While some stores are cutting staff due to this ever-shrinking economy, there are others that seem to have the right idea to weather the recession. Rather than slamming the brakes, they are hitting the accelerator and making customer service a top priority. Although many stores may be cutting prices and offering incentives to get consumers in the stores, the one aspect that sets a store apart these days is how they treat their customers. How a customer is treated ranks high on the list of how they rate their experience and likelihood to repurchase at a retailer.
In a Forrester report entitled Customer Service and Loyalty: A Closer Look, Bruce Tempkin noted that
"'...meeting customer needs links the most with repurchasing and enjoyability links the most with the likelihood to recommend. It also turns out that industries have different loyalty profiles. For instance, retailers and health insurers can influence loyalty the most by meeting customer needs while banks and hotels can affect customer repurchase plans from all elements of customer experience. This conclusion was reached after examining the correlation across twelve industries between customer service and loyalty."
So, who is getting this message? It appears that retailers like
Home Depot are heeding the call. Plagued by many years with complaints about customer service, the retailer appears to be making a commitment to get back to their original roots, which focused on customer service. Although they have made a move to cut overall employees by closing their non-core locations, such as Expo, they committed to the existing employees in their core locations and are encouraging them to bring back customer service in the hopes that they will bring back customers.
Walking into a Home Depot store, it is likely that you will now see a greeter at the entrance directing customers to the proper section of the store, based on what they are looking for. Associates, who for many years seemed to have disappeared, are now often located along the main aisles in order to make it easier for customers to seek them out when they require assistance. "We don't want customers walking around looking for us, we want to be walking around looking for them," said store manager Jeff Eder of the Home Depot in Stockton, CT in a
FOX news story.
In a report noted on
CNN Money, Home Depot's executive vice president of U.S. stores, Marvin Ellison admits that 2009 will still be a difficult year, but notes that, "Home Depot is focused on improving customer service, having appropriate inventory and improving store appearance during the downturn." Although halting spending and cutting back may seem to be the short-term reaction to dwindling sales, smart executives will keep the long term picture in mind and use this economic climate to re-prioritize and focus on what can make them successful – a happy customer.
