Boomerang Customers- What You Might NOT Think Brings Them Back!

With all of the calendars and PDA's and lists I make I recently did a really dumb thing. I forgot my best friend's birthday and her anniversary. Both special days are back to back and I forgot both of them. After being friends for twenty years I feel old and stupid!

It could have been that I was packing my last child to go off to college and the constant comments like," You're going to be empty nesters", like I was a big, fat robin, were starting to wear very thin. Even having my youngest leave home was not enough of an excuse to miss two important days in my best friend's life.

So what did I do the minute I realized my mistake? I went shopping!

I drove to my local card shop in the strip center by my home because I knew that not only could I use my special coupon that I had, but that I probably could find something unique there. Just as I thought, as soon as I walked in I saw a display of "retro" Barbie items.

Not a big deal to you, but a big deal to me and I know, my best friend. You see, we grew up in that era and for a short time, I was time warped back to the sixties! I bought an armful of things! A special Christmas ornament, a photo album, a special gift bag, a card and a picture frame! I would have bought more but I was starting to feel a little less guilty at this point! I could just imagine her face when she opens the package. She and I both love "girly" things and this was the epitome of "girly"! I was so excited about these things that I decided right there in the store I needed to mail the package overnight so I could hear how much she loved each item!

As I carried all of my special "finds" throughout the store, I picked up an anniversary card and made my way to the counter. I was the only customer in the store at the time and I noticed that there was only one employee behind the counter doing what looked to be "busy work".

As she looked up she said, "Oh, don't you love this Barbie stuff?" Well, it was rather obvious. That was the end of the discussion. The conversation converted to what I call "parrot" talk. Do you have a "---------mark card?" Will that be cash or charge? Do you want the receipt with you or in the bag? Have a nice evening.

It was a simple $50 sale that had so much more potential. The average sale in a card store is between $8 and $14 so maybe that sale wasn't so average. Maybe she thought I had purchased everything I wanted. So what would make me return to that store? Why would I tell my best friend about the selection? Where else could I buy the same merchandise? When will companies learn the simple technique to bring customers back?

And how can they improve those simple communication skills.

I call this the Win-Win "W" words!

Simple words that create open-ended questions that the customer can't say "no" to but that also help to build a conversation! Employees should try to build a conversation with a customer in which each of the sentences they use begin with a "w" word; who, what, where, when, why and a non-"w" word, how.

The questions can be developed into either a service approach or a merchandise approach. Here are examples:

The Service approach:

What