This document provides guidance on building relationships with customers. It discusses 6 steps to relationship building: establishing rapport, interacting positively, identifying needs, making customers feel valued, maintaining relationships, and handling different customer types. Specific techniques are outlined for each step, such as asking questions to understand needs and going out of your way to make customers feel valued. The importance of remembering customers, addressing them by name, and learning their preferences to maintain relationships is also covered.

1. Lesson 3:
Relationship
Building
Mama’s Subs

2. Relationship Building
• Mastering relationship building involves six
steps:
1. Establishing rapport
2. Interacting positively with customers
3. Identifying customers’ needs
4. Making the customer feel valued
5. Maintaining ongoing relationships
6. Handling different types of customers

3. Relationship Building
• By the end of this lesson you should know:
• How to effectively establish rapport with your
customers
• How to create and maintain positive
interactions with customers
• How to identify what customer’s needs are
• What you can do to make a customer feel
valuable
• How to maintain ongoing relationships with
customers
• How to handle different types of customers

4. Step 1: Establishing
Rapport
• Establishing rapport begins the moment you
start communication with your customers
• How you establish rapport depends on your
customer interactions
• It also depends on who your customers are,
what they expect from Mama’s Subs, and how
Mama’s Subs can enhance customers’ lives

5. Establishing Rapport
• Be friendly
• Treat customers with a warm, welcoming attitude
• No matter who your customers are, everyone appreciates someone
who is friendly
• When you smile and offer a friendly greeting, you put your
customers at ease
• You show them from the start that you are approachable and
willing to help
• Be interested
• Being interested means listening when customers respond to you
• It also means responding accordingly to what the customers have
to say
• When listening to customers, think of ways to brighten up their
day; it is an effective way to show you are interested

6. Establishing Rapport
• Be considerate
• Being considerate means showing kindly awareness or
regard for customers’ feelings
• For example, if a customer is having a bad day, you
should respond to them by saying, “I’m sorry to hear
you’re having a bad day. What can I do to make it
better?”
• Even if you cannot personally understand or relate to
what the customer is saying, you can be considerate in
your response
• Be trustful
• The best way to demonstrate that you can be trusted is
by being honest and ethical in everything that you do
• Being trustful also includes treating people with dignity
and respect

7. Establishing Rapport
• Find common ground
• When you listen to your customers’ statements and
responses, try to find something you have in common
• To a customer who is having a bad day, you might
respond by saying: “I’m sorry to hear that you are having
a bad day. I had one of those days yesterday.”
• The customer will appreciate that you can relate to their
experience
• Even if you did not have a similar experience, you can
find other ways to relate
• Empathize with the customer, ask questions, show interest
• Complimenting a customer on something they are
wearing is also a good way to find common ground
• E.g., “I like your watch, sir.”

8. Step 2: Interacting Positively
with Customers
• Once you establish rapport,
continue building your
relationships by interacting
with your customers in a
positive manner
• When you are positive and
upbeat, customers will
respond similarly
• At work, be the person that
brings others up

9. Interacting Positively
with Customers
• Be helpful
• Show your customers that you care
• Do something to make your customers feel good about
themselves
• Set a personal goal to help someone every day
• Even when a customer does not directly ask for help, if
they seem like they need assistance, offer it to them
• Be committed
• When you commit yourself to your customers and to
Mama’s Subs, you will look for ways to make things
better
• No matter what you do on your shift, strive to do your
best
• Give your customers your all
• Customers will respond positively to a hard worker

10. Interacting Positively
with Customers
• Be a problem solver
• Be part of the solution rather than the problem
• Look for answers when customers have problems
• Don’t merely focus on what is wrong, do something about it
• People who focus on problems complain; people who focus
on solutions find ways to make things better
• Be credible
• This means being knowledgeable about the products at
Mama’s Subs
• Customers appreciate employees who are knowledgeable
• Learn everything you can about the food and services we
offer here at Mama’s Subs
• If you need additional knowledge, ask your manager for help

11. Interacting Positively
with Customers
• Believe in your products
• You need to believe in the food and services we sell
at Mama’s Subs
• Otherwise, you will not come off as sincere
• Believing that our products will help improve the
lives of our customers e.g., by helping a busy
mother save time by purchasing quality food for
their children) is crucial for doing the right thing for
them
• It does not matter whether you make the subs, take
the orders, or check customers out; truly believing
in our products will help you promote yourself, the
products, and Mama’s Subs in a positive and sincere
manner

12. Step 3: Identifying
Customers’ Needs
• Customers come into
businesses for various
reasons
• Sometimes they are not
very clear about their
needs
• When you deal with
customers, your job is to
uncover their needs

