Chapter 18
Serve Your Customers
In This Chapter
• Exploring the trends
• More than a vending machine
• Extra-mile service
• Assessing your customer service success
When you ask retailers about the biggest challenge facing them now and in the future, retailers of all sizes concur that it is customer service. No matter how incredible your product, how exciting your store environment, and how enticing your advertising, if the service that the customer receives in your store is bad, it’s all for nothing.
Concentrate your efforts on learning how to exceed your customer’s expectations for extraordinary service, and you’ll greatly improve your chance of success. In this chapter, I talk about how you achieve this by going the extra mile. I also discuss the challenges and trends retailers face today and give you tools for assessing your store’s customer service.
Customer Service Challenges and Trends
Owner-operated retailers face challenges today that are quite different from the ones that an old-time retailer faced. A century ago, you would have had a store on the Main Street of your city or town, held a position of trust and respect in the community, and personally known all of the customers you served in the store. You would have known their names, where they lived, how many children they had, and what they did for a living. You would also have remembered all of the items they had ever purchased in your store.
In the past, it was relatively easy to know your customers because you lived in the same community, walked on the same sidewalks each day, and attended the same church on Sundays. Today, a more likely scenario is that Main Street is empty, customers don’t always trust you, and you know almost none of them by name.
To succeed today and in the future, retailers need to go back to the past and offer the level of personalized service that was so natural 100 years ago.
In other words, the business you operate in the early part of the twenty-first century should look much like the business you would have operated in the early part of the twentieth century. This is key, because three important trends have increased the competition for customers in recent years:
• Developers and retailers for many years built stores at a much faster rate than was warranted by our population increase. Something like 100 percent more stores are now trying to sell to about 15 percent more people.
• Retailers created some very successful new formats. “Category killers” and big-box retailers are now taking business away from specialty stores the way specialty stores once took business away from department stores. Many of the biggest retailers are getting even bigger while many of the smallest retailers—those that are unprepared—are falling by the wayside.
• The customer profile is changing. You no doubt know that baby boomers— people born between 1946 and 1964—are the largest demographic group in the history of North America. By virtue of sheer numbers, these people have been a significant force in the economy of both countries as they moved through the various stages of life.
Baby boomers are now moving out of their peak-purchasing years and shifting their purchasing patterns. They do not need many more homes, cars, televisions, or clothes—and most have given up competitive sports in favor of hiking. This, however, is happening at the same time as their children graduate from college and leave home—which means that, with years to go before retirement, a lot of baby boomers have a newly found disposable income to spend on luxuries and life experiences. They remember customer service the way it used to be, and they consider it important.
In contrast, the children of the baby boomers—people born between 1965 and 1984— are just reaching the stage of life during which people buy a lot of “stuff.” As their parents did before them, they will buy things like homes, cars, televisions, clothes, and tennis-club memberships. But their expectations of service will be quite different. This is discussed in Chapter 3.
Most experts predict that all three of the previous trends will continue well into the future—which means that retail will not see another wonderful “binge” like the one that it enjoyed in the 1970s and 1980s because of the baby boom. Instead, things will get more and more competitive.
Selling Points
You will exceed your customers’ expectations by doing all of the little things well that most retailers don’t do at all— giving more to your customers for less cost, which means keeping your expenses under control at the same time you are “wowing” them with services. Not an easy task!
If you believe that most “experts” are correct in their predictions—and if you want to sell to baby boomers and their children— the direction that you must take in your retail business becomes clear. You will need to give your customers significant reasons why they should shop with you and earn every sales dollar. This is exactly what extra-mile service and relationship marketing will help you do.
Differentiating Yourself from a Vending Machine
From the perspective of a customer, shopping at one of the “big-box” retailers is similar to shopping at a vending machine. Neither asks what you want because they expect you to know that when you arrive—and both reduce the shopping experience to its simplest terms. As a customer, you walk in, put your money in the slot, push a button, and wait as a product slides down the chute.
Vending machines are both very efficient and very profitable for their owners, but they have one big drawback from a customer’s perspective—they will quite happily sell “landfill.” We use this term to describe any items customers buy that do not meet their needs.
Think for a moment about your own home. Somewhere in your basement, garage, closet, bathroom, or kitchen, you probably have at least one thing that you have bought but never used. It might be a tool, a can of paint, a sweater, some skin cream, or a plastic container, but I bet you have something.
