Service: what is it made of?

In other words, work performed by request, in response to such questions as, “Miss, do you have this in a size 42?” or “Can I see these pants in green please?” The sales assistant behaves as service staff by bringing and serving. At best, she can respond to the client about the presence or absence of a good. Even if she smiles sweetly and is helpful to the client, this, alas, is not enough. This is the minimum level of service that will allow you at maximum to stay afloat (even if you have a unique product or very low prices), but probably not for long.

Only by surpassing client expectations can you get ahead – for example, by offering additional services such as free hemming, delivery, additional bonuses, etc. But the problem is that there will be always someone who will be able to do more for customers than you. At this level of customer service the competition is the highest. As soon as one company comes up with a profitable offer, the others immediately create the same offer, plus something else. The main task at this stage is to provide something more than competitors. The client is already used to this and is waiting to see what else you are ready to do to attract her. The WOW effect works only once. For example, when you enter a hotel room as a loyal customer and you receive a complimentary bowl of fruit, it serves to create the WOW effect, but only the first time. Then it is considered normal, and may even be a cause for disappointment (“Last year, the fruits were better – they had cherries and strawberries, and this year they only have apples and bananas...”). Therefore, it is important to understand that, while we certainly have to offer the client something beyond her request, this level of service will probably not create longterm loyalty.

This level of service presupposes that you are ready to do much more than simply meet or exceed customer expectations. It is the absolute personalization of work, where it is always the client, not the product, at the center of your attention. This is about caring for the customer, communication at the “person-to-person” level. The shop assistant is an expert who can provide professional advice, to offer her solutions to the client’s request, based on her own preferences, values, and emotional state. This is the ability to build a trusting relationship with the client. It is attention and care, the willingness to do more for the client than the standard job description suggests. It is important that the client leaves with the feeling that she received more than she paid for. At this level of service it is possible to build long-term relationships with the client. Here we can talk about customer loyalty, her affection for your company, brand, and even for a specific shop assistant.

At this level there are no ready-made scenarios and almost no competitors. This is the ability to anticipate the client’s wishes, even her dreams, to take care of her and place her comfort first. In other words, the client could not even have imagined that something was possible, and yet you already did it for her. This is the ability to go beyond the usual patterns of professional communication between shop assistant and customer. It is difficult to teach, it is the inner attitude of a person, the desire to do something for the client as if she were a close friend. A conversation that you heard by chance or a wish that the client only hints at each represent an occasion to go above and beyond. It may seem unlikely, but there are plenty of such examples. The customer enjoys recounting it to her friends and shares the experience on social media; this is the highest appreciation of you as a professional. So what exactly do you need to teach your employees? What exactly should they do to move from the first and second levels of service to the third and fourth ones? There are three important components in client work. It is their balanced mix that creates the overall impression of your work and shows the level of client-oriented focus.
1. Professionalism
2. Communication, ability to build relationships
3. Aesthetics
What are we talking about, what does each component include, and what should we pay attention to when working with clients?

1. Professionalism
This means that the shop assistant must be an expert in her work. If we are talking about the fashion segment, she must thoroughly know the brands represented in the store and be able to explain their design concepts. She must be aware of fashion trends, know the brands’ competitors, the composition of material, its properties, peculiarities of use and methods of care. The answer “I don’t know” should never be used. In other words, she should be able to talk about EACH item in the store in a way that is interesting to the customer. At this point I am sure that many store owners will be saying: “My shop assistants already know all of this!” But alas, too often we are optimistic. And if the information is not shared and repeated by sales assistants, the presentation of the offering will not be convincing, interesting or vivid. The best improvisation is prepared in advance. Perhaps sales assistants need to brush up on something they’ve forgotten, or better articulate something that’s difficult to explain. Take a moment to listen to what your salespeople say to clients about items in your offer. Does it impress the customer? If not, this is a sign that it’s time to address the topic in greater depth with your team. What else is very important when we talk about the professionalism of sales assistants? Often people go to stores not for a specific thing, but for an idea. The main idea is: “I don’t know what I want; I will see what I like.” In offering something to the customer, it is important that the shop assistant puts the main emphasis on the client, her needs and desires. In other words, she should not talk about the items, but about the CUSTOMER, about what this purchase represents to her: for example, creating a certain image or a total look, explaining the various uses of the product (how and when to wear it and with what to combine it), explaining how to add new products to the client’s existing wardrobe – this is the work of a stylist or a personal shopper. Show the customer her new look, surprise her, give her new ideas! This is a significant component of service that prompts people to shop offline. This is what will help you to create the WOW effect, develop confidence in the expertise of the advisor, and excite and interest the client. And the shop assistant must build this skill to perfection.

