Are you a rotating door business? Let’s face it: It’s human nature to take the easier path, one with the sole purpose of closing a sale. But what if you could take that “one and done” customer and turn them into the coveted return customer? Better yet, a return customer who also refers friends and family? The formula for winning this type of relationship can be found in delivering a quality customer experience. Let’s take a moment to dissect what makes a repeat customer for your home furnishings business.
A simple description of a repeat customer is a customer who comes into a clean, well-organized store, finds something they like, makes their purchase, and does so easily and quickly. And while that’s a good approach and certainly lays the basic foundation, it’s different from what feeds a long-term return relationship. Like any relationship, an investment needs to be made. In business, that investment can be broken into three parts: time, open-ended questions, and sharing information.
Taking the time to learn about your customer and their overall goals with genuine interest creates trust and sets the foundation for a longer-term relationship. This can be accomplished by asking questions that will help you learn more about your customer and their unique needs. Avoid asking traditional “Yes” or “No” response type inquiries and focus on the open-ended. What brought them by? Is this purchase being made for a special reason, and what is that reason? How did they find you? What other needs can they share that you might also help meet?
So, you’ve taken time to get to know your customer. You’ve asked all the right questions. Products have been selected, and your customer is excited to take their product home. A credit card or cash is accepted, and the finalized sale is considered a win. But was it enough to create strong enough interest to create a repeat customer(s)? What will they truly remember about this experience once the newness of their purchase has worn off?
The last and most often missed step is sharing your knowledge. After all, you are the expert in your field. Now is your chance to inform the customer of all their options. Unfortunately, however, this is often the point where all selling stops. The options I am referring to are of a specific kind. You know, the many different lenders for which you’ve committed countless hours completing paperwork, all in an effort to become an approved partner, thereby gaining access to the brightly colored marketing materials now displayed around your store. But was your customer informed of these options? Despite popular thinking, customers will only sometimes initiate this conversation. This could be due to a lack of knowledge. Maybe they need to know the available options. Or something more personal is at play, such as a reluctance to discuss anything about credit.
Interestingly, many customers prefer to finance regardless of challenges like these or income status. The opportunity to borrow a lender’s money, sometimes for free, to break their payments down into more manageable pieces or, at the very least, to help boost their credit score is attractive. The time you take to make all of these tools available, educating them on their many options and related benefits, can go a long way in reinforcing your newly founded trust in a way nothing else will. At the end of the day, whether they financed their purchase or paid cash, your customers will leave with a well-rounded understanding of the many options available to them and a sense that your business cared to invest time rather than create a rushed process.
For your business, there is often a side benefit. More often than not, a financed sale turns into a larger ticket. With their eye on that matching table set, the customer, for example, now has the means to buy now instead of later. The knowledge that approval from a lender today cannot be guaranteed in the future is often an encouraging reason for many to make a fuller purchase now. Your time-invested approach has resulted in a happy customer who has been meaningfully supported and who leaves not feeling like just another number but like family. Ultimately, you’ve created a quality experience, and a return customer has been born by exceeding their expectations!
