Independent Retailer reported that customers are more likely to spend more money when they believe they are receiving excellent customer service.
As we all know, great customer service starts with the way that you greet customers as they enter your auto repair shop or tire store.
If you want to get things started right, you need to follow the customer greeting tips below. These tips will ensure that you keep your customers happy right from the start.
1. Train Your Employees
If you want your employees to properly greet customers, you’re going to need to train them. Customer greeting training should take place when an employee starts working at your shop.
As you train your employees, be sure to explain to them the range of emotions customers may have when entering your shop. These can include:
- Happiness
- Excitement
- And even uncertainty
As the Word of Mouth Marketing Blog puts it, many customers believe things will go badly when they enter a store.
It’s your job to properly train employees to put customers at ease. And it all starts with a friendly greeting.
2. Immediately Greet Your Customers
The Customer Service and Sales Tips blog stresses the importance of immediately greeting your customers. We couldn’t agree more.
There’s nothing more annoying than walking into a store and waiting for help. This is especially true in auto repair shops and tire stores. Customers are visiting your shop because they have a problem that needs to be solved.
If you can’t immediately help a customer, recognize that they’ve entered your shop and that you’ll help them in a moment.
3. Avoid The Canned Greeting
We’ve all this canned greeting before, “How may I help you.”
That type of greeting is lazy. Train your employees to ask more pointed questions when greeting customers such as:
- What seems to be the matter with your car?
- How are you doing today?
- What brings you to our shop today?
- How are you doing today?
Asking more pointed questions, shows that you care. As noted earlier, most customers will be feeling uneasy as they enter your repair or tire shop. It’s your job to make them feel comfortable.
4. Get The Person’s Name
As you greet your customer, get their first name. This will help to establish a more personal relationship.
It will also help to put the customer at ease about repairs. Using a customer’s name will help a lot.
If you don’t get their name, use titles such as sir or miss.
5. Be Sincere
Customers can see right through employees being phony. You need to make sure that you’re honest and sincere with all of your customers.
This starts with the greeting.
Make sure that you’re sincere when you greet customers. If you can’t do that, you need to seriously think about where you’re getting your revenue.
6. Avoid The Counter
Whenever possible, try to stand in front of the shop counter. This helps to put you on equal footing with the customer.
It also makes the greeting a little more personal. Don’t be afraid to sit with the customer in the waiting area to discuss the problem with their car.
Obviously, this doesn’t always work, especially on busy days. However, try to make the customer’s experience as pleasant and personal as possible.
7. Acknowledge Past Customers
Whenever possible, acknowledge past customers when they enter your shop. Greet them by saying:
- It’s great to see you again.
- How have you been doing?
This helps in strengthening the customer’s loyalty to your shop. Treat customers like they are friends or family. It will make all the difference.
8. Smile
There’s no better way to greet your customers than with a smile. A smile is often times the first thing customers will notice as they enter your shop.
If you want to properly greet your customers, you’re going to need to smile.
Customers can see right through fake smiles, so it’s very important to create a great working environment. This will help to ensure that smiles are genuine.
