Turning Customers Into Clients: The Power of Relationship Selling in Retail
Clienteling builds on conventional CRM to personalize relationships before, during and after a customer's visit. In this model, associates are assigned a group of customers and assume primary responsibility for the customer experience. Each associate can have protected access to all the data for his or her clients. The technology protects customer data among the associates so that clients remain with the same associate throughout the lifecycle of their store experience.
Mobile technology significantly enhances clienteling. With a tablet computer, an associate can pull up detailed product information for the client and record notes about their preferences directly into a CRM system. This tactic helps associates build up a wealth of knowledge about their clients’ purchases, interests, style choices and more.
The technology behind clienteling is built on five elements:
1. Customer data: the information provided by the client as well as that gathered by the associate in conversations and sales engagements with the client.
2. Customer data security: the commissioned associate's "black book" that's shielded from other associates to protect his or her clientele.
3. Associate assignment: a feature that assigns clients to associates. A tool in the clienteling platform automates the assignment of clients down to the store level and even allows store managers to change specific assignments if a different associate might be a better fit.
4. Task management: this ranges from to-do lists to client appointments to customer service follow-ups. Management can assign tasks to an associate, or they can assign tasks to themselves.
5. Wish list/item visualizer: an interactive workspace where items are presented visually on a tablet or laptop screen. This functionality allows the client to share his or her wish list items with their sales associate, creating a "virtual closet."
These features transform CRM from a relationship between a retailer and its customers into a one-to-one relationship between a sales associate and his or her clients.
Moreover, clienteling isn't just for high-end stores where a high level of emotional product engagement is important and where clients expect high-touch, high-quality, high-service experiences. Midmarket retailers can establish this same level of personalized service and reap the benefits when they embrace clienteling's consultative selling strategy.
While mobile technology is driving the adoption of clienteling, another driver is the convergence of store and e-commerce systems. Consider how knowledge of a customer's shopping cart when online has created a vast number of marketing and service opportunities. While appointment selling may not be for everyone, many more retailers could reap the benefits of creating an appointment or engagement session immediately when a consumer enters its store.