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 stopped
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.
Gives another store the opportunity to convert them
What are some of the stores you know which actively work to avoid losing customers – and how do they do it?
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
Examples of good and bad?
LO 1

10. Common Customer Services
Pretransaction services - Provided to the customer prior to entering the store.
Convenient hours – Examples of those which don’t?
Information aids – such as?
See p. 442
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. Want to minimize this.
See pp. 448
LO 2

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

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

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

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
Impulse purchasing
Walkouts
LO 6