Develop effective relationships with customers within your ...

[Pages:4]SSR.D002 Develop effective relationships with customers within your retail business

Overview

Developing effective relationships with customers goes beyond just meeting the customer service policies and standards you have set for the business and involves doing that bit extra for customers, to increase customer loyalty and to enhance the reputation of the business. This is likely to involve extra effort and cost and to raise expectations of future service, so you would need to decide in what circumstances, if at all, this would be profitable for your business. For example, you may decide to focus on certain types of customer who are likely to respond positively to a more personalised service, or you may decide that only certain products with a wider profit margin need to be associated with `going the extra mile'.

SSR.D002 Develop effective relationships with customers within your retail business

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SSR.D002 Develop effective relationships with customers within your retail business

Performance criteria

You must be able to:

P1 take into account customer profiles, competitor activity and your brand image when deciding on an overall approach to developing customer relationships

P2 take into account your profit margins, the risk of lost sales and the likelihood of repeat business when deciding whether to offer special terms to customers

P3 negotiate with customers in ways which are likely to preserve good will whilst protecting your own business interests

P4 where you cannot meet customers' expectations for special terms, explain this positively and sensitively and offer alternatives where possible

P5 give individual members of staff a level of authority to negotiate with customers which reflects the staff member's ability to do this

P6 ensure individual members of staff clearly understand the limits of their authority to agree to special terms with customers

P7 ensure that everyone who negotiates with customers in your business keeps track of special terms agreed with customers and passes this information to you promptly

P8 monitor the effects of special terms on customer satisfaction, sales and profits, allowing enough time for results to become apparent and checking that the results you see are not likely to be due to something else

P9 review your approach to customer relationships often enough to be able to respond to changes in circumstances or customer expectations

SSR.D002 Develop effective relationships with customers within your retail business

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SSR.D002 Develop effective relationships with customers within your retail business

Knowledge and understanding

You need to know and K1 how to get information about your customers and competitors which will

understand:

help you decide how to develop relationships with customers

K2 typical benefits and drawbacks of offering special terms to customers,

and how to estimate the effects these might have on the business

K3 negotiating techniques which are likely to preserve goodwill whilst

protecting your business interests

K4 common negotiating tactics which customers use, how to recognise

these, and how to choose a response to suit the circumstances

K5 how to decide what level of authority individual staff members should

have to negotiate with customers

K6 efficient and effective ways of keeping track of special terms agreed with

customers, and how to pick the most suitable method for your business

K7 effective ways of measuring customer satisfaction and the effects of

special terms

K8 the factors which tend to influence customer expectations and the

effectiveness of special terms, and how to monitor these factors

SSR.D002 Develop effective relationships with customers within your retail business

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SSR.D002 Develop effective relationships with customers within your retail business

Additional Information

Developed by

Skillsmart Retail

Version number 1

Date approved

February 2009

Indicative review January 2013 date

Validity

Current

Status

Original

Originating organisation

Skillsmart Retail

Original URN

SSR.D002

Relevant occupations

Retail and commercial enterprise; Retailing and wholesaling; Managers and senior officials; Managers in distribution, storage and retailing

Suite

Independent retailers

Key words

Retailing; retailers; SMEs; small-medium enterprises; small medium enterprises; small enterprises; medium enterprises; independents; develops; developing; devises; devising; creates; creating; encourages; encouraging; effectively; efficiently; personal

SSR.D002 Develop effective relationships with customers within your retail business

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