You may not think of this item as landfill just yet, but deep in your heart you already know. That item will sit in your basement, garage, closet, bathroom, or kitchen until you sell it in a yard sale, give it away, or send it with the rest of the trash to a landfill site.
Now think about where you bought this item. The odds are good that you bought it from a vending machine—a retailer who invited you to walk in, put your money in the slot, push a button, and wait as a product slid down the chute.
This retailer did not care the least bit about you as a person or your “needs.” They probably sold you the item at a low price—but that did not leave them with enough money to provide a professional sales associate who could answer your questions and help you understand what you needed to buy. Instead, you bought landfill.
As you develop your retail business, you should regularly ask yourself one question: “What is the difference between what I am doing and what a vending machine does?” If the answer is “nothing,” you are in deep trouble. Any vending-machine retailer can simply undercut your prices and put you out of business.
To prevent this, you need to add value to every transaction. One of the best ways to do this is to provide extra-mile service and always take the time to understand your customers’ needs. This is something that you can do well but a vending-machine retailer cannot do at all.
If you can figure out what it would take to make your customers’ purchases complete and wonderful—and then find ways of doing that—you stand a good chance of lasting in the retail business. Not every customer will respond to this. Perhaps 20 percent of all customers shop on price alone. They are quite happy to do their shopping at a vending machine. They do not care about nice-looking stores and they are not interested in what some retailers offer as “service.”
You would be making a big mistake if you tried to build your business on this group, because you will never be able to build a relationship with customers who shop on price alone. Those people will always go down the street to save a dime and around the corner to save a quarter.
This does not imply that the remaining 80 percent of shoppers do not care about price. To the contrary, these people care very much about what they pay—in relation to what they receive. In other words, they care about value. They will expect you to justify your price, to explain why an item is worth the amount you are asking for it.
Savvy Retailer
Remember, price will only be an issue in the absence of value. You can probably charge 20 percent more than the lowest price in the market on a given item—if you deliver at least double the difference in value. If you do not, your business will not succeed.
I know of a building-supply retailer who had to explain the concept of “value” to one of his customers—and did it very well. A customer rushed into the store one day and asked this retailer if he had any 4’ x 8’ sheets of “good one side” plywood. The retailer said that he did. The customer, a contractor in the middle of building a house, then asked how much the plywood cost. The retailer replied that it was so much a sheet.
The customer responded that the same plywood was two dollars less than that at a competing store down the street. The retailer then asked the rather obvious question: “Why not buy it there?” “Because they are out of stock,” said the contractor. To which the retailer replied, “When we are out of stock, our price is two dollars less than even that.”
He then went on to explain that his store had plywood that day because he made it a policy to stock sufficient inventory at all times. “We don’t want to inconvenience you by not having the product you want, when you want it,” he said. He also explained that his store employed only knowledgeable, friendly people who could answer virtually any question—and would gladly help load purchases onto the customer’s truck.
“All of this costs money,” the retailer explained. “And although we may sometimes be a bit more expensive on some items, we believe that the level of service we provide will more than make up the difference.”
With some tongue-in-cheek humor, he explained the value that his store delivered—in this case, to a contractor who was paying carpenters much more than the price of a sheet of plywood to do nothing until some arrived. The contractor bought 24 sheets that day and has been back many times since then.
Going the Extra Mile
I often speak to retailers about the importance of “going the extra mile.” By this, I mean providing “extra-mile” service—doing things that will truly amaze your customers. Many of these things will be both simple and inexpensive, yet few of your competitors will bother to make the effort. You will find that there is very little traffic on the extra mile.
Here is a challenge. Think back over the last six months and come up with one good example of extra-mile service that you have personally experienced as a customer in a retail store. This should be something that truly amazed you—something so good that it still stands out in your mind.
A participant in one of my workshops came up with a great example. When someone broke into her car, stole the radio, and did extensive damage, she found herself getting the runaround from The Big Insurance Corporation. It would not cover this and it would not cover that so—far beyond the amount of her deductible—being the victim of a crime was going to cost her a lot of money.
Then she met an owner-operated retailer who, unlike The Big Insurance Corporation, treated her as a valued customer. The people at this store provided extra-mile service, and they did it several times.
When she dropped off her car to have a new radio installed, a staff person drove her all the way across town so she could get to work on time. The store then did the installation, called her when it was finished, and offered to come and pick her up.
