Are you an organized person? Do you like to keep things all neat and tidy, particularly at work? Well it may pay off for you and your business. Have you ever entered a business and noticed how disorganized the store was or the clutter that consumed the counters of a cashier’s station? What was your first impression? Did you feel comfortable and confident with the business in getting your order right, finding your past files or being professional? Probably not.
I recently visited a UPS Store to ship a box of my books to a client in Australia, in preparation for my second upcoming 6 city speaking tour. When I entered the store, I found it to be extremely neat and organized. The merchandise was well placed, organized, easily accessible, labeled and well stocked. I picked up an extra roll of bubble wrap for my package and walked up to the counter with my box in hand. The clerk, Stacey, was friendly and helpful. I also noticed how orderly the counter was as well as the area behind the counter. Again, everything seemed to be organized and in its proper place.
I commented to Stacey how neat and organized the store was, particularly her workstation area. I joked and told her that I wished my office could look this good. Stacey thanked me for my kind remarks and stated that it is always a high priority for the staff in the store to keep it organized and maintained throughout the day. When I asked her why it was so important, she told me that being organized and orderly was necessary to keep track of customer’s projects, not waste time looking for items and making it faster to help her customers. She also said that it also helps maintain a good first impression to new customers arriving throughout the day. How right she was on all points.
Have you looked around your work areas, check out counters, hostess stations, reception areas, lobbies or even company vehicles lately?
- Do you look organized?
- Do you display a professional image?
- Do you or your staff waste time trying to find things?
- Are you always prepared and ready to do business?
What are your customers thinking about the moment they walk in your doors? Just keeping the place clean is not enough. In fact, in just twelve seconds or less, your customers are forming at least ten or more impressions about you and your business. Most of us think first impressions only include cleanliness, a friendly and helpful staff or how knowledgeable the staff was. All very important. However, don’t over look the importance of being orderly and organized as one of those ten first impressions. We all might not be the most organized and neat in our own work areas or homes, but we as customers do expect and appreciate the people we do business with to be orderly, organized and not waste our precious time looking for things.
A few months ago, I had a new sign made at a sign shop and when I went to pick it up the owner had a difficult time locating it. I was frustrated, lost my patience and even offered to help look for it myself in their back area. Both the owner and I searched for awhile before finally finding it among a pile of damaged signs. Do you believe it? What was my sign doing there? Obviously, someone had put it in a wrong location and I if we hadn’t found it then who knows where it might have landed.
What kind of impression did that sign shop leave on me? Not a very good one. In fact, later I chose to find another sign shop even though the quality of work was good. I was worried that their disorganization might one day cause a serious delay or unnecessary damage and did not want to take that chance. As a result of their disorganization, they lost a customer.
Businesses can not afford to lose any customers. Make it a point to straighten and tidy up all of your work areas, get organized, discard items that are just in the way, designate certain areas for items to be stored, label shelves, train everyone where to put things and hold people accountable for keeping it that way.
Once you become more organized, I know you will feel refreshed, confident and eager to help your customers. Just one of many ways you can do to help make the CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE MAGICAL!