Service with a Smile

Take a genuine interest in the shopper and her needs.

Dale Carnegie’s classic “How to Win Friends and Influence People,” although written back in 1936, still offers extremely valuable advice for people in any business in which they interact with others. Indeed, one could say that Carnegie’s teachings are even more relevant today when it comes to retail, where customer service is a primary focus.

Anyone in retail would benefit greatly from applying the suggestions in the book’s “Six Ways to Make People Like You” section:

• ➤ Become genuinely interested in other people.
• ➤ Smile.
• ➤ Remember that a person’s name is to that person the sweetest and most important sound in any language.
• ➤ Be a good listener. Encourage others to talk about themselves.
• ➤ Talk in terms of the other person’s interests.
• ➤ Make the other person feel important, and do it sincerely.

Throughout 2013, more than 100,000 data points will be collected and analyzed among the nation’s top national, regional, independent and specialty grocery chains, covering the various elements of the STRONG study: Suggestive selling, Technology, Rx-cellence, Outstanding customer service, Nutritional and Guide to social media.

In this fourth installment of the Progressive Grocer/ICC Decision Services STRONG study, we measured the levels of engagement during interactions between store associates and shoppers in a variety of scenarios.

As leading grocers know, service is more than just a forced smile and a flat “how-may-I-help-you,” it’s taking a genuine interest in the shopper and her needs. Consistent delivery of such service is what builds and promotes shopper advocacy and loyalty, and greatly impacts a shopper’s impression of the store.

For this month’s study, ICC Decision Services’ field reps made 500 visits to 200 grocery stores and reported on the levels of associate engagement exhibited by store employees during several types of interactions, to see if they’re providing truly engaged service or just lip service.

First Impressions

It’s common knowledge that nonverbal behaviors, including facial expression, posture, eye contact and stance, have a huge influence on person-to-person interactions. This is especially true during the period before verbal communication begins, such as when greeting someone. During this period, nonverbal cues set the tone for the entire interaction, and direct eye contact and a smile create a positive atmosphere and invite the shopper to further engage the store associate.

ICC Decision Services’ field representatives were required to note if all store associates encountered (within 4 feet) on the selling floor made eye contact and smiled. Just over two-thirds of those associates approached acknowledged the reps by making eye contact and smiling (Table 1).

While 68 percent is a majority, given the importance most grocers place on service — particularly those that claim it’s their key differentiator — this number is surprisingly low. Eye contact and smiling are the gateways to the associate’s interaction with the shopper, i.e. “selling.”

Getting to the interaction requires building upon the initial acknowledgement, and there are many ways to do this, from a simple “How can I help you?” to something more elaborate or even dramatic. It’s often suggested to avoid questions that produce a yes-or-no response, as it gives the shopper a means of ending the engagement. Some associates may recommend a product (“Welcome to our store; we have rotisserie chicken on special today, so be sure to pick one up before you leave!”).

Some retailers even make this initial interaction experiential, such as by offering food samples to shoppers entering the store.

Of those associates who smiled and made eye contact, slightly less than half (47 percent) furthered the engagement by offering to assist the customer (Table 2).

Last Impressions

Ironically, the strongest associate engagement was demonstrated at that point in the shopping trip where it had limited impact — when the shopping trip was over and the shopper was at the checkout.

Field reps made a small purchase to observe the quality of customer service provided at the front end area of each store. Virtually all cashiers gave their full attention to the shopper (98 percent). While such engagement gives customers a positive last impression of the shopping trip, it does nothing to boost sales for the grocer.

While the associates of most grocers studied actively engaged shoppers, for the most part this engagement was fairly basic. There were few instances in which an associate went beyond the call of duty and truly dazzled the field reps. Only 9 percent of the stores visited yielded an interaction where an associate displayed service that was truly out of the ordinary (Table 3).

By Store Type

Specialty stores were the true standouts when it came to engaging shoppers with strong service, and the channel ranked well ahead of national, regional and independent grocers in each area studied. This may be the result of the nature of the specialty channel, which has stores that typically offer more niche-type products, and consequently draws a shopper-base that requires more personal attention to help them learn about these products. Regardless, other channels might do well to study the interactions of specialty grocer associates and their customers for some tips on stronger engagement.

Seventy-seven percent of associates at specialty grocers smiled and made eye contact with approaching shoppers, while the other channels had fairly similar rates (Table 4).

When it came to actually offering help, specialty grocers really distinguished themselves from the pack, demonstrating an assistance rate among associates of 64 percent, 17 percentage points higher than that of national chains. One specialty chain studied had the highest rate of all stores studied, 83 percent. Independent grocers had the lowest rate (32 percent) as a channel, as well as the store with the lowest rate, 10 percent (Table 5).

The specialty channel had an “above and beyond” engagement occurrence of 14 percent, well ahead of the other channels and, as with the assistance category, had the store with the highest individual rate as well (25 percent). Although regional chains overall had an average score of 9 percent, one regional grocer had a store with above-and-beyond engagement 21 percent of the time (Table 6).

Opportunities

While shopper engagement levels are satisfactory for the most part, there’s still a lot of room for improvement in the way in which store associates interact with and serve shoppers. These interactions will become an increasingly critical factor as shoppers become more and more hungry for information. Because of this, associate engagement will play a growing role in customers’ perception of the shopping experience delivered.

Based on the study results, grocers may benefit from studying associate engagement at their front ends — where it’s universally strong — and encouraging associates to replicate these behaviors on the sales floor.

What’s more, shopper engagement is something that can be enhanced at little cost, while the results to the bottom line will be dramatic.

Remember, a smile has no value unless it’s given away free.