Have you ever wandered into a retail store where the staff members were so deep in conversation with each other that they failed to notice you were there?
Or have you walked into a restaurant, stood at the “please wait to be seated” sign, while several staff hastily walked past you without any eye contact?
What runs through your head at moments like this?…
“Ummm hello?”, “Can you see I’m standing here?”, “Am I invisible?”, “Well they obviously they don’t give a s%$t”
What’s happening here is that the very basic human desire of wanting to be seen is not being met.
From a business perspective, this failure to acknowledge customers can erode the bottom line. Instances like what I’ve described above can lead to customer walk-outs, negative word-of-mouth and brand erosion. Put simply, it’s an operational failure with financial consequences.
Acknowledging a customer taps into an incredibly powerful human motivator: the need to feel seen.
And when I talk about being acknowledged, I’m not talking about launching into a sales pitch, asking discovery questions, matching the customer’s needs to your products, or anything complicated.
I’m talking about a smile. I’m talking about eye contact. I’m talking about a simple “hello” or “hi” or “good morning”.
Translation… “I see you.”
And as a customer, when we feel seen, there’s a dopamine release. The recognition triggers the brain’s reward system, creating a sense of pleasure and belonging. It’s the perfect start to creating an exceptional customer experience.
Acknowledgment is not grand, complicated or time-consuming. It’s easy, simple and quick.
From a business perspective, it’s the first strategic touchpoint in the customer journey — a non-negotiable critical precursor to a high-value customer experience.
So how quickly should it happen?
There’s no hard or fast rule and it’s certainly debatable. I have some clients that follow the 10 feet, 10 second rule i.e., if a customer comes within 10 feet of a staff member, they have 10 seconds to acknowledge that customer. As a general (generous) rule, I like to advise our clients that customers should be acknowledged within 60 seconds.
That means your team has 60 seconds to show a customer that they have been seen with a simple smile, eye contact and/or hello. They have 60 seconds to tell that person with their actions “you’ve been seen” and “you belong here”.
How often is it happening?
You tell me… let’s take a simple example. As a retail customer, on average, how often are you acknowledged by a staff member within 60 seconds?
Take our quick poll here.
I’m going to mystery shop 50 retailers next week and report back on how many times I’m acknowledged within 60 seconds.
And let’s compare the results.
In the meantime, I encourage you to look at what’s happening in your team. Are your customers being acknowledged? Does this leak occur in your business?
