Advertisement Ideas: Greetings, Salutations, And The Bottom Line
It was a Wednesday Morning a week before Christmas when I found myself out making sales calls for La Bonita Kidz and Teenz with the owner and ceo Shanta Tanksley as we are gearing up to launch the magazine in March 2013. We both knew it would be difficult as most business owners were not thinking of marketing let alone planning their marketing for the Spring of 2013. We encountered many people who seemed pre occupied who seemed to think that we were imposing on their day when in reality we were there to help their business. One particular encounter at Third Federal in Coral Springs, FL as we walked in we were immediately greeted with a women standing up and saying NO SOLICITING. My response was mam we are not soliciting we are meeting with local businesses to start to build a relationship so as to see how we can be of service and value to one another. I also made it a point that we could have just come into money and were looking for a bank. She began to explain that corporate instructs them to do this when it appears that someone maybe soliciting. She then gave us the branch manager’s card. Shanta said to me you are amazing you kept your cool and made a great point. We both came to the conclusion that many businesses are missing out on potential by not understanding how greetings and salutations affect your bottom line.
Advertisement Ideas: How Greetings and Salutations Affect The Bottom Line
In his book Soul Currency Ernest Chu explains a principle that if more people adopted their business would thrive and that is being open to receive. Lets go back to The Third Federal example, after my encounter do you really think I will be doing business with them or recommending people to do business with them? Now lets see if the women had been welcoming and said Welcome to Third Federal how can I be of service and value to you today? I would have introduced myself and Shanta and asked her who we should speak with and then I would have left with a good feeling and perhaps sent some business the bank’s way. Instead her lack of receptivity will cost the bank my business and the business of those who read this blog. So I ask you how are your greetings and salutations affecting your bottom line, how many potential customers are you losing.
While I was an Assistant Manager at Footlocker in The Wellington I remember being taught to greet customers within the first 5 seconds of them entering the store and making them feel welcomed. I remember one day a high school football player came in selling candy, our corporate policy was no soliciting, I ignored it and bought a candy bar and asked the other employees if they wanted to buy a candy bar. About a week later the head coach came in and asked if we did team sales and I said yes and our store sold his team 53 pairs of cleats. By being open to receive I created more revenue for the store. I also approached my District manager about ordering more tall tees as in that area the Muck Bowl takes place between Belle Glade and Pahokee High Schools and the kids all make their own tees.Our store was one of the only retail outlets that sold the tall tees and being that I had built a rapport with the football team and the students I figured selling 144 white tall tees would be no problem it talk a lot of convincing to get the district manager to agree to order the tall tees but he did and we sold all but 1 of the 144 during muck bowl week. The reason I share this with you is that you must be aware of what is going on in your community and be proactive and make sure everyone that you interact with feels welcome.
I walked into a computer and phone repair shop and waited for a few minutes and finally I walked out and Shanta asked don’t you want to go back in and talk to the gentleman? I said no because if he didn’t know to come right up front or to have someone at his front desk at all time to deliver outstanding customer service do I really want to recommend him. Again ask yourself how much business am I losing because I don’t have proper trained staff to greet people? Now ask how am I going to combat this?
From the minute a potential customer of your products and services sees your ad to the time they walk into your business or call you it is imperative to give service with a smile. In one of my workshops I say let them feel the smile on the phone, participants ask me JDOGG what do you mean by that and I say put the smile on as you answer the phone and allow that to shine through. We do a small exercise where I have them call me and hear me answer my phone as I say Hello you have reached Jonathan JDOGG Lederman how can I be of service and value to you or hello you have reached Jonathan JDOGG Lederman how can I make your day today? Some people say JDOGG I just called to hear your greeting as I needed to shift my attitude. When you are doing your voice mail remember to think how can this greeting or salutation effect my bottom line? each interaction you have should be one that is pleasant and puts you in a positive light for the more people who have a good experience in your business the more business you will continue to do.
The first part of public relations is how you greet people and how you make them feel. So when you greet people and you train people to greet people remember that every person you come in contact with can be of service and value to you so be of service and value to them.
As you continue to build your business ask yourself how am I going to maximize my message and create a buzz about my business by enhancing the customer/client experience.
The golden nugget to take away from this entry is to remember you never know how someone you come in contact with can be of assistance to you so make sure you greet them and treat them with dignity and respect.