The biggest surprise came when she saw the bill. The store had given her the radio, which she was paying for personally, at cost. They had also replaced the wires on her car alarm, which the thief had cut but The Big Insurance Corporation would not cover, and fixed some related damage. There was no charge on the bill for this additional work.
When she asked the owner-operated retailer why there was no charge, he replied that when his car had been broken into four years earlier, The Big Insurance Corporation also didn’t want to pay for replacing the wires on his car alarm and fixing some related damage. That’s why he had decided to help her and proceeded to send to The Big Insurance Corporation the supporting documentation along with an invoice for the “not covered” work that he did on her car.
My workshop participant was amazed. She told 125 people about her good experience with the store in just this one afternoon. She very likely told other people in other situations about it as well, because that is how word-of-mouth advertising works.
Two years later, I took time to visit the business she had described. I found an owner-operated retailer who was thriving.
To create this kind of “apostle” in your business, you will need to judge the extra-mile service you provide from the perspective of your customers. If 80 percent of your customers expect you to do something and you do not do it, you are not going the extra mile. If 80 percent of your customers expect you to do something and you do it, you are still not going the extra mile.
Only when 80 percent of your customers do not expect you to do something and you do it will you be going the extra mile. You will know you are succeeding when customers react to your extra-mile service with words such as, “Wow, that’s amazing. I’ve never heard of a store doing that before.”
Here are some ideas for providing extra-mile service for your customers:
• An electronic customer newsletter that contains product information but no sales pitch, sent by e-mail only to people who want to receive it.
• A phone-ahead or web page ordering system that lets the store prepare a customer’s order and have it ready for fast pickup.
• Tourist maps and change for an exact-fare bus system in a downtown tourist area.
• Batteries-included pricing in a toy store.
• A toll-free telephone number in a store that has a lot of out-of-town customers.
• Staying with a customer who arrives close to closing time until that customer has completed his shopping.
• Free delivery and installation in an art store.
• Repairing or arranging for local repairs to items that a customer would otherwise have to return to the manufacturer—a process that can take many weeks.
• Phoning around to area schools to get the school-supply lists that harried parents may not have when they do their back-to-school shopping.
• Unlimited in-home technical support at no charge for computer purchasers.
• Clothing delivered to customers’ homes when the free-of-charge alterations are complete.
• Links on the store’s website to good sources of “neutral” information about the main products it sells and an in-store computer on which to access it.
Earning Customer Trust and Loyalty
Even when you go the extra mile, you earn customer trust and loyalty just one small step at a time. The good news is that, as you earn customer trust and loyalty—not to mention a reputation for providing excellent service—customers will expect you to go the extra mile for them. This is a wonderful position to be in, because it will push you to find even more ways to meet and exceed those expectations.
The bad news is that out of 100 customers for whom you go the extra mile, perhaps 20 will not even notice. The majority of people, perhaps 60, will notice. Some of them may say thank you. If you are lucky, they may even remember the name of your store and come back sometime in the next three months.
That leaves perhaps 20 customers who will notice, will say thank you, will remember the name of your store, will come back sometime in the next three months—and may even tell other people about your extra-mile service. You can build a very profitable retail business if you satisfy the needs of these customers.
Looking at Your Business from Your Customers’ Viewpoints
Looking at your business from your customers’ perspectives can be fascinating because things often look quite different from the other side of the counter. To illustrate, here are the things that customers look for when they shop. As an owner-operated retailer who cannot compete with category killers and big-box retailers on price, you will be happy to see that it ranked sixth on the list.
• Convenience—Given all of the stress in their fast-paced lives, customers want shopping to be fast and easy. And they will appreciate anything you do to help make it so. For example, you could offer delivery to anywhere in the world. You would not have to offer it for free; you would just have to offer it. To a customer who needs to get a birthday gift to Sydney, Australia, by this weekend, you will be providing extra-mile service that they will gladly pay for.
• Selection—You can have a beautiful store and a wonderful staff, but if you do not have the products that customers want, they cannot buy from you. Many “category killers” have built their businesses around having the best selection, not necessarily the lowest prices. As an owner-operated retailer, you will deal personally with your customers day after day. If you listen carefully to what they tell you, you should be able to offer an assortment and selection of merchandise that is almost perfect for them.
