Minnesota Customer Service: Niche Markets - Treat Your Customers Like They Matter

At least it shouldn't be. When you arrive at a place of business, whether in a building or online, your first contact should be positive. Greetings, social conversation. Can I help you? What are you looking for? Do you want to just look around and get inspired? If you find something that you wish to ask questions on, feel free to contact someone in the building.

People should feel welcome in your place of business. They should feel like you want them there. That they matter, to you. You should convey that they can ask you for directions to whatever it is that they need; and if you don't have it, you will do what it takes - within reason - to help them find it elsewhere.

Color coding the people who help. Who hasn't had an experience where you are the customer, and someone mistakes you for someone who works here. That is because, people will wander about aimlessly, and then, when they reach some sort of decision, they are unable to complete the transaction because of missing information.

That's where customer service should step in and verify the details that are not there.

Customer satisfaction should be somewhat of a priority. As a company, or employee, or business owner, you have the advantage over the person visiting your shop, page, store in that you possess the most current information on supply, availability and value to your live customer.

Steps should be taken to befriend the person who is in need of assistance. Perhaps, the person is investigating needs for someone else. The person who seems to be uninterested in every detail, could bring the shreds of information to someone else and that someone else could be the ticket to your success.

Networking with a customer should be encouraged. Keeping a customer happy and wanting to come back and repeat their investigations should be a main goal of anyone looking to make a sale.

The example that I was reading elsewhere, said that if you were selling tennis shoes, that you should limit your keyword to tennis shoes and then, as the customer was drawn in to your shop, then the choices could expand.

If a customer is looking for a pair of tennis shoes, they are first concerned with comfort. Size matters. First, the shoe must be fitted. Once the correct size is determined, then a choice of color may ensue. Suggesting a multiple color purchase would be appropriate. Why limit your choice to one shoe? There are seven days to a week. Why not have a different pair for each day of the week.

I had sore feet when I walked into the Nike Superstore in Medford, Minnesota. As a customer, I walked into the store and was greeted by the first associate. She asked how I was doing and I said, "Fine, except that I need a pair of shoes that doesn't hurt my feet".

She assured me that there was a sale going on and that I could browse around and get comfortable with the styles and she appointed a shoe representative to help me. Soon, I had a personal helper who asked me what size the shoes that I currently were wearing were. He asked if I had a narrow foot or a wide foot - informing me that all the colors were the same in the female and male departments, but that if you had a wider foot, it was recommended that you go with the male shoe.

My feet are wide, so I opted for the male shoe. There is a two size difference between male shoes and female shoes. Male shoes are two sizes smaller than womens, so if you wear a female size 10, you will wear a men's size 8.

He brought me this pair of shoes. I tried them on. They seemed okay. He went to find more choices. In the meanwhile, another associate explained about the shoe choice that she had made. I had some concerns about plantar fashitis and she explained that the fitsole insoles are designed to offer new and improved degrees of comfort. Layers, she said. The fitsoles were a certain number of layers, the fitsole 3 that I was trying on was forming around my foot and she said there was a new fitsole 4 that was the next option. One more layer. She had one, so I tried it on. I didn't notice much of a difference. My feet hurt, but not as much.

The first associate came back and had another shoe for me to try on. The second one was slightly different. A different fitsole number. I liked the color of the first pair and asked if there was another shoe in that size. Apparently, there was no more Vomero shoes. Last one. I purchased the pair he had brought me and made it to my car and decided that I needed to find another pair.

I also went to another shoe store in that mall and asked what probably seemed like a million questions about the memory foam insoles offered by Sketchers. I poked my finger into the shoe and was suitably amazed at the comfort that my finger felt, but hesitated at buying a pair.

A few days later, I returned to the mall and to the Nike Superstore and went to the mens section and tried on various shoes. I found another pair of shoes that were comfortable enough for a second pair. Not quite as squishy as the first pair, but, still comfortable.

You, as well as I, am aware that tennis shoes have changed much in the last sixty years. When I was a kid, the main choices were a flat looking tennis shoe and the other choice was a shoe with a white rubber toe called a bumper.

Now, you have colors, and styles, and shapes, and soles and you name it. I went to Scheels, which is an exclusive sports store and tried on their most expensive pair of athletic shoes. I did not find them to be very comfortable. I purchased them, wandered around in a concrete floor store for a good hour and my feet started to feel like they were burning.

I may have an allergy to the materials used in certain insoles. I have no known allergies, but my feet felt even worse in the more expensive shoe. I was certainly willing to purchase it and did, but had to return them.

I stepped into a pair of Georgia Boots and felt instant comfort and relief. There was no break in period. My feet felt comfortable instantly. There was no getting used to the shoe period at all. My feet felt great. True, I made no fashion statement for the six plus months that I wore the boots at work, but, my feet felt good.

For years, the Dr Scholls gel soles worked good. I would buy a pair of Dr. Scholl's and they'd feel fine for about four months. You could tell when you needed a new pair because the soles of your feet would get very sore. Like someone was taking a hammer and hitting your feet when you'd take a step. I do a lot of walking on concrete floors where i work, and some spots have bubblized rubber mats. The bubbled mats do not work well with any type of shoe if you have sore feet, since the bubbles make your legs use a different set of muscles and you end up with sore legs.

Almost like walking on a dry sand beach. The rocking motion of the bubbles add to the balancing issues and your muscles take a beating.

As sweat builds up in your shoes, apparently the best approach is to switch to a different pair and allow your sweaty shoes to dry and reform to their original dimensions as your weight and the shape of your foot will imbed itself in your insole.