2. Communication.
While serving a customer, it’s easy to focus exclusively on the business-oriented aim of selling a product, since this is the benchmark of efficiency. But the client will evaluate you on the basis of two other aspects, as they are related to her emotions, which a person remembers best. “I don’t remember what I bought there, but I felt good and comfortable, I’ll definitely go back,” or “I didn’t like it there, and I won’t go back to that store, no matter what discounts they offer!” Familiar selection criteria, aren’t they? The ability to build communication means the ability to build a relationship of trust. For each person, there is only one person—the most important person—she would most like to talk about: herself. The client is waiting for a special relationship, she wants to communicate with a living person, and not with an answering machine, no matter how polite. It is important for her to know that she is welcome here, she is remembered, she is attended to as a valued guest and interesting as an interlocutor. Such an approach creates a sense of privacy and confidence, and these feelings form the client's affection and loyalty to you and your company. That is why many highest level clients don’t stay in large hotel chains when traveling, but choose instead the small private boutique-hotels, where they are met not with the polite coldness of standardized communication, but with a warm, almost family atmosphere, where the staff remembers their preferences, stories, etc. The client will want to come back to your boutique if she feels the atmosphere of warmth, comfort and attention. And the client is often willing to pay for it at a much higher price because luxury service begins when the emotional component is stronger than the rational component. How do we achieve these? First of all, we have to learn to establish contact with the client. Those first scripts and phrases of contact that we have taught shop assistants to use with new customers, and which are practically the same for everyone, no longer work. It is important to learn communicative techniques that allow you to read the emotional state of the client and her behavioral patterns, to be “on the same wavelength,” to build a relationship based on the client’s personal characteristics. Attention to a person, her mood, well-being, alongside sincere interest in what the client tells you about herself is the key to a long-term relationship. The sales assistant becomes a personal consultant, a trustee. All the information we have learned about the client serves as a bridge to her continued visits to your store and to personalized offers you can create for her: “I remember you said that you love cashmere,” “That’s your favorite color,” “When I saw this dress, I immediately thought of you,” questions about what the client said before, sincere interest in what is important to her… You must have a joint story. An important tool in the shop assistant’s work is the client books with all information about a client: her preferences, lifestyle, hobby, names of children, relatives and pets, what kind of coffee the client prefers, etc. Of course, the more customer information you have, the better you will understand her needs. Here we’ll need tools: CRM programs, an omnichannel approach, etc. But nothing can replace human interaction, and the ability to build it is the most important component of customer service.

3. Aesthetics.
Everything that surrounds client should be beautiful and elegant, especially when it comes to boutique format. Appearance of the shop assistant, clear and correct speech, the cleanliness of shop windows and mirrors, scents, music – everything should be impeccable. High level selling is a kind of ritual, magic that’s found in the details and small touches: how the shop assistant shows the products, how she works with the customer in the fitting room, how coffee is served, and so on. The hallmark of a company with a high level of service is that when a customer arrives, she has the impression that everything revolves around her and runs smoothly, like a Swiss watch. She is welcome here, the store team is able to understand and predict her desires and always does a little more than the others. All of the elements described here come together to create an atmosphere that will have your client returning to your store again and again, no matter what.