Customer experience is the top reason a new customer becomes a loyal customer, research shows. Does your staff have what it needs to deliver the best in customer service?
Your product might be beautiful, your website state of the art, and your store displays stunning, but if your customer service is lacking, you’ll never build lifelong customers.
A 2022 study by Forbes found that the top reason a new customer turns into a repeat customer is because of customer experience — specifically service from employees who are helpful and friendly.
Does your staff have the tools needed to keep Mother’s Day customers coming back? Two long-time floral pros provide tips and training techniques to ensure your employees are ready and motivated to help create and maintain lifelong customers.
Provide Realistic Scenarios
One of the biggest challenges with newer employees is helping them find the confidence to make suggestions to customers, says Theresa Colucci, AIFD, PFCI, AAF, owner of Meadowscent in Gardiner, New York. Customers are not always sure what the intended recipient likes, what size bouquet is appropriate, or which flowers are popular or in season.
“They rely on your opinion to make their decision,” she says.
To help new hires gain that confidence, Colucci provides them with real-life scenarios and asks them to assist the imaginary customers. If employees are struggling, Colucci has them shadow a seasoned employee.
“Listening to the way other employees are handling phone calls and listening to how they handle the customers is really how any new employee learns,” Colucci says.
Empower Problem Solving
In a customer-oriented business, employees should be trained and encouraged to use their personal judgement to solve problems. When a customer is unhappy, staff must be ready to apologize, take responsibility, and offer solutions they believe fit the situation and customer’s needs.
“Your goal is to get that customer to a place of satisfaction no matter what situation you’re dealing with,” says Ben Heroman, treasurer of Billy Heroman’s Flowerland in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. “If they’re trying to please the customer, there’s no wrong answer. There may be preferred ways, but there’s no wrong way when you have the customer’s best interest at heart.”
Colucci instructs her staff not to make the customer wait on a response while the employee asks managers or owners for permission to offer a certain solution. “Handle it yourself and get them the quickest possible, best outcome,” she says.
Utilize Teachable Moments
If a Billy Heroman’s Flowerland customer has a negative experience, management follows up with the employees involved and does one-on-one training about how to the situation could have been better handled, Heroman says. In addition, they use negative experiences as teachable moments for the whole store. During meetings, they’ll share the scenario — without naming the employees involved — and ask staff to brainstorm solutions.
“When the team starts to interact, now they’re helping each other,” Heroman says. “They understand there are often multiple ways to solve it.”
The collaboration allows employees to feel safe speaking out and sharing ideas. They’re able to build on each other’s suggestions to develop better solutions than the ones they may have created individually. It also ensures everyone — not just the employees involved — is prepared for similar situations.
Celebrate Accomplishments
Employees also learn when things go well. When managers share positive customer reviews, employees can see how their solutions were received and appreciated. It also helps others see what works in various situations.
At the beginning of staff meetings at Billy Heroman’s Flowerland, managers take a few moments to acknowledge employees who excelled at their jobs, noting how they exemplified shop values such as customer service, quality, and attention to detail.
“We’ve found that catching people in the good and celebrating it encourages them to do it again,” Heroman says. “What you celebrate in life tends to repeat itself.”
It also creates a ripple effect, motivating other employees to put in the effort as well.
Encourage Sociability
“Recognize something about the customer that you like — their coat, hairstyle, color combination — and give them a compliment,” Colucci instructs her employees. “It just sets the start of the conversation off well.”
If it’s a phone interaction, she encourages them to make thoughtful comments — like offering condolences for a loss when the customer is purchasing funeral flowers — or probing with friendly questions, such as asking a wedding couple about their proposal.
“We try to boil it down to our team that we want to be salespeople, not order takers,” Heroman says. “You really have to engage with or you’re not going to exceed their expectations.”
Laurie Herrera is a contributing writer for the Society of American Florists.
