Chapter 12 Customer Services and Retail Selling

1. Chapter 12 Customer Services and Retail Selling

2. Learning Objectives • Explain why customer service is so important in retailing. • Describe the various customer services that a retailer can offer. • Explain how a retailer should determine which services to offer.

3. Learning Objectives • Describe the various management problems involved in retail selling, salesperson selection, and training and evaluation. • Describe the retail selling process. • Understand the importance of a customer service audit.

4. Customer Service • High-quality service - A service that meets or exceeds customers’ expectations. • A way in which retailers provide the high-quality service expected and reduce customer defections is through relationship retailing programs. • Relationship retailing programs -The activities designed to attract, retain, and enhance long-term relationships with customers. LO 1

5. Customer Service • Retailers can develop long-term relationships with their customers by offering: • financial benefits • social benefits LO 1

6. Exhibit 12.3 - Three Basic Tasks of Retailing LO 1

7. Customer Service • It consists of all those activities performed by the retailer that influence: • the ease with which a potential customer can shop or learn about the store’s offering. • the ease with which a transaction can be completed once the customer attempts to make a purchase. • the customer’s satisfaction with the transaction. LO 1

8. Customer Service • Transient customer - An individual who is dissatisfied with the level of customer service offered at a store or stores and is seeking an alternative store with the level of customer service that he or she thinks is appropriate. LO 1

9. Customer Service • It must be integrated into all the following aspects of retailing: • Merchandise management • Building and fixture management • Promotion management • Price management • Credit management LO 1

10. Common Customer Services • Pretransaction services - Provided to the customer prior to entering the store. • Convenient hours • Information aids LO 2

11. Common Customer Services • Transaction services - Provided to customers when they are in the store shopping and transacting business. • Credit • Layaway • Gift wrapping and packaging • Check cashing • Gift cards • Personal shopping • Merchandise availability • Personal selling • Sales transaction LO 2

12. Common Customer Services • Personal shopping - An individual who is a professional shopper performs the shopping role for another; very upscale department and specialty stores offer personal shoppers to their clients. • Dwell time - The amount of time a consumer must spend waiting to complete a purchase. LO 2

13. Common Customer Services • Posttransaction services - Provided to customers after they have purchased merchandise or services. • Complaint handling • Merchandise returns • Renting, not buying • Fraudulent employee actions • Shoplift returns • Price switching • Servicing, repair, and warranties • Delivery • Postsale follow-up LO 2

14. Exhibit 12.4 - Six Rules to Follow When Handling a Customer’s Complaint LO 2

15. Exhibit 12.5 - Factors to Consider When Determining Customer Services to Offer LO 3

16. Exhibit 12.6 How the Retailer’s Sales Force Meets the Expectations of Both Vendors and Customers LO 3

17. Retail Sales Management • Types of retail selling • Salesperson selection • Salesperson training • Evaluation of salespeople LO 4

18. Retail Sales Management • Types of retail selling • Retailers that concentrate on the sale of shopping goods want their salespeople to both get and take orders. • In lines of retail trade where predominantly convenience goods are sold, the role of the salesperson is that of an order taker. • It is generally true that retailers with high margins and high levels of customer service place more emphasis on order getting; those with low margins and a low customer service policy tend to emphasize order taking. LO 4

19. Retail Sales Management • Salesperson selection • Hiring criteria • Predictors • Demographics • Personality • Knowledge and intelligence • Experience LO 4

20. Retail Sales Management • Salesperson training • Retailer’s policies • Merchandise • Customer types • Customer choice criteria • No active product choice criteria • Inadequate or vague choice criteria • Choice criteria in conflict • Explicit choice criteria LO 4

21. Exhibit 12.7 - Various Customer Types LO 4

22. Exhibit 12.7 - Various Customer Types LO 4

23. Retail Sales Management • Evaluation of salespeople • Performance standards • Conversion rate • Sales per hour • Use of time • Selling time • Nonselling time • Idle time • Absent time • Data requirements LO 4

24. Retail Sales Management • Conversion rate - Percentage of shoppers that enter the store that are converted into purchasers. • Sales per hour is computed by dividing total dollar sales over a particular time frame by total salesperson or sales-force hours. LO 4

25. Exhibit 12.8 - Selling Process in the Retail Environment LO 5

26. Exhibit 12.8 - Selling Process in the Retail Environment LO 5

27. Exhibit 12.8 - Selling Process in the Retail Environment LO 5

28. Exhibit 12.9 - Some Closing Signals the Salespeople Should Watch For LO 5

29. The Retail Sales Process • Prospecting - Locating or identifying potential customers who have the ability and willingness to purchase your product. • Closing the sale - Action the salesperson takes to bring a potential sale to its natural conclusion. LO 5

30. The Customer-Service and Sales-Enhancement Audit • The objectives of the audit • Identify the service, salesmanship, and sales-enhancement methods that will produce more sales from the existing shopping traffic. • Target the methods by store and selling area that will produce the most significant improvements. • Determine the added sales that can be generated by improving the accepted service level, salesmanship, and sales-enhancement programs. LO 6

31. The Customer-Service and Sales-Enhancement Audit • Advantages of the audit: • Provides management with a detailed analysis of current sales activity by location and by selling area. • Identifies how and where additional sales volume is available. • Measures, analyzes, and reports on the specific factors. LO 6

32. The Customer-Service and Sales-Enhancement Audit • Basic service • Customer contact • Salesperson-initiated contact • Customer acknowledgment • Salesmanship • Merchandise knowledge • Needs clarification • Active selling • Suggestion selling LO 6

33. The Customer-Service and Sales-Enhancement Audit • Sales enhancement • Impulse purchasing • Walkouts LO 6