The time had come for my wife to get a new vehicle. Let’s take a look at the good bad and ugly of her experiences. What occurred during her visits is a microcosm of what happens in automobile dealerships every day.

My wife decided to look at several different vehicle options. She visited three dealerships to look at vehicles. At two of the three, the sales people seemed to ignore her as she looked at vehicles on the lot. Maybe it was because my wife had just been at the gym and had gym clothes and a sweatshirt on – Mistake No. 1.

At two of the dealerships, the sales person never asked my wife’s name – Mistake No. 2. None of the sales people offered a test drive or much of a demonstration – Mistake Nos. 3 and 4. Only one of the sales people asked for my wife’s number before she left so they could follow up with her – Mistake No. 5. All three of the sales people did not treat her as she could or would buy the car by herself – Mistake No. 6. All of them made sure to mention to bring her husband back and they would make me a good deal – Mistake No. 7. Two of three did not follow up after the visit because they did not get the phone number – Mistake No. 8. Two of the sales people took repeated cell phone calls during the time they were with my wife – Mistake No. 9.

The next day my wife and I just happened to stop and look at one other vehicle she had not previously seen. The sales person did not make any of the mistakes mentioned above. He greeted us promptly, he made quick rapport and he asked questions. The sales person treated my wife with respect and gave her the most attention since it was going to be her vehicle. The sales person made friends with my son and related well to him. The sales person gave an energetic and long presentation/demonstration. The sales person presented and negotiated the purchase professionally. He made the sale.

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Does this sound familiar?

After dozens of phones calls and emails as well as several face-to-face meetings, you finally reach an agreement with a prospect who is intent on buying your service, product or solution. 

“Whew! Another sale done,” you think to yourself.

But, wait. Before you start counting your commission it is critical that you keep the sale. Just because a prospect has agreed to move forward it does not mean that the sale will move forward, especially if you sell a complex system or solution. Dozens of things can happen to derail your efforts. 

Your key contact may change companies or positions. The person you are dealing with gets cold feet, loses interest, or decides to change vendors. The company may be acquired or sold. A competitor may approach your prospect with a better offer. There is no such thing as a guaranteed sale even if you are holding a signed contract. That means you need to ensure that you keep the sale. Here are several strategies you can incorporate into your business that will help you achieve this.

1.     First, send some form of acknowledgement or thank-you. I know this sounds like an elementary concept but most sales people think of doing this. They take the sale and move on to the next prospect. However, if you send a thank-you card immediately after you confirm the sale, you differentiate yourself you’re your competition. You can also use postcards. The key is to show your new customer that you value his or her business and thanking them is just one small gesture that demonstrates this.

2.     The next thing to do is regularly update your new customer. Keep them informed about things like delivery or shipment status and installation dates and schedules. If you sell a highly customized product, make sure you advise them on the progress of the development of their product.

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Recent research uncovered almost eighty reasons why customers dislike salespeople. Here are the top seven.

1.     Not listening. This was the most cited reason customers dislike salespeople. Too many salespeople neglect to listen to what their customers or prospects say which means they fail to address the key issues that their customer has stated as being important. I remember an interaction with a couple of salespeople a few years ago. One of them asked some great questions to learn more about my particular situation. However, his counterpart did not listen to my responses, and as a result, his solution did not address my business challenges and buying requirements. In fact, his presentation was so far off base, I abruptly called an end to the meeting. Time is a precious commodity for people and when you don’t listen you disrespect your prospect.

2.     Talking too much. It still amazes me how many salespeople think that telling is selling. I see this in virtually every type of sales environment from B2B to B2C to Retail. My personal belief is that your prospect or customer should do most of the talking in a sales conversation. Sales people react to this idea by saying, “But if they’re doing all the talking how can I sell my product?” The key is to let your customer do enough talking so that you can properly present a solution to their problem or situation. 

3.     Lack of knowledge. In today’s information-rich world, there is no reason for a salesperson to lack knowledge about the products and services they sell. I was recently impressed by the person who gave us an estimate on a new roof for our house. He knew his products and was able to speak intelligently about them and the differences between each. I know that the life-cycles of many products are very short and that many companies introduce new products at an alarming rate.

