When you walk into a store (office, hospital, restaurant etc.) how often are you given a friendly greeting with a sparkly smile and real interest? Half the time? No, that’s too high. More like 10 to 20% of the time. This means that 80 to 90% of businesses are missing on the initial greeting.

That’s not good!

The first greeting when you first arrive is SO important.

If you’re going somewhere for the first time you may be anxious, upset, who knows? What’s your mindset when you go to see a doctor or dentist for the first time? Are you happy and positive? How about the auto mechanic? Some people walk in looking for a fight, expecting something to go wrong, or maybe even expecting that some one will try to rip them off.

But if you walk in and someone gives you a real genuine friendly greeting it brightens a person up. You tend to have a kore positive attitude towards the business, possibly even become more agreeable. Just a simple warm greeting can change someone from LOOKING for things they don’t like to looking for things they DO like. It tends to change your state of mind.

A warm first greeting:

• Sets the tone for the rest of the interaction
• Disarms the customer
• Shows the customer that you have an interest in them

The rule that “everyone must be greeted in a very friendly way” is known to everyone. Its not like you go to some store or office and the people don’t greet the customers because no one ever told them that they should.

So then why is it that sometimes we are not greeted right? Here are some real-life common reasons:

The greeter/receptionist/person-in-the-front was:

• In a bad mood
• Busy filing, typing, scanning, etc
• Just had a bad experience with another customer (or employee) (or the boss!)
• On the phone or with another customer
• Suspicious of strangers
• Distracted from more important work
• Waiting to see if the customer will be nice first
• Busy thinking, snoozing, gossiping, etc.

What to do?

Nothing is more important than simply getting someone out there greeting people who actually LIKES people and is a genuinely happy person. Its not impossible to find people like this, you just have to set your sights high and keep looking until you find the right person. Of course KEEPING the person is important. A great receptionist is worth their weight in GOLD to any business. If you do find a person like above you should pay them well, give them benefits and do what ever to keep them!

And any one who is out there working with customers, patients, or clients should be given some version of the following job description:

Prioritized list of duties:

1. Greet everyone who walks in the door in the friendliest way possible, with a smile on your face and a sparkle in your eyes.
2. Greet everyone who walks in the door in the friendliest way possible, with a smile on your face and a sparkle in your eyes.
3. Greet everyone who walks in the door in the friendliest way possible, with a smile on your face and a sparkle in your eyes.
4. Greet everyone who walks in the door in the friendliest way possible, with a smile on your face and a sparkle in your eyes.
5. Greet everyone who walks in the door in the friendliest way possible, with a smile on your face and a sparkle in your eyes.
6. Greet everyone who walks in the door in the friendliest way possible, with a smile on your face and a sparkle in your eyes.
7. Greet everyone who walks in the door in the friendliest way possible, with a smile on your face and a sparkle in your eyes.
8. Greet everyone who walks in the door in the friendliest way possible, with a smile on your face and a sparkle in your eyes.
9. Greet everyone who walks in the door in the friendliest way possible, with a smile on your face and a sparkle in your eyes.
10. Take care of your other duties such as inventory, stocking, price checks, filing, faxing, scanning, cleaning, data entry, etc.

I mean really, its that important, you cannot over stress the importance of the first greeting. No matter how much effort you put into making sure it is good, it will all be worth it!