Black Friday – Too Busy to Build Relationships?

Posted by Deborah Chaddock Brown on November 20, 2009 under Attitude, Customer Moments | Be the First to Comment

So will you get up at the crack of dawn to stand in line for amazing savings on the first official day of Holiday shopping, or will you get up to wait on those in line?  Arguably the busiest shopping day of the year, customers and sales associates are so busy completing the sale, they rarely have time to look up and make eye contact let alone build relationships.  But that’s not to say it’s impossible.  Here are a few tips to help you be remembered this Black Friday:

• Paste that smile on and keep it on all day – if you smile, people will be more likely to smile back and that simple gesture may help calm down an over-tired, stressed out shopper.
• Make eye contact.  It really doesn’t take that much time or effort to lift your head from the cash register or scanner to make eye contact with the customer.  It will go a long way toward making the customer feel more than just one more sale on a very busy day.
• Say thank you.  We should never be too busy to remember this simple and yet valuable phrase.  Remember – without that customer and their sale, you just might not have a job.  It is the old adage – the customer signs our paycheck.  Too true.

You may not have the time or energy for more – but just making eye contact, smiling and saying thank you will probably be more than your competitor is doing on this busy shopping day.  Make the experience a positive one so that the customers return on a day when you aren’t offering 50% off everything or opening before the sun comes up. 

If you are a shopper, check out this article on how to prepare for Black Friday.  And Financial Edge offers a strategy for financially planning to shop on the busiest shopping day of the year – Black Friday.

For retailers – Epoch Times offers this marketing advice for getting the word out about your holiday specials.

Hownet offers a great article with the 10 questions you should ask yourself to see if you are ready for the holiday shopping rush in your store/business.

If you have more time to prepare – consider my book It’s a Party:  Planning a successful retail sales event. It may be too late for this Black Friday, but consider purchasing the e-version to help you with your Inventory Clearance sale in January.

Happy Shopping!