Farm Direct Sales Need Customer Service

EDMONTON - Feb 11/04 - SNS -- Alberta Agriculture strongly reminds agricultural producers who are enhancing incomes and sales opportunities by getting involved with farm direct marketing need to put a high emphasis on customer service to make sure they stand out from the crowd and earn repeat business and referrals.

"Superior customer service is what happens when you exceed your customer's expectations," says Kerry Engel with Alberta Agriculture, Food and Rural Development's farm direct marketing initiative, Westlock. "It happens when staff go the extra mile to make their customers happy."

It can be a costly mistake for a farm direct marketer to assume that everyone on their team knows how to, or even is, treating the customer correctly. "Harold Lloyd, of Harold Lloyd & Associates, is a food retailing expert from Virginia," says Engel "He says putting together the right team is paramount to providing superior customer service."

Engel says that as farm direct marketers are now gearing up for the spring selling season, it's the perfect time to implement some of Lloyd's tactics.

* Develop an orientation/training procedure for new staff, including family members. Assign a mentor or buddy for the new staff to help them feel like they are a part of the family.

* Conduct performance reviews on all staff. Conduct reviews annually. Goal setting should dominate the session.

* Implement regular communications with staff. Install a staff bulletin board to keep them up-to-date. Hold regular meetings: monthly, weekly, and for 10 minutes daily. Have an open door policy to encourage communication.

Establish a recognition plan and a procedure to deal with discipline. Acknowledge a birthday. Recognize and reward worthy service. Even a verbal compliment or a complimentary note will go a long way to boosting loyalty. Pride and loyalty produce great customer service.

"You also need to deal with negative behavior," adds Engel. "Set up a clear and progressive procedure that is fair, consistent, constructive, non-retaliatory, professional, motivational and non-personal."

Bottom line, says Engel is that a reputation for superior customer service begins with having a solid staff. "Staff is fundamental to any customer service program. Whatever else you do to try to keep customers coming back it all begins and ends with your staff."

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