The late English retailer and restauranteur Sir Terance Conran said this about customer service: “That’s what I say about restaurants – the back part is manufacturing, the front part is retailing, the theatre is what holds the whole thing together.
Foodservice or retail, there’s a lot of moving parts at work to make it all happen.
But the service angle – that’s where I maintain separates the average businesses, from the truly top-shelf organizations and what I suspect Conran implies with the word theatre. When customers prefer and frequent your place of business above all others, it’s rarely just because they shop for price or convenience, although those are significant reasons behind shopping loyalty.
Rather, the ideal shopping experience is obtaining one’s needs, along with getting over-the-top friendly, helpful, knowledgeable customer service. The question this raises is: Are you one of the ‘good guys?’
Jumping back to restaurants, a few come to mind. Consider, I’m not talking about the upper-crust white tablecloth places, these naturally instill an inherent, great service attitude. I’m thinking more along the lines of quick service: McDonalds, Wingstop or Chick-fil-A. They’re at the top of the heap for lots of reasons, but several service points come to everyone’s mind: Clean, delicious, well-staffed, fast, and friendly.
How about on the retail side of the stellar, customer service fence?
A few come to mind from experience and from others who reflect on the same. This list includes many others, but chains such as Harmon’s in Salt Lake City, Hy Vee’s in the Midwest, Jewel-Osco in Chicago, and Wegmans in the northeast are a few retailers with stellar quality and service reputations. Every time I’ve had the opportunity to walk one of these chains, I can see why they’re held in such high regard.
One chain I used to work for had similar standards as well.
Every location I managed, we had a strict whole-store regiment of keeping lots, fixtures, coolers, sales floor and beyond regularly cleaned and maintained. In the produce department we strived to be freshly set up and stocked by 8 am and just as good at 8 pm; tables cleaned and rotated daily, with every produce offering stocked neatly, level, culled, signed and with minimal out-of-stocks.
However, beyond this was the higher standard. The over-the-top service element. Employees were trained not only to build displays but build a positive rapport with customers. “Hi, can I help you find anything today?...Those red navels are the first of the season. Would you like a sample?” Clerks went out of their way to assist customers. When we received a request or complaint, we gave it our full attention. If a shopping experience wasn’t right, every employee involved worked to make it right. And customers, we were taught, were always-always right. No matter what.
The result of this philosophy? Our chain had a whopping 51% market share at its peak.
Elements such as in-store butchers, scratch bakeries, and top-notch produce departments are part and parcel of what attract and retain customers. In fact, numerous studies have shown that customers decide where they regularly shop, based upon where they can find the best produce quality and selection.
Beyond this and just as vital, is customer service.
It doesn’t matter if it’s the interaction with the pharmacist, the sacker, the cashier, or the produce manager, customers know when they’re treated great, average, poorly, or ignored altogether. It takes years to build great a customer service brand, and sometimes just one bad experience to send a shopper packing.
As 2022 draws near, this is something any chain can resolve to build upon. To mend fences or maintain an already stellar service program. Suffice to say, if yours isn’t near the top, or isn’t what it used to be, market share-wise, there’s work to be done.
You’ve already invested untold millions in your organization.
You’ve heard that adding service doesn’t cost, it pays. Increased sales and profits are the long game, the revealing barometer. A little push in the right direction will help reap these rewards. And your customers will thank you.
Armand Lobato works for the Idaho Potato Commission. His 40 years’ experience in the produce business span a range of foodservice and retail positions.