• Peace of mind—Most customers want some reassurance that they are buying the right item—and that you will help them if they have any problems. One of the best things you can say to a customer is, “You cannot make a mistake when buying in my store.” The advantage you bring to the marketplace is your understanding of lifetime value. If an item is not right, you are going to make it right instead of worrying about making or losing money on that particular sale. You know that, in the long run, you will make significant money from that customer.
• Product knowledge—You provide friendly and approachable sales associates who know pretty much everything there is to know about the items they sell—and how to research anything that they do not know. One thing to avoid, however, is the use of “jargon.” In most product classifications, experts use certain words to talk about how an item performs or what its components are. You should never assume that anyone else knows the meaning of your specialized words. These intimidate more customers than they impress. And remember, once the customer knows more about a product than your staff, you are in big trouble. Invest in product knowledge for your staff.
• Total service—This phrase implies more than just having a friendly, approachable, and knowledgeable staff. Among other things, it also implies having a complete assortment of in-stock merchandise so that customers do not waste trips, displaying merchandise so that customers can find it, and providing appropriate lighting so that customers can see colors and read price tags easily. There are many great books about customer service and, as you build your retail business, you should buy an armload of them. Spend a lot of time reading about businesses that deliver it well. Then share the books with all of your sales associates. I recommend books for you to read in Appendix B.
• Price—Most customers are looking for a fair price—which is not the same thing as the lowest price in the market. You probably understand this intuitively from your own experience. Nobody wants to feel cheated. It is rare that we ever question the price of something that has performed above and beyond our expectations, it is often when something breaks or does not work well that we feel cheated on price.
How Refunds Provide Extra-Mile Service
Your store’s refund policy is an excellent opportunity to provide extra-mile service for your customers. As an owner-operated retailer who understands the lifetime value of a customer, there is really only one refund policy you can have: “If something is wrong, we will make it right.”
Better Not!
The fastest way to kill your reputation as an extra-mile retailer is to post a sign that says, “No cash refunds.” That usually happens in a store where the owner feels that one too many unscrupulous customers have purchased an item, used it, and then returned it the next day for a full refund. Resist the temptation to do this, because this type of unscrupulous customer really is rare.
Don’t ever take the position that you won’t allow cash refunds. While you may think some people take advantage of a cash refund policy by returning an item that they used once, it does not happen often enough compared to the store’s total number of transactions. Don’t punish every customer for the deceit of a few. When you look at the big picture, surprisingly few customers ever even use a store’s refund policy.
It is easy to follow a make-it-right policy when you are dealing with a wonderful customer who comes in all the time, pays full price, never questions your word, and almost never complains. You are happy to do whatever it takes to make it right.
The difficult time comes when you are dealing with an angry customer who comes in twice a year, never pays full price, always questions your word, and usually complains. It is tough to make it right under those circumstances. But you must, to a point.
In both cases, you should assume that the return is a “righteous return.” You should assume that somehow you sold a damaged, defective, or unsatisfactory product. In other words, you made a mistake and the problem is yours.
What should you do? Walk toward the customer and apologize. This is only polite, and it may help to calm an angry customer. Next, you ask the obvious question: “What’s wrong?” Listen carefully to what the customer says and ask questions to make sure that you understand the problem fully.
Then you should apologize again and validate the quality of your store: “I’m sorry. This should not have happened. We take pride in selling first-quality merchandise and offering first-quality service. How can I make it right for you?”
The customer may want a replacement item—be certain that it works—or they may want a refund. In the end, most customers want very little beyond what they have already paid for. This is when you can really provide extra-mile service. Give them what they want and preferably a little more than what they want.
If the customer wants a replacement item, this might mean giving them the next model up at no additional charge. If they want a cash refund, this might mean giving them their money back and an appropriate gift certificate. By giving them something extra, you are making up for the time and the aggravation that your mistake cost them.
Selling Points
An important part of providing extra-mile service for your customers is ensuring that each of your sales associates has the same decision-making authority that you have when it comes to making exchanges and refunds. Having a make-it-right refund policy means little if everyone has to check with you before making what should be a no-thought decision.
At the same time, we also believe that you should protect yourself from customers who will abuse your make-it-right refund policy if you let them. If a customer wants to make what you consider a “less than righteous” return, you should give the refund but make note of the incident in a “preferred customer” book that you keep by the cash register. (We prefer that they don’t shop here!)