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Each week, I talk to business owners who dream of having a mature customer base that provides them with lots of repeat business. But when I ask them what they’re doing to make that dream a reality, too often they answer with something like:

“Well, the longer I’m in the industry, the more customers I work with and the more I’ll get repeat business and referrals.” When I hear that, I think to myself, “uh-oh!!!” Why? Because that is a very passive mindset that can cost you millions of dollars over the course of a business!

You see, as the months go by, your past customers just aren’t thinking about you anymore. That’s the cold, hard truth. And no matter how great your service was, your customers are busy living their lives – odds are, they won’t remember you. And they definitely won’t mention your name at the next family picnic when uncle Jack starts talking about the pains your product or service fixes.

Am I saying that good service won’t help you get a referral here and there? Of course not!

What I am saying is that if you want a strong customer base that is the backbone of your business, you must actively, systematically and methodically BUILD YOUR CUSTOMER BASE. To build your customer base, you must start with a Living, Breathing Customer Database.

Your customer database should be much more than the prospect and customer records in your spreadsheets or file cabinet. It should be more than your Outlook files or your contact management program. Your customer database should be all of this and more, combined into one, easy to-use computer program that stores all meaningful information about every contact, every prospect and every customer who can help you build your business.

So, what do I mean when I say you need a “living, breathing customer database?”

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The old adage “you can bring a horse to water, but you cannot make him drink” is an extremely pertinent one in the world of Sales & Marketing. For instance, let’s use this adage as the metaphor that it is:

The Horse: Though not the most flattering thing with which to associate a consumer, the horse truly represents the consumer. Like a horse, the consumer is constantly being directed onto different paths; yet ultimately goes to where they are led. Which factors cause a horse to be successfully led to a particular destination? In truth, the answer is quite simple.

Persistence: Imagine if a rider attempted to guide the horse to the right – yet the horse refused to move. The rider would not throw their hands in the air, give up, and make other plans. The rider is persistent in their efforts to move the horse, whether that action entails gently speaking to the horse, whipping the horse, or pulling at the horse’s reins; eventually the horse will move.

Familiarity (Rapport): Riders and horses spend months (if not years) becoming acquainted with each other. The harmony that exists between a horse familiar with its rider (and vice versa) is unmatched. The rider knows exactly how to control their horse, how to maneuver it, and how to recover from falls. Furthermore, the horse trusts its rider. As a result, the horse performs at an optimal level.

Sticks and Carrots (Customer Service): Though the horse trusts its rider, it will not perform at the height of its ability unless there is a reward system in place. When the horse is responsive and agile, the rider rewards it with a treat. As a result, the horse associates good performance with a tasty reward. This positive reinforcement technique inspires the horse to maintain its heightened performance; it wants to be rewarded for its actions.

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Allow me to share a little anecdote about a friend of mine – for this story’s sake, I’ll call him Bill.

Bill works in midtown, and due to his extremely rigorous work schedule, he rarely has time to prepare his lunch prior to coming into work. Bill’s favorite cuisine has always been Asian food – especially Chinese food. Luckily for Bill, there exist seven Chinese food restaurants within a 2-block radius of his office. Bill, or one of his assistants, could very easily walk downstairs and pick up his order; doing so would both save time and money (when you account for delivery charge and a tip).

However, the restaurant from which Bill chooses to order his Chinese food is located nine blocks away from his office. Furthermore, Bill’s office location is at the absolute end of the vicinity to which this particular restaurant is willing to send a delivery person. As a result, Bill must wait longer than he’d like to wait for his food. In addition, because of the distance traveled, he must leave a generous tip for the delivery person. The food is better-than-average Chinese food, but it is certainly no more tasty or creative than the majority of Chinese food available in the city.

So, why does Bill insist on ordering from this particular restaurant?

Bill is extremely allergic to peanuts. On top of that, Bill’s doctor informed him that he must lower his sodium intake. As you may have been able to guess, the explanation process of his dietary needs is both a difficult and lengthy one. However, Bill’s favorite Chinese food restaurant was extremely accommodating when the restaurants closest to his office were not; all of the local restaurants seemed bothered and put-off by Bill’s requests. Yet, a close friend of Bill’s suggested a Chinese food restaurant to him – this restaurant is now the ONLY Chinese food that Bill will order.

