4 Tips For Businesses On Dealing With Summer's Teenage Crowd

Forbes Deborah Sweeney, Contributor and West Coast CEO who knows small business and entrepreneurs. 6/20/2012 @ 7:05PM Summer vacation – what used to define our childhood has morphed into an almost nightmarish season for many small business owners. Teenage customers, flush with cash from flipping burgers and mowing lawns, descend en masse onto businesses who may or may not be ready for the extra business coming their way. Catering to the needs of a teenage customer takes on a slightly different approach than working with other demographics because teens may not respond to the same customer service techniques that work on older patrons. I don’t typically deal with a lot of teenage customers in my line of work, but I have noticed that younger, millennial customers like solving as much of a problem as they can themselves, whereas my older customers want as much help as we can give them. It may seem like a small distinction, but good customer service is crucial for the survival of a business, no matter how old their customers are. And while my own experience in working with teenagers will remain limited (for now, until my two sons get a little bit older) I reached out for some sage wisdom from four business owners on why companies think that the kids are alright for business. 1) Treat Teens As Equals If they’re flocking over to your business, this means that most of them have some sort of job. They also have a level of financial independence that leads them to really educate themselves before buying high priced items, says Tyler Sickmeyer, owner of 5Stone Marketing. Intangibles like customer service and respect play a critical role in a teen’s buying decisions. Anyone who takes the old-school ‘stay off my lawn!’ approach is missing the boat – businesses should be focused on bringing in every dollar possible. 2) Remain Empathetic In agreement is Lauren Warner of Portillo’s Restaurant Group who says that restaurants are some of the biggest benefactors of teenage patrons. Leaving your ego at the door when you see a group of teens approaching allows you to be of the utmost service to the customer. Don’t dread their arrival or worse, assume that they won’t be able to pay for the entire bill. Lauren says to remain empathetic throughout your entire shift in order to provide the best possible quality customer service. 3) R-E-S-P-E-C-T Mimi West, CEO of My Dream Teacher, admits that she used to be intimidated when approached by a teen customer, telling me that ‘…this stemmed from my own beliefs that teenagers were the most judgmental, the least patient, and the most demanding of all customers.’ However, running her own company has brought her in close contact with teenage customers. She’s found that the best customer service tool is respect, and when you drop your defenses and talk with them like any other adult, their own tendencies to give harsh judgments cease to exist. Treat them like adults and they’ll act like adults. 4) Keep Cool Finally, Andrew Schrage of MoneyCrashers told me a story about a friend of his who had a teenaged customer with vision problems. His outward appearance backed this up, and he was a repeat customer to this business. One day, Andrew’s friend noticed this customer by a small electronics case trying to see if it was locked. The staff was notoriously bad at locking this case, and it turned out the visually impaired customer was stealing electronics. When confronted, he gave a lame excuse about not realizing he was reaching into the case. Andrew’s friend put a stop to it right then and there, and since then this would-be thief has been a model customer. You may wind up getting a bad apple or two – you’ll even get the occasional teenager who is just pushing their luck and seeing what they can get away with. Don’t blow up at them. Remain calm, and treat them like you would any adult. That last tidbit of wisdom seemed to be the common thread in all of these stories. Business owners need to remember to try and treat teenage customers with the same respect they’d afford anyone else. Yes, teenagers do have their own quirks, and may even be quick to judge you for some perceived ‘age-ism,’ but that defense melts away if you show them a proper level of respect. Treat them well and they’ll keep coming back with a pocket full of expendable income and a desire to support the business that treated them well.