Footwear Insight

30 • Footwear Insight ~ November/December 2021 footwearinsight.com know customers by name and shoe size. I want everyone who walks in here to feel good." — Ralph Moyer, Moyer's Shoes "Keep it simple. Do the things you expect others to do for you when you patronize their establishments. Have professionally trained staff. Consumers want to deal with staff that knows their products and how it benefits the specific customer. Myself as a consumer, I don't want to research everything I need to buy. I want to go where they can tell me what I need and why. at's the reason for brick-and-mortar. Also, consumers want to be addressed immediately aer entering your store. A simple 'Hello. How are you?' ere is nothing is worse than entering an establishment and no one welcomes you or addresses you. Consumers also don't want to be sold. I instruct my staff to 'assess the needs, fill the needs.' Add-ons are as simple as suggesting to fill a need the consumer was not aware of. Never push products on the consumer." — Steven Rueda, Turnpike Comfort Footwear "e basics of carrying sizes and widths are still essential to provide superior customer service. Our staff is continually retrained on the importance of measuring feet, asking open-ended questions and bringing out a four-pair minimum." — Tony Miroballi, Miroballi Shoes "Our definition of customer service is being able to solve footwear problems for our patients and customers. We realize that our clients have particular footwear challenges that the typical shoe store can't address. No one comes here because their feet feel great. As our company name says, we specialize in providing solutions to our customer's problems. We feel strongly that it's better to not sell a shoe instead of selling the wrong shoe that won't address the customer's needs." — Bill Smith and Althea Schlumpf, Althea's Footwear Solutions 4. MAKE IT AN EXPERIENCE "Step one for us is offering a comfortable, easy shopping experience in which people are encouraged to stay, learn, and have some fun with our team. Upon entering one of our locations a person can expect to be greeted by one of our team members, given a tour of the store, and be offered a beverage the same as we would welcome someone into our home. Blending the new age technology with the tried and true traditional fitting methods allows our knowledgeable team to create a personalized experience that will exceed the customers expectations." — Adam Beck, Beck's Shoes "We like to pamper our customers. My theory is the longer they stay, the more money they spend. I welcome my sales people to spend as much time as they can with each individual customer. In order to do this, I have to keep enough people on the sales floor. Aer a customer is greeted and the schmoozing is done, we invite customers to get their feet analyzed and scanned on our 3D foot scanner. It gives us information on instep height, width, length, pressure points, pronation, and arch height. It also recommends orthotics. We then use this information to find the best fit for their feet. Customers can also relax and get their feet massaged and munch on fresh popcorn. We have treadmills to test the product right in the store. When you leave our store you have had an experience that you will never get online or in most stores. Customer service has not changed. We still stick to the basic principles of what our store was founded on — sit-and-fit." — Bruce T. Wesley, Wesley Shoes "We simply treat our customers/friends just as we would want to be treated. at means we put down the red carpet every day. Customer service starts with communication. When a customer GOLD MEDAL SERVICE AWARDS FOR OUTSTANDING CUSTOMER SERVICE 2021 Julie Pierce, Valley Sole, Huntsville, AL. The team at Wesley Shoes, Chicago, IL. HOW THEY DO IT

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