Strategies for Customers

[gremcint]

Ok we've all been around the store once or twice what general advice do you have for your area.

Retail: Customers in the store at closing time
-hover, walk up to them and tell them you are closing and hover on them while walking them to the front. MAKE NO ACTUAL CONTACT WITH THEM. I've found this works pretty well.

trying to get them to answer the question
-don't be afraid to repeat the question until you get an answer, be polite and use phrases like "sir I'm just trying to get a clear picture to solve the problem"

timewasting customers (sorry but I've got shit to do)
-wait for even the slightest break in the conversation and then say something like "let me know when if you need anything else" then walk away,


Technical stuff
customer doesn't know if they have wifi
-do you have a laptop or tablet
-can you access the internet anywhere in your house
that will get it 90% of the time

[notalwaysright]

I blame everything on corporate. Don't like the way the store is laid out? Don't like when we open/close? Don't like that you can't use a coupon on a sale item? I say about the same thing. "We don't make any decisions at the store level, it's handed down from corporate." They might keep complaining, but I stop responding. After all, what can I say? I've made a firm decision to never apologize when a person acts like that. I only will if it's my fault.

And we can't be that nice to people who stay after closing. We regularly have to tell them that they have to leave because we need to pull the registers and that can't happen with them in the store. We used to say that they wouldn't be able to buy anything, but many would reply with "oh that's okay I'm just browsing." Sometimes we hover, but it's not as effective.

[MoonCat]

If customers would only read signs, we could do this (please note hours are made up, adjust as necessary):

SHOPPING HOURS: 9 am to 5 pm
BROWSING HOURS: 9 am to 3 pm
NO EXCEPTIONS!!!