If you get three less-than-righteous returns from the same customer in a given period—six months, perhaps—you are fully justified in declining the third request.
Finishing a Sale
When a customer shops in your store, you will no doubt try to make the entire transaction as smooth and enjoyable as possible. But what will you do at the end of the sale? What kind of a message will you give that customer as she is leaving?
The following are two very different “messages” that I have taken from real-life retailers. As a customer, which one would you prefer?
Scenario 1: On the back of the sales associate’s business card: Thank you for shopping at (store name). I have enjoyed assisting you and I want you to know that I personally guarantee your satisfaction. If you have any problem or question, please call me and I will make it right. Thank you again. (Sales associate’s signature)
Scenario 2: On the back of the cash register receipt in small type: At (store name), we work very hard to provide you with product knowledge on the nature and value of everything we sell. We will gladly accept a return of merchandise within 30 days with proof of purchase (our cash register receipt) for exchange or credit. Goods can be returned for reasons of defect or dissatisfaction but we exclude accidental damage and tampering. At Christmas, out of consideration to the season, we extend the facility until January 31st. At this time of year we waive proof of purchase for readily identifiable goods but will input the lowest sale price for exchange or credit purposes. No cash refunds are possible. This includes credit refunds to charge cards. This is in conformity with independent industry standards and frankly is necessary if we are to remain in business. Within the boundaries of this policy, the staff is encouraged to seek your satisfaction. Currently we charge a minimum of $7.50 for all services and repair work (silver from $12 and up) sent out of the store. Please inquire about our extensive repair services for sterling silver and fashion jewelry. Plated items do react differently with individual customers and therefore we cannot be held responsible. Please avoid applying perfume or hairspray near any jewelry. Other warranties may apply. For further inquiries, call our head office at (telephone number).
Don’t you find the personal touch in Scenario 1 a much better example of extra-mile service? It’s not expensive, and it does show your customers you are willing to go the extra mile. Relationship marketing, which I discuss in greater detail in Chapter 15, is another key aspect of going the extra mile.
Testing Your Store’s Customer Service
You can put a lot of time into planning how you will go the extra mile, but how do you make sure your vision is always being carried out in your store? Two good ways to test that are comment cards and customer service analysis.
Use Comment Cards
So how do you know what your customers want and how can you build that extra-mile service? One great way that you can learn more about your customers is to provide “comment cards.”
Two groups of customers tend to use comment cards: those you have really made angry and those you have really made happy. For that reason, this type of research will be most useful for damage control and for getting ideas from people who really like your store. So, while still valuable, it might not help you get the opinions of a cross-section of your customers.
To help you design an effective customer comment card, we suggest that you spend time in the coming weeks collecting customer comment cards from every business you visit. Do not restrict yourself just to retail stores; grab one every chance you get.
Here are some of the things that I like to see on a comment card:
• The question “How did we do today?” in big, bold letters.
• Postage-paid so that the customer can return it by mail to the store’s owner instead of handing it to a sales associate.
• The chance to rate efficiency, friendliness, accuracy, knowledge, quality, value, prices, selection, cleanliness, and overall satisfaction.
• A five-point rating scale ranging from “way below average” to “way above average, ” with “just average” in the middle.
• Easy to read and not too crowded, with lots of well-spaced lines for the customer’s written comments.
• Lines to provide a name and contact information if the customer wants to give it.
• The name and title of the person in the company who will be reading the card and a check box that lets the customer give permission for that person to contact him or her.
• The words “Thank you for your comments.”
After a month or so, sit down with your comment-card collection and review each one from the perspective of a customer.
Selling Points
You may also consider giving the customer an incentive to complete the comment card in the form of a bounce-back coupon with a discount on their next purchase (dollars off, not percentages!). Customers would be asked to complete the comment card before leaving the store and given the coupon after they drop off their comments.
Customer Service Analysis
If you were to ask most specialty retailers if they gave great service, they would look at you and say, “Of course, that is what we are known for!” Yet, if asked to quantify this, in other words, prove it, they often cannot. I believe that you cannot prove something if you cannot measure it, nor can you change something if you cannot measure it. Traffic counters have been around for over 25 years and are used by many retailers to calculate conversion rate, the number of shoppers that actually buy. This is also called close rate.
definition
Customer service ratio (CSR) is the desired customer-to-staff ratio—how many customers one staff member can serve divided by the number of customers in your store at a specific time. You often calculate this in 15-minute increments.
