Its no wonder retailers like the "open minded" customers; they are easy to deal with and generally feed our egos by affirming our status as an expert. These customers are a joy. On the other hand when those tech-weenie, spoke sniffing, know it alls come through our door and make our lives difficult by requesting every little thing they saw on the internet, retailers eyes roll back in their heads and they reluctantly go an service them. Do the names sound harsh? well every retailer has used them, we all know who we are. No matter how great the customer service, how experienced or mature the staff, there seems to be something irksome about the know-it-all customer. It is not surprising that this happens. When people who dedicate their lives to serving people in a sport, becoming experts in a field are made to feel that their knowledge is unnecessary they get bummed out. How a retailer deals with the situation separates the professionals from the amateurs.
The first thing to do is to stop making assumptions. For instance the original taxonomy of customers is loaded with them, as dichotomies typically are. Lets take customer 1, we assume that they a)open minded, b)easy to fit. Just because a customer asked you for your opinion doesn’t mean that they automatically value it. How many times have you walked into a shop and played "dumb" to evaluate the staff. You might give them your suggestions, and they may politely say they'll think about it and then go and buy it at another shop. People get second opinions from doctors all the time, they do it with bikes too. Many times the 'easy' type 1 customers don't voluntarily offer all the information necessary to make a satisfied customer. In my experience fitting hockey skates, there are always those customers who just won't tell you if they don't like the skate. Just because a customer listened to you does not mean that they will be satisfied. More often customer satisfaction is based on how well the retailer listens to the customer. They type two customer comes in the same varieties as type 1, they just aren't asking your opinion. They might know nothing, and they might know more than you. They might have had a fit somewhere else, they might assume that you are going to fit them. The only way you find out is to ask.
The only real difference between those two types of customers, beside how they make you feel, is what they are asking you to do. It is incredibly important that you always do what they ask. If the person asks to be fitted to a bike you don't start by selling them clothing, you start by fitting them to a bike. If someone comes in and asks you to order something, you start the sales process with an order. First rule of retail is if the customer makes a request, you fulfill it. A customers request for an order should always be followed by an order, not a questioning of the customers choice. This might mean that you only pull out the order form, all you need to do is demonstrate that you are listening to their request. At that point you are free to ask the customer any questions you like as long as they don't begin with why. Questions like, "would you like to be fitted to this bike before I order it?" "This is a great bike, have you had a chance to ride it?" or the bike shop standby of "Where do you like to ride?" All of the previous questions get you valuable information without questioning the customers choice. Essentially you are interrupting the order process with the initial stage of the sales process. Once you think you have enough information you ask permission to present a different product. If the customer says yes, which they almost always will, go on and let your stores service shine.
This is of course assuming that the type 2 customer in question was looking for the wrong bike. Heck that 6'4" customer looking for the 54cm bike, may have been replacing his brothers bike that he ran over with his suburban. If you listen to him and treat him respectfully he may come back and get a bike for himself
The first thing to do is to stop making assumptions. For instance the original taxonomy of customers is loaded with them, as dichotomies typically are. Lets take customer 1, we assume that they a)open minded, b)easy to fit. Just because a customer asked you for your opinion doesn’t mean that they automatically value it. How many times have you walked into a shop and played "dumb" to evaluate the staff. You might give them your suggestions, and they may politely say they'll think about it and then go and buy it at another shop. People get second opinions from doctors all the time, they do it with bikes too. Many times the 'easy' type 1 customers don't voluntarily offer all the information necessary to make a satisfied customer. In my experience fitting hockey skates, there are always those customers who just won't tell you if they don't like the skate. Just because a customer listened to you does not mean that they will be satisfied. More often customer satisfaction is based on how well the retailer listens to the customer. They type two customer comes in the same varieties as type 1, they just aren't asking your opinion. They might know nothing, and they might know more than you. They might have had a fit somewhere else, they might assume that you are going to fit them. The only way you find out is to ask.
The only real difference between those two types of customers, beside how they make you feel, is what they are asking you to do. It is incredibly important that you always do what they ask. If the person asks to be fitted to a bike you don't start by selling them clothing, you start by fitting them to a bike. If someone comes in and asks you to order something, you start the sales process with an order. First rule of retail is if the customer makes a request, you fulfill it. A customers request for an order should always be followed by an order, not a questioning of the customers choice. This might mean that you only pull out the order form, all you need to do is demonstrate that you are listening to their request. At that point you are free to ask the customer any questions you like as long as they don't begin with why. Questions like, "would you like to be fitted to this bike before I order it?" "This is a great bike, have you had a chance to ride it?" or the bike shop standby of "Where do you like to ride?" All of the previous questions get you valuable information without questioning the customers choice. Essentially you are interrupting the order process with the initial stage of the sales process. Once you think you have enough information you ask permission to present a different product. If the customer says yes, which they almost always will, go on and let your stores service shine.
This is of course assuming that the type 2 customer in question was looking for the wrong bike. Heck that 6'4" customer looking for the 54cm bike, may have been replacing his brothers bike that he ran over with his suburban. If you listen to him and treat him respectfully he may come back and get a bike for himself