ArtsAutosBooksBusinessEducationEntertainmentFamilyFashionFoodGamesGenderHealthHolidaysHomeHubPagesPersonal FinancePetsPoliticsReligionSportsTechnologyTravel

Excellent Customer Service Tip: How a Simple Greeting Can Create Business Success

Updated on November 11, 2012
jpcmc profile image

I'm a Catholic dad and husband. That's the most important part of me.

Simple gestures can make a diiference in customer service
Simple gestures can make a diiference in customer service | Source

When business experts talk about customer service and business success, little attention is given to the humble act of greeting the customer. Sure, there is a huge fuss on speedy service, quality assurances, response time, after sales service. In fact, all these and others are imperative when it comes to providing excellent customer service. But there's one customer service tip I want to emphasize - greet customers properly and business success will sure to follow.

Customer service lesson from an old store keeper

Recently, I had the chance to visit a small convenience store. What I noticed intrigued me! At the counter was an elderly man manning the cashier. I think he was the owner of the business. Three other employees were going about their daily duties all around the store. As I entered the small convenience store, the elderly gentleman gave a warm smile and said hello. I replied with my own pleasantries and went straight to the refrigerated items for my distilled water. The young lady tidying the shelf to my left stopped her work and approached me and greeted me with a warm “How may I help you?” I said I’m alright and she continued her work. After a few seconds, another customer entered the store and was greeted with the same warm smile and hello. This time, it was more personal. “Kamusta na Arnel” - How are you Arnel?. The other store employee turned around and said “Hi kuya” [kuya means older brother in Filipino]. They exchanged pleasantries and the customer proceeded to gather some items. This routine of everyone greeting the customer continued without lapse. As I proceeded to pay for my purchases, I asked the owner of the store if he knew everyone who came in. He seemed perplexed with the question but he indulged with a simple answer – no. So I continued with my curiosity and asked why he greeted the customers. “Iho, hindi lang kami nagtitinda dito, gumagawa kami ng relasyon sa mga cliyente namin, nagsisimula yan sa pagbati ng maayos.” - Young man, we don’t just sell here, we create relationships with our clients, and it starts with greeting them properly.

Different greeting spiels

Basic greeting spiel: Welcome to COMPANY

2-point greeting spiel: Welcome to COMPANY. How may I help you?

3-point greeting spiel: Welcome to COMPANY. I’m NAME, How may I help you?

There are numerous variants to the spiels but the formula is the same.

Why greet the clients

Welcome the clients properly

A warm welcome can set the mood for a positive experience. Greeting the client offers the opportunity to start off on a positive note. Moreover, greeting clients emphasizes that they are welcome to do business with the company.

Make them feel at ease

Greeting the clients sets that mood for the entire transaction. Furthermore, this puts the client’s mind at ease that there are people ready to help them when needed.

It’s a marketing and branding strategy

In many industries, greeting spiels are rehearsed. Moreover, it is used as a marketing and branding tool for the business. Increasing brand or company recall is important and greeting is a good opportunity to do this.

Excellent customer service does not start when the client purchases an item or avails of a service. As I have learned from the unassuming gentleman behind the counter, greeting the clients is a good place to start.

Does it matter to you if the Customer service representative greets you?

See results
working

This website uses cookies

As a user in the EEA, your approval is needed on a few things. To provide a better website experience, hubpages.com uses cookies (and other similar technologies) and may collect, process, and share personal data. Please choose which areas of our service you consent to our doing so.

For more information on managing or withdrawing consents and how we handle data, visit our Privacy Policy at: https://corp.maven.io/privacy-policy

Show Details
Necessary
HubPages Device IDThis is used to identify particular browsers or devices when the access the service, and is used for security reasons.
LoginThis is necessary to sign in to the HubPages Service.
Google RecaptchaThis is used to prevent bots and spam. (Privacy Policy)
AkismetThis is used to detect comment spam. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide data on traffic to our website, all personally identifyable data is anonymized. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Traffic PixelThis is used to collect data on traffic to articles and other pages on our site. Unless you are signed in to a HubPages account, all personally identifiable information is anonymized.
Amazon Web ServicesThis is a cloud services platform that we used to host our service. (Privacy Policy)
CloudflareThis is a cloud CDN service that we use to efficiently deliver files required for our service to operate such as javascript, cascading style sheets, images, and videos. (Privacy Policy)
Google Hosted LibrariesJavascript software libraries such as jQuery are loaded at endpoints on the googleapis.com or gstatic.com domains, for performance and efficiency reasons. (Privacy Policy)
Features
Google Custom SearchThis is feature allows you to search the site. (Privacy Policy)
Google MapsSome articles have Google Maps embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
Google ChartsThis is used to display charts and graphs on articles and the author center. (Privacy Policy)
Google AdSense Host APIThis service allows you to sign up for or associate a Google AdSense account with HubPages, so that you can earn money from ads on your articles. No data is shared unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Google YouTubeSome articles have YouTube videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
VimeoSome articles have Vimeo videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
PaypalThis is used for a registered author who enrolls in the HubPages Earnings program and requests to be paid via PayPal. No data is shared with Paypal unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook LoginYou can use this to streamline signing up for, or signing in to your Hubpages account. No data is shared with Facebook unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
MavenThis supports the Maven widget and search functionality. (Privacy Policy)
Marketing
Google AdSenseThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Google DoubleClickGoogle provides ad serving technology and runs an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Index ExchangeThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
SovrnThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook AdsThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Unified Ad MarketplaceThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
AppNexusThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
OpenxThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Rubicon ProjectThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
TripleLiftThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Say MediaWe partner with Say Media to deliver ad campaigns on our sites. (Privacy Policy)
Remarketing PixelsWe may use remarketing pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to advertise the HubPages Service to people that have visited our sites.
Conversion Tracking PixelsWe may use conversion tracking pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to identify when an advertisement has successfully resulted in the desired action, such as signing up for the HubPages Service or publishing an article on the HubPages Service.
Statistics
Author Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide traffic data and reports to the authors of articles on the HubPages Service. (Privacy Policy)
ComscoreComScore is a media measurement and analytics company providing marketing data and analytics to enterprises, media and advertising agencies, and publishers. Non-consent will result in ComScore only processing obfuscated personal data. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Tracking PixelSome articles display amazon products as part of the Amazon Affiliate program, this pixel provides traffic statistics for those products (Privacy Policy)
ClickscoThis is a data management platform studying reader behavior (Privacy Policy)