Throughout the world, when two strangers meet there is always a common emotion that exists in both parties: FEAR.  What does this have to do with your company? When an employee and customer meet for the first time, they share that fear.  In most cases, we’re not talking about sheer terror, but rather a low level discomfort that is almost always present and can cause customers to walk away and prevent them from returning.

In our industry, we measure this distress on a scale of one to 10, with level10 being paralyzing fear. In most cases, we are working with a level 1 or 2. These lowest levels of fear are called apprehension, un-easiness, or angst. These emotions are present in both our guests and staff members, but tend to be higher among newer, less experienced employees. 

The ultimate goal is to reduce apprehension and un-easiness in both the customer AND the employee. 

When this trepidation is uncontrolled, the customer may have trouble feeling comfortable with your company, and feel uncertain about your products and/or service, resulting in slower sales and fewer customers walking into your place of business.

It is essential that the 'control' of anxiety be managed by the representatives of your company.   This relies heavily on so called ‘soft skills’ that are often overlooked in today’s workplace.  'Reading the customer , 'true listening' and 'genuinely smiling'  are examples of learned behaviors used by skillful professionals to lower these 'fear' emotions in the customer.

TRY THIS:  1. Teach your employees to recognize their 'fear' when working with customers.  2.  Then, coach your employees to recognize signs of 'fear' in their customers.  3.  Only then, can you arm your employees with the tools they need to lower customer angst so they are able to relax, feel comfortable and WANT to do business with your company again and again!