13. Identifying Customers’
Needs
• Ask questions
• In lesson 2, you learned about open and closed
questions
• For a review, click here to return to lesson 2:
http://www.slideshare.net/nikiwild3/lesson-2-
effective-communication-33164675
• Use open questions to get the customer talking
• Questions that begin with “what”, “why”, and “how”
encourage customers to talk
• Used closed questions to clarify answers to open
questions
• These include questions that begin with “who”,
“would”, “how”, and “where”
• Notice that “how” can be used for either open or
closed questions

14. Identifying Customers’
Needs
• Summarize customers’ needs
• After you have asked enough questions to determine a
customer’s needs, summarize your understanding of what
they have told you
• Start your summarization with, “From what I understand…”
• If your understanding is incorrect, ask more open and closed
questions until you get it right
• Recommend appropriate solutions
• Make sure that your recommendations are based on what
the customer told you
• Refer to things that the customer said when making
recommendations
• EX: “Our lighter options at Mama’s Subs are perfect if you’re
trying to lead a healthier lifestyle. They are low calorie, low
fat, and we use whole grain bread bread.”

15. Identifying Customers’
Needs
• Handle objections
• This can be accomplished by using the
suggestions in lesson 2 about dealing with
customers who say no
• Link to lesson 2:
http://www.slideshare.net/nikiwild3/lesson-2-
effective-communication-33164675
• Listen to their objection, acknowledge it, follow
up with a question, consider the customer’s
answer, and respond appropriately

16. Step 4: Making the
Customer Feel Valued
• When you make customers feel valued, you
are on your way to building strong
relationships
• At Mama’s Subs, we strive to make the
customer feel important and valued

17. Making the Customer
Feel Valued
• Go out of your way for customers
• Do what you can to help customers
• Try to give customers more than what they ask for
• When a customer asks a questions, give them more than a one-word
answer
• Help those customers who do not openly ask for help but need it
• When you go out of your way for customers, they notice
• Validate customers’ decisions
• No matter what type of sub, side item, drink, or deal the customer decides
on, validate their choice
• For example, when a customer picks a certain sub, respond with something
like, “Good choice. That sub is one of my favorites.”
• Instill positive feelings
• Never make a customer feel bad about their decision
• Always encourage the customer and make them feel good about their
decisions

18. Step 6: Maintaining Ongoing
Relationships
• Once you build strong
relationships with
customers, your work is not
done
• In any relationship, you
have to work to maintain it
• Customers come back a
second, third, and fourth
time because you
established a relationship
with them

19. Maintaining Ongoing
Relationships
• Remember your customers
• Nothing makes a customer feel more valued than being
remembered
• Acknowledge your repeat customers by saying
something to show you remember them
• EX: “Welcome back to Mama’s Subs, ma’am!”
• Customers who do repeat business at Mama’s Subs
appreciate being recognized
• Learn customers’ names
• When customers come into Mama’s Subs repeatedly,
make it a point to learn their names
• Addressing the customer by their name will let them
know they are important to you and the restaurant

20. Maintaining Ongoing
Relationships
• Remember something about your customers
• Everyone appreciates an employee with a good
memory
• It shows your customers that you value your
relationship with them
• EX: “Hi, Mrs. Johnston! Hope everything’s going
well with your new house.”
• Learn your customer’s preferences
• If you deal with customer’s repeatedly, get to know
what they like
• If you have too many customers to remember each
ones’ tastes, you could start a card or computer file
and note your customers’ preferences

21. Step 6: Handling Different Types
of Customers
• Most of the customers
at Mama’s Subs will be
average people with
average needs
• Some customers,
however, will test your
skills and your patience
• In addition, you will have
to interact with
customers who are
disabled or from a
different ethnic
background than you

22. Handling Different Types
of Customers
• The pushy, obnoxious customer
• Maintain a professional demeanor
• Speak softly and control your voice inflection
• Remain calm
• Do not take their behavior personally
• The timid, indecisive customer
• Help draw these customers out and get them to talk more
• Ask open questions
• Listen closely to their responses and guide them to give you
an answer about their decision
• Be sensitive to these kinds of customers
• Help them feel more relaxed an comfortable
• Do not be pushy or use a forceful tone

23. Handling Different Types
of Customers
• The overly friendly, flirty customer
• Keep your end of the conversation on business
• These customers can be difficult to handle because they do
not see their behavior as inappropriate
• It is up to you to control the conversation
• The culturally different customer
• We live in a society that incorporates many cultures and
customs
• Yet people often do not know how to talk or act in the
presence of a person with a different background
• Displaying kindness, smiling, and being honest translate
across cultures
• Try to make yourself aware of different cultures by
researching them

24. Handling Different Types
of Customers
• People with disabilities
• Treat them like you would anyone else
• Make eye contact and speak in your normal
tone and pace of speech
• As you continue with the customer, if you
notice that you need to slow down, speak up,
or enunciate more, do so
• Treat them with the same dignity and respect
you would anyone else