1. Occurs three times during a customer’s visit to your retail establishment—before, during and after the sale

2. Integrated approach “Good customer service is part of your building maintenance, the behavior of your sales rep and the way you handle your sales transactions”

3. Before the Sale Merchandise: customers expect to find certain items in store Building Layout and Maintenance: store should be clean and organized Sales Promotion: advertising should be informative and helpful Prices: a customer should not have to search for the prices of merchandise Credit: customers often use credit to help them make costly purchases

4. Common Services Convenient hours Food Personal shoppers

5. During and After the Sale The goal during the sale process is to provide a smooth transaction and happy customer Ways that the retailer can provide assistance customers can use: Credit Layaway Checks Short lines

6. After the Sale The retailer needs to create an extended relationship to win the customer’s loyalty and future business How do you do this? Handle complaints Efficient and fair returns Offer repair and service on goods purchased Offer delivery of large goods

7. Top 10 Customer Service:

8. Fun Fact: According to cbsnews.com The median compensation for CEOs of the public companies in the Hall of Fame was a little over $3 million By contrast, the median compensation in the Hall of Shame was $14.9 million. That's an eye-popping 447 times the median American worker's pay ($33,190)