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One of the hallmarks of world-class customer service is how your company manages customer service failures. When a customer speaks up with a complaint, it’s time to listen. Think of the complaint as a gift, and you will see it as an opportunity to learn rather than something to avoid or resist.

The few courageous customers who complain are giving you the gift of their feedback and their experience. It doesn’t matter if they are right or wrong. They are being courageous in their willingness to speak up.

Your goal is to turn customers, who experience service failures, into raving fans. You do this by applying the customer service skills, such as listening and asking questions, to the situations where customer service failures occur.

The most important aspect of managing a complaint, regardless of how upset or angry the customer is, is to stay calm. If you get defensive or uptight when a customer approaches you with a complaint, you will probably make the situation worse.

Action Steps – Follow these steps when you receive a complaint:

1. Listen carefully to the complaint.
2. Express empathy.
3. Offer a solution.
4. Ensure the solution is implemented.
5. Follow-up with the customer to make sure he / she is satisfied.
6. Notify the proper people within the company (or your vendor) so that this type of complaint doesn’t happen again. This ensures future, lasting change.

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“ He MySpaced me.” – Mary – He’s Just Not That Into You (2009)
 
Not long ago we read that back in the late 1800s when electricity was first demonstrated people fell to their knees in amazement.   The individuals who demonstrated it probably felt omnipotent. No one questioned or challenged them.   Today you’ve got to do something really spectacular to get more than a few lines in someone’s blog.   Technology permeates everything today.   It is an integral part of almost every movie.  Even girlie girl movies (we go to keep peace in the household)!  Tech toys have become integral parts of our homes/offices.  They’re indispensible. Our kids feel lost if they don’t have them … all. 
 
Staying Connected
You know:

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Literary and Human Rights students will remember Zola for his defence of Alfred Dreyfus when the French Army was convicted of treason solely because he was Jewish.

But he had a second important contribution to the world which was the documenting of Parisian marketing techniques in his novel “The Ladies’ Paradise”.  And America’s early fascination with everything French certainly paid off decades later when they finally started to adopt some of the French Revolutionary marketing ideas as Mouret (the leading character in the novel) implements to make himself richer and the consumer experience more rewarding.

Marketing Strategy & Consumer Behaviour Analysis

Selection of women as primary targets

“Mouret’s unique passion was to conquer woman.  He wished her to be queen in his house, and he had built this temple to get her completely at his mercy.  His sole aim was to intoxicate her with gallant attentions, and traffic on her desires, work on her fever.”

Targeting women through children

“His most profound idea was to conquer the mother through the child, when unable to do so through her coquetry; he […] created departments for little boys and girls, arresting the passing mothers by distributing pictures and air‑balls to the children.”

Customer Service Orientation

Home delivery

“Why weren’t six pairs of sheets, bought by a lady yesterday about two o’clock, delivered in the evening?”

“The first four conveyances […] had gradually increased to sixty two trucks, one‑horse vans, and heavy two‑horse ones.”

Employee training (in sales and foreign languages—for international customers)

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Every time that your business telephone rings, there is an opportunity to build or damage a customer relationship. When an existing or prospective customer calls your company, the way that you address him or her plays a major role in whether or not the outcome of the conversation will be positive or negative.

No matter who answers the telephone in your business, that person’s words and actions form the basis of your company’s image among people who call your company. Regardless of the type of business you have, it’s important that you and every member of your team observe these basic telephone etiquette tips for professionals at all times.

1. Use The Equipment Properly
Don’t let new employees work the phones without first training with you or other experienced employees. Even if you’ve hired someone with years of multi-line telephone experience, you need to spend some time making sure that your new hire knows the ins and outs of how your system works. If not, you may end up with agitated customers and lost business from calls that get cut off accidentally, or that get transferred to the wrong extensions.

It’s important to keep in mind that new employees aren’t the only ones who can benefit from training on how to use the telephone equipment. It’s not uncommon for employees who work in a company for years to have very little practical knowledge of using any functions on the company telephones beyond simply taking calls. At a minimum, all employees should know the proper procedures for placing callers on hold and transferring calls to other extensions.

2. Answer Promptly
If the telephone rings so long that the customer on the other end wonders if he or she has dialed the wrong number, you are not practicing proper telephone etiquette.

