing their credit score card is sporting an Ozzy Osborne tee-shirt and matching nose ring.

2. Sales individuals ought to be educated about the item they are promoting. I cannot tell you how many occasions I have asked a product sales individual a easy question and only got a blank stare in return. A lack of item understanding does nothing to instill confidence in the consumer.

three. Your staff ought to know exactly where every item is with out getting to ask a manager or seek advice from a computer. At the very least they ought to be in a position to point out the ^%$# classics section with out blinking an eye.

four. Make it a point to know your customer’s title. Absolutely nothing tends to make a consumer really feel special like the sound of his or her own title. You cannot remember everyone’s title, of course, but you ought to strive to remember the names of those clients who come in regularly. I f requent one particular restaurant and the proprietor not only understands my title, but the names of my wife and kids. And every time I set foot in his restaurant he calls me by title and shakes my hand and personally prospects me to a table. I don’t really feel like a consumer. I really feel like a buddy.

five. Offer individual services that the big boys do not. Something you can do to make your customer’s existence simpler will be appreciated and remembered. If a consumer arrives in and asks for a book you do not have, offer to buy the book and deliver it to their home so they don’t have to make another excursion to choose it up. All this is going to cost you is a few minutes of your time and you will not only save a sale, but also make a lasting impression on that consumer. The next time they need a book they will head your way.

There are other issues you can do to combat the bookstore Goliath, Peter, but providing exceptional consumer service is a great location to start.

Here is to your success!

Tim Knox

Small Business Q&#038A is created by veteran entrepreneur and syndicated columnist, Tim Knox. Tim serves as the president and CEO of three successful technologies businesses and is the founder of DropshipWholesale.internet, an online organization devoted to the success of online and eBay entrepreneur.

Related Hyperlinks:
http://www.prosperityandprofits.com
http://www.dropshipwholesale.net