Customer Service is defined as the assistance and advice provided by a company to those people who buy or use its products or services.
It is not only a key part of retail operations it is at the very heart of it. But customer service is more than that. Someone once said: “I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”
Quite simply if a customer has been treated well, they will return. And the best recommendation for any business that provides a service is word of mouth. Make someone feel uncomfortable, ignored, less than special, provide a half-hearted service or just be unfriendly, then you and the retail business you work for, won’t see that person again. What’s worse is that a disgruntled customer will tell friends and family, and even might spread the ‘word’ as far as they can through social media.
It’s actually believed that 96% of unhappy customers never complain, 91% of them leave and simply never come back. The main reason for customer churn is not the price but a bad experience and that comes from poor customer service. Handling a business’s issues in a professional and courteous manner is therefore an essential day-to-day task.
That’s why understanding customer service in the retail sector is one of the key strands in Asset Training’s Distance Learning Retail Operations course. It’s the foundation block of a career in this sector.
Retail Selling Process
However this course is much more than that. It also includes an understanding of the retail selling process. It starts with the customer walking into the shop and how they are greeted and how they are helped to find what they are looking for; what are that customer’s needs and can they be matched with the products and services on sale? This is about good questioning, for example, what’s the budget, the size, the colour and so on and then it’s about presentation and demonstration and hopefully then closing the sale.
So customer rapport is important when trust and confidence can be built. Giving off a good first impression and making the customer feel relaxed and able to ask questions is key. Part of this is learning the benefits and uses of product knowledge and how this can be used to promote sales.
And it follows that an important element of this is understanding how to deal with customer queries and complaints in a retail environment, because unfortunately not everything always goes smoothly.
Students on this course will also develop an understanding of how individuals and teams contribute to the effectiveness of retail businesses as well as the key rights and responsibilities of employers and employees and consumer law. Another strand is health and safety in the retail workplace.
Benefits
The benefits of this course are multiple – a nationally recognised Level 2 qualification; evidence of competency to prospective employers; improvement of handling of customer payments and customers themselves – all of which improve personal and professional development.
And of course it’s distance learning so anyone can learn at a time that suits them without having to leave the house.
This course is comprehensive and well thought out. It has to be, because a retail operator’s role is not straight forward and is a key role in any organisation that sells products or services. Successful operators demonstrate excellent customer service skills and behaviours as well as product and/or service knowledge in line with that organisation’s customer service standards and strategy and within appropriate regulatory requirements.
Variety Excites
And every day and every customer is different with differing requirements. It’s a role that requires excellent communication skills, patience and kindness, helping you, and your organisation to generate repeat and new custom.
This is the perfect course for someone who wants to go into the retail sector and hit the ground running or wants to improve their prospects in the sector or wants to start up their own retail business.