we are kind of like cheers, WE REALLY KNOW OUR CUSTOMERS , lots of them anyway....with lots of them there is an on going conversation ..we seem to pick up the conversation where we left off the last time they were here........i know whos building, whos remodelling, whos getting new diggs,...maybe i dont know their name but i probably know what so many of them like..what colors, what style...all kinds of stuff........just think if you went into a store and they remembered the colors or what was bugging you in your sunroom.......luckily it seems to come natural here......
. today 2 told me about their operations ,one i waited on because she couldnt walk very well yet,.... another mentioned the 45 great eastlake chairs he bought from us 4 yrs ago, another came out looking for the perfect thing for her husbands ashes....that happened last week too....another old guy gave me a bunch of watch parts, for free a few weeks ago....and wanted to see what people do with them...so i showed him some punky/funky robots with watch parts for heads on the computer....and a couple of regulars came thru and griped because i didnt have anything new for them..another said i was kind of gimpy...hurt my foot, one was amazed we hadnt gotten the stuff that was stolen back from the cops, and another said i looked tired...also there was the flow of bad husband and golf jokes , mostly started by dh......most of the buying was done by couples...but we had lots of 3 generations in too...lots of babies today... a 15 yr, at least, customer called from arkansas to buy something he missed last week, hes on his way to the big texas show......its pretty neat...
.we probably had 100 thru today...and probably half of them have been coming for over 5 yrs and several for over 10....almost everyone bought something....
my point is that our stores can be a lot different than the totally regimented hallmarks, tjmaxxes, hobby lobbys out there....we can be special, suprising, inspiring and a comfortable place for our customers..
and i think we make our stores better by being out there.....they say the gardner walking thru the garden is the best manure.....and i think its that way for store owners too....if we are out there on the front line, we see so much, catch problems early, see what needs to be done......
....i cant imagine getting the info i need to make all the decisions we have to make without the constant flow of info and feedback from the buyers..PLUS YOUR STORES FUTURE DEPENDS ON THOSE PEOPLE.....i love being on the floor....and i really love when the customers like my workers too....
i care a lot for our customers, but i tell them no all the time...im not a pushover at all....i gladly give them coffee and cookies and a free bathroom ...thats no biggie here..lots of them stay way over an hour... but we have our policies and are pretty strict about them.....
its not perfect of course....but i easily ignore the grumpy ones and stay away from the loud babies...
No comments:
Post a Comment