Monitor for Misunderstood Instructions

Fred and Danny are on a hunting trip one day. Suddenly, Danny collapses and stops breathing. As you can imagine, Fred immediately puts down his rifle, whips out his mobile phone, and calls 911. He yells into the phone, “A man just dropped dead. We’re miles from the road. What should I do?”
     The emergency dispatcher replies, in a syrupy smooth tone, “Let’s take it one step at a time and not get ahead of ourselves. First, I’ll want you to check that he’s actually dead….”
     “Okay,” says Fred nervously, but before the dispatcher can go on with her instructions, she hears the sound of a gunshot, and then from Fred, “Done. What’s next?”
     In my joke of questionable taste, that dispatcher failed to recognize how badly her instructions would be miscomprehended. In the real life parallel, you and your staff might be so accustomed to repeatedly giving the same set of instructions that you assume, in error, everybody else accurately understands the directions and cautions for the customer.
     According to research findings from University of Michigan and University of Iowa, monitoring for misunderstood instructions is especially important with elderly customers. Otherwise you risk the real-life tragic consequences which would not be at all a joke.
     Here are tips to reduce the risk for all your customers, elderly and otherwise:

• For products popular with seniors, have large typeface instruction sheets available and offer one to the customer. Or at least, if you see the customer straining to make sense of what it says on the package, show them a larger size package version which they can read. Tell the elderly consumer what to do instead of what not to do. Researchers find that the elderly have a dangerous tendency to misremember. They forget the not part. 
• To the degree that you have time, deliver the message in different ways. Tell the elderly customer the product usage instructions. Demonstrate your points with gestures or even a sample of usage. Then check for understanding by encouraging the customer to ask you questions. In doing this, be sure to respect the dignity of the customer. If they seem confused, let them know you and others in the store are available later. 
• Make note of which of your instructions are regularly misunderstood so you and your staff will take special caution when giving those instructions in the future. 

For your profitability: Sell Well: What Really Moves Your Shoppers

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Check Instructions with Elderly Customers