Creating and maintaining the right personal image for you and your company

I was on a very special assignment today, shopping at several places and gathered information about them about how the stores' employees do in terms of sales skills and customer service. Here's what I learned:

* smile - my gosh, it makes a great difference in making the customer feel special. I've been into stores where the employee who served me didn't smile, and believe me, I didn't want to go back again.

* say "hi" and "how are you" - you don't necessarily have to say both, but at least say "hi". It made me feel welcomed, that I knew. Without it, the impression was something like - "what do you want" even though the person may be smiling.

* say "bye", "have a good day", and "come back again" - again, choose maybe 2 phrases out of these at the end of dealing with a customer. It made me feel valued as one.

And you will never know when your smile and words will make a difference in someone's day.