Have you ever been to a store and not found what you were looking for?
This happens all the time and it even happens to your customers.
On my last visit to JCPenney the cashier asked me, “Did you find everything you needed today?”
You’ve probably heard this question a few times yourself as you checkout at various retailers.
I answered yes and asked her, “Does any one ever say no to that question?”
She quickly responded, “Yes. Senior Citizens. They’re never happy.”
Yikes. Bad mouthing other customers isn’t a good idea but aside from that, this example highlights a problem your business may be having: different customers are having different levels of success with your business.
Have a plan in place on gathering customer feedback at the point of sale. Answers to the “Did you find everything” question can be extremely valuable in identifying problems customers are having.
Know How to Find Your Stuff
If you ask customers “May I help you?”, they expect that you can help them. You better know where your products are and how to help the customer find them.
At Lowe’s, whenever I ask an employee where I can find a certain product, they stop what they are doing and walk with me across the store to show me where it is. My wife reports the same type of customer care at Hobby Lobby. Every time. Wow!
This is a great example of not just asking if you can be of help but actually being helpful to the customer.
You Can’t Find What You Don’t Sell
Customers will occasionally ask you for a product you don’t sell. These situations give you two great opportunities. First, you can get information on why the customer thought you had that product. Perhaps this will indicate some consumer demand that you can meet.
Second, you can provide great customer service, even if they aren’t going to be your customer. Directing a potential customer to another store that has the product (when you don’t) builds goodwill and leaves a great impression on the person.
Keep up-to-date with the latest Return Customer articles:
Subscribe to our RSS Feed
Sign up for email updates
Pete Abilla
February 4, 2009
One important piece in your Lowe’s example is the benefit of a human helping the customer; this is important because sometimes the customer knows what they want or need, but can’t articulate the need with a product name or offering. The human can help better identify a product solution to the difficult-to-articulate needs of the customer.
Joe Rawlinson
February 4, 2009
Exactly, Pete. A self-help computer system or even in-store signs are often built around the company’s terms and jargon. The employee can act as the translator in mapping a customer’s needs to the appropriate product.
mickey1234
March 29, 2009
“Did you find everything you were looking for?”
let’s get real folks – it’s a fake scripted question.
Sure, if by some unlikely chance,
I, as a customer, was hearing that
phrase for the first time it might
sound sincere, but after the 1000th
time (or the even the third time!)
it sounds fake.
The time to ask customers if they
are finding everything is BEFORE
they are in a checkout line.
Honestly how many people are too stupid
or shy to ask an employee in the aisles while they are still shopping?
If someone is too shy to ask
an employee on the floor, will they
be any less shy in front of a long line of customers behind them?
Instead of forcing cashiers to do one
more mechanical thing why not
train floor employees to ask
customers if they are finding
everything? then it’s USEFUL.
basically, its a dumb short sighted
corporate policy that is rationalized as a method for increasing sales.
I’d rather frequent a store
(and thus increase their sales)
that didn’t put me through
these dumb scripted questions.
Joe Rawlinson
March 30, 2009
mickey1234,
You’re right: these questions are scripted and can come across dry and not sincere.
The best place to help a customer is before they get to the register. Because if they don’t find what they are looking for, they’ll never make it that far.