Pay Attention

When you or your staff are serving retail customers, give them your full attention until the transaction is finished. Don't talk to co-workers, friends, be on the phone or show indifference in any way to any customer. This should be part of every training program for new and existing employees. Post a sign in the break room and elsewhere reminding everyone(and yourself) to follow this rule.

Customers will get frustrated when they want to ask a question or discuss the transaction and they can't get the attention of the person who is supposed to serving them. I've even had a young person with headphones on bouncing up and down while loud music was blasting in their ears. She couldn't hear anything I was saying so she just ignored my question. This is a management and supervision problem which should be addressed quickly if you want a customer to come back.

If you don't have set policies in force, some employees (especially younger ones) may try to see how far they can test the limits and this weakens your customer experience. So set up rules and policies and review them frequently. Watch your staff to see that they are following the policies all the time and even ask customers how they feel about the service they are getting. Employees that don't or won't follow the rules need to be reassigned or escorted to the door. They can get another job (hopefully with your competitor) but this is your business for a long time.