Traffic counters will not only give you the conversion rate for shoppers in the store (which is a great number to have and the formula is total traffic divided by total transactions) but it will also give you a more important number called your customer service ratio (CSR). This ratio simply tells you whether you have enough staff to properly serve the customers you have in the store and if you are losing sales.
First, ask yourself this question: how many customers can one of my sales associates serve simultaneously? The obvious and “perfect” answer is one. But the real world answer is closer to two or even three. In most cases, a good sales associate can balance three customers at the same time, but this is the maximum and more than three would surely mean that the customers are not getting anywhere near good service.
So, the question becomes, how many times last Saturday did you exceed this desired customer-to-staff ratio? For example, let’s assume we agree that a good staff ratio is three customers to every sales associate, which means that each staff member can adequately serve no more than three customers simultaneously (some stores set this number at two or even one). Assume you have three staff members working, and your traffic counter tells you that between 11:00 A.M. and 11:15 A.M. you had 15 customers in the store. You had a customer service ratio of 5 to 1 instead of the 3 to 1 (the desired ratio) during this fifteen-minute period.
Obviously if you had five customers for every sales associate during this time, there were likely many customers who had questions about items that could not get answers. You also probably had long lineups at the cash wrap, as well as customers who simply walked out and were never served at all.
Think about what you do if you are shopping and would like to buy something, but have a question. If you cannot get the answer to that question, many times you just put the item back on the shelf and leave. The same thing happens when we have a CSR that exceeds 3 for longer than five or ten minutes.
Yes, there are times when a group will “rush” the store and it would not make financial sense to flood the store with additional staff; it would in most cases not even be possible. In these cases, we have to balance the potential of the group that came in against the cost (and the feasibility) of staffing for that brief period.
For example, if it was a group of tourists or runners prior to an event, the likelihood that they would be purchasing running shoes or high-involvement merchandise at that moment is low. It would be much more likely that they are buying event T-shirts or socks or other last minute accessory items. In that case, I would simply make sure that I had as much self-serve merchandise available as possible in an easy to select display, and put most of my staff at the cash registers to simply ring up items.
But if I discover that there are times on Saturday and Sunday that I consistently exceed my CSR by more than 50 percent, then I need to add more staff at these times. Here is an example of how you would determine appropriate staffing using a CSR calculation:
Traffic counts for last Saturday indicated that in five 15-minute periods I had 24 customers in the store.
I had three staff working during each of these 15-minute periods.
My staff-to-customer ratio was 8 to 1 versus the desired 3 to 1 during these five periods.
My customer loss was the 24 that were there minus the 9 that my staff could adequately serve, which leaves 15 customers in each of the five periods who did not get served properly or at all.
This totals 75 customers who were not served during the total five periods.
I would likely not have been able to sell to all 75, as my normal conversion rate is 38 percent.
My average transaction is $68.
So my loss was 75 times $68 times 38 percent or $1,938 in potential lost sales.
What would two more staff have cost for the day?
In this calculation, you know that you had a potential loss of $1,938. Suppose you pay each sales associate $10 an hour or $80 for an eight-hour day. Wouldn’t it be worth adding two associates to potentially make $1,900 or more?
Obviously, if the majority of your customers shop as couples, you can decrease this number, but your conversion rate would already take this into account. And in addition, you can often sell a couple items for both of them.
Do your own math. Take your own measures, and see what potential business you are losing by not having sufficient staff when required. Think about what your real customer service level is and how many people each sales associate can assist at the level you want.
Install traffic counters and test the logic for six months. I bet that you will notice a marked increase in sales and customer satisfaction if there were times when your CSR exceeded your target and you responded by staffing properly.
You can have excellent sales associates, but if they don’t have the right technology to work with you, they may not have the tools you need to go that extra mile. In the next chapter, we’ll look at the technology you need.
The Least You Need to Know
• Providing exceptional customer service is the key for most owner-operated retail businesses today.
• Don’t serve your customers like a vending machine. Learn the basics of extra-mile customer service and be sure your sales associates incorporate them daily in their contacts with your customers.
• Your refund policy can be a key part of going the extra mile.
• Periodically test whether you truly are giving extra-mile service using comment cards and CSR calculations.
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