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Written by Staff
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Thursday, 28 May 2009 09:28 AM America/New_York |
 by Pearlina Simmons- Building trust with your customers begins with recognizing who they are. Your customers come to your store because they first come to your church. The worship experience your church offers should be paralleled in your church bookstore. Your congregation will want to shop in your store if you focus on providing items that are "specialties" in your church.
- Does your church sing a lot of gospel music? Then gospel music should be a key feature in your music department. Feature the music that is sung most often in your ministry. We have found the most success when we offer CDs featuring songs we sing in Sunday services.
Find what connects with your congregation and offer related items in your store. When you connect with your customers, you will find that they trust you, and will return for future resource recommendations and purchases. - It is important to know how to relate a product to your customers' needs. Your entire staff, whether paid or volunteer, should be knowledgeable about the products your store offers. They should also be able to recommend products relevant to a customer's needs. To help your associates, create a list of recommended books on specific topics, such as salvation, grief, discouragement, depression and spiritual growth.
- Your staff should also be able to recommend additional resources on topics that your pastor addresses. Offering resources preached or written by your pastor often opens the door for customers to make additional purchases.
- Customers will more than likely trust your store simply because your pastor's products are there, which is another advantage you have as a church bookstore. In general, they trust your pastor, so this gives you access to serve any other bookstore needs they may have.
- Pearlina Simmons is the former director of the Alvin Stewart Ministries Center in Tallahassee, Fla.
- Read the complete article at http://www.thechurchbookstore.com/a.php?ArticleID=12697.
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