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Would you say that your customers are satisfied with the products and services provided by your organization?  Do you think that having satisfied customers indicates that your organization is one that provides exceptional customer service?  If so, think about what the word satisfaction really means.    When your customers are satisfied, it simply means that you have met their service and performance expectations.  It’s like earning a “C” on your report card.  Your performance is average – not worse than expected, but not better either. 

If you want to be recognized as an outstanding provider of customer service, you have to consistently exceed the expectations of your customers.  This is how your organization can build customer loyalty, which is much more important than customer satisfaction.  Satisfied customers aren’t angry or upset with you, but they still may choose to do business with your competitors.  Loyal customers, on the other hand, are those who choose to keep coming back to you, and choose not to purchase from your competitors.  Customer loyalty is based on the relationship between your organization and its customers.  

Organizations that are recognized as exceptional providers of customer service are the ones that have incorporated customer-focused behaviors into their daily operations.  You can do this at your organization.  

Customer focused behavior requires:

1. Make the Customer #1· Positive initial contact· Establish rapport· Don’t keep customers waiting.

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Word of mouth advertising is the most effective marketing tool for any business. Positive word of mouth is directly proportional to your customer’s perceptions of the quality of service they receive from you and your organization. Customer service is the key to fostering positive word of mouth advertising and generating repeat and referral business.
Customer Service is important to the success of all businesses, especially those that provide services rather than products. It is a simple fact that in a service-oriented industry, you don’t manufacture anything. What you are selling is your service. It costs almost nothing to develop and maintain policies that help ensure quality service. On the other hand, not developing those policies can cost you a fortune.

The customer service your company provides is what separates you from your competition. The less your company focuses on service, the more difficult and expensive it becomes to attract business, and it becomes impossible to retain customers.

Smart service providers know that their customers are the bottom line, both literally and figuratively. Customer focused organizations never lose sight of the fact that keeping customers happy is the key to long term success.

Customer service is more than something that you put on a to-do list and check off every day. Providing exceptional service is a way of thinking, even a lifestyle. Customer service has to be woven into the philosophy with which you approach your business. Respect, fairness, and a true desire to serve the needs of your customer base should motivate everything you do and say.

Customer service means different things to different people. In reality, the only perspective that matters is the customer’s concept and perception of good customer service at the time service is needed and delivered.

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Are you spending money constantly trying to attract new customers?  Realize that you could possibly be sitting on a goldmine, without spending another cent on advertising. How would you feel if you could build a one to one relationship with each and every customer to the point where they then become an advocate for your business?

It’s amazing how many companies fail to take advantage of their most important asset, their customer list.  Most small business owners are constantly searching for ways to attract new customers, when its been proven time and time again that you can make more money from your present clients than constantly looking for new business.

Here are the secrets to begin the process of retaining good customers and generating greater profits from them.

Secret #1: GET TO KNOW YOUR CUSTOMERS

Small Businesses today are finding that in order to survive super discount competitors and online competition they must go back to the relationship building of the good old days.  In cities and towns of yesteryear, jewelers knew their customers by name, the type of jewelry they preferred and made certain he had it in stock.  This kind of relationship coupled with personalized customer service and a genuine empathy with customers, is what keeps them coming back to you instead of your competitors.

Secret #2: GATHER CUSTOMER INFORMATION

A database of customers is the most valuable asset your business has.  Yet only 10% of the retailers in the United States keep a current list of their customers!  Statistics show that businesses spend five times as much for new customers than they do on their present customers, yet a regular customer is worth 10 times the cost of acquiring a new customer!  Today, however, a customer list is not enough.

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At a party I started chatting with a nice guy, late 20′s or so, neatly dressed, with bright, intense eyes. We talked weather, current events, the usual stuff, and then I popped the question. “So, what do you do?”

He smiled. He said he recently bought a route in his area selling cold cuts and other provisions to delicatessens and restaurants. He proudly mentioned their name. I recognized the brand. Anyone would.

So how’s business, I asked. His smile intensified. It’s terrific, he said. I’ve asked that question a few thousand times over the years, and I don’t remember anyone admitting it wasn’t. I asked what was so terrific.

