Monday, September 28, 2009

Communicating to Our Customers: Drop the Acronyms and Industry Speak!

Did you ever answer a customer's question and receive a very confused
look from them in return?

A few years back a customer asked me why we were out of a particular item.
My answer was, “I know that we “surveyed” that item, but I think it was either “scratched” or on “allocation.”

The customer gave me the same look I gave the young doctor when he told me that my “diastolic” number was fine but he was concerned about my “systolic” number.
The point is we need to communicate to our customers on their terms. Many of us in retail use words like “discontinued”, “selector error”, “focus item” “shipper” "drop-ship" ... just to name a few...and acronyms like "OOS" "CSS" "POS" ...what do these mean to our customers? Nothing!
Knowledgeable employees are one thing but the ability to successfully communicate and have your customers understand is another. This presents an excellent opportunity to “raise the bar” in customer communications and delivering your brand promise.

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