‘Hello’ and ‘Thank-You’ are Great When Opening a Dollar Store, but…

The secret to building dollar store sales and dollar store profits is so easy.  It is to take actions to build dollar store sales, widely cut costs and make the customer job #1 for your business.  Absolutely the most important of these actions is to connect with your customer.  After all, what could be more important?  Without customers you have no sales.  Without customers you have no reason to be in business.  Yet the times have changed.  Today customers must be treated as the gold they represent.  That is true even to a dollar store business.  Read on as I provide 9 actions that will contribute to providing top notch customer service.

#1 - Always welcome new shoppers into your store as they enter.  It takes such a small amount of time to look up and say ‘hello’.  Yet how many retailers do this?  When opening a dollar store stand apart from the crowd by becoming the one dollar store where customers are always greeted with a quick smile and a ‘hello’ as they enter.

#2 – When opening a dollar store make it your practice to always thank everyone for coming into your store.  It doesn’t matter whether shoppers make a purchase or not; always say ‘thank you’ for coming.  After all, first time shoppers generally make small purchases or none at all during their first visit.  They are there to see what you carry and how they will like your store.  Treated correctly they will come back again.

#3 - Customers who make a purchase should be treated like royalty.  Focus on them throughout the dollar store sales transaction.  Make sure they were able to find the location of everything they were seeking.  Make sure everything they were looking for was in stock.  Make sure they found everything to be satisfactory – or even better – during their visit.

#4 - Make shopping in your store a pleasure.  Keep your store clean and clutter-free.  Make sure there is adequate lighting.  Have pleasant music playing in the background.  Continually work to make each experience better than their last for shoppers.

#5 - Anticipate shopper needs and wants.  Bring in dollar store merchandise for every season and major holiday.  Build dollar store sales by having these items on display items well in advance of the actual holiday.

#6 - Ask for feedback.  Then really listen to what your customers are saying.  Take action to fix problems they identify.  Add products they suggest.  Look for ways to continually improve service.  Just as you have favorite supplies, become their favorite dollar store

#7 - Adopt the motto – ‘the customer is always right; at least most of the time’ anyway!  In most cases the requests or feedback from shoppers is easy to accommodate.  Make it your policy to not only resolve the easy issues, but the hard issues as well.  Only in the most outrageous of situations should you not try to come to a happy conclusion for the customer.

#8 – Continually work to make this shopping experience even better than the last.  One of the surest ways to achieve success is to make this your goal.  Shoppers may not come right out and say this is happening.  However you will find them returning more often and making bigger purchases as their signal your efforts are working.  Build dollar store sales by following the actions listed throughout this article.

#9 – Reward employees who demonstrate customer focus every time.  When opening a dollar store it will become clear that customers have their favorite cashiers and clerks.  In most cases this will be directly linked to the high quality of customer service they provide.  Reinforce outstanding customer service by recognizing and rewarding those who continually demonstrate it.

To your success when opening a dollar store!