“I’ve got this account up on Route 7. I was there last week. I wondered why he was carrying another brand of turkey, so I asked him. He told me that our product was more expensive than the other brand. I told him that although the price of mine was higher, our marketing people tell us most people find it tastier and as a result end up buying more of it than the other brand. On a napkin, using how much business he does with his current product, I showed him that since the margins were better selling my premium product and he would sell more of it, he would make more money. I showed him how much more, on paper. He put in an order right then and there and after a week, he’s dropped the other brand. He’s happy, and I am too, since he is ordering more from me.”

I asked where he learned how to do this. He described the many weeks of intensive training he received – products, marketing, customer service, accounting, and sales. Apparently the company has very high standards not only for the quality of the products they provide, but also for the route owners/drivers themselves. I learned it’s not enough just to come up with a wheelbarrow full of money to buy a route.

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You have to be able to sell something to someone if you are in business. Most people do not have the perfect product or service that sells itself. A business needs customers and clients to like it. Learning to be nice is an essential skill for any business.

It is, therefore, amazing that so many businesses don’t know how to be nice or whether or not their customers like them. Relationship management is all about learning what your customers like and delivering on it.

Large corporations can spend hundreds of thousands on integrated computerised relationship management systems, but often neglect to think about the actual human interactions between customers and staff.

My first ever job was in a suit hire business over the school summer holidays. Summer was the wedding season and my job was to fit suits to new grooms and best men. My boss could look at someone as they came in and pick a suit that fitted perfectly. I had to ask what size they needed. Typically, a man would say he had a 36 inch waist. It used to take three sets of trousers before he finally, grumpily, admitted that he needed a 42 inch waste. By the end of the summer, I too had stopped asking the customer what size they thought they were and just gave out the right sized suits.

Customers are not always right, but good service is.

The value of having good relationships is your reputation. Reputation is a more valuable commodity than people think. It is not just famous people who have reputations – everyone has one.

By far the best advertising is when someone says how good a company you are. People invest thousands in advertising and very little in relationships. I pay far more attention when someone I know says they have a good dentist, or a lawyer who does not charge you twice if their answering machine takes a message and they call you back, than any sort of advertising.

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Much research has been done on what the makes a winning customer experience. What is it that makes customers come back to your business instead of going to someone else’s? If your repeat business is low, what is it that you are doing to drive your customers away? There is a consistent theme that emerges across the research – winning customer experiences are built on consistency. Michael Gerber in his book “The E-Myth Revisited” calls this orchestration. “Orchestration is the glue that holds you fast to your customers’ perceptions”.

This may seem a glib response to a complex issue, but take a moment to consider it from the customer’s viewpoint. When dealing with a business for the first time, the customer probably has no set expectations on what the experience will be like. With your first interaction, you set the standard in the customer’s mind. If you set a positive standard, the customer will likely return. The next time they do, the customer will expect the same from you. Fail to deliver, and ultimately you will lose that customer.

So if consistency is the key, how should a business go about ensuring the consistent experience for the customer? First, start with the end state that you want to create. What experience do you want your customers to have (cheerful, professional or very fast service, friendly, feel valued etc). With this in mind, think about all the ways that your customers interact with your business. Your business may have many touchpoints – telephone, face to face (single or multiple sites), email, web-site, snail mail and so on. Your business needs to be predictable at each touch point, and predictably the same. The customer notices when they get one experience by walking into your shop, and a different experience when they speak to you on the phone.

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For many of us – especially those in service businesses – our existing and previous customers are vital for three reasons:

1. They have already bought from us, so providing they had a good experience, they might buy from us again. We also know that getting a new customer is much more expensive than selling to an existing customer, so by continuing to sell to them, we are really saving ourselves some money.

2. They can give us invaluable feedback on how we did. Was our service good enough? Did we delight them or were we ‘just ok’. Did our product meet their expectations? Was it good value for money? And so on.

3. They continue to save us money because they should be our major source of referrals and new business. So through them, we get access to new clients who already know about us and have a positive opinion of what we do.

Most clients I meet are not leveraging their existing customer database, and by not doing so, are losing out on a cost effective source of potential new business. Many receive referrals – for which they are grateful – but it’s not because they actively sought the referral, or had a strategy in place to ask for it.

Here are 