We use a scripted greeting for all our customers, which includes a welcome, an introduction, a quick ‘yes’ question and an ‘either/or’ question. We find this provides a warm, uniform greeting, that naturally leads into non-confrontational conversation so rapport can be built. Perhaps what is most important are the more subtle forms of communication, tone, inflection and body language. By initially leading the conversation, using a genuine smile, a ’spark in the eye’, and then listening, watching and reading reactions, we find we can move forwards and treat each customer as a valued individual. With this approach, we have negated the ‘juss lookin’ response and had very good customer feedback about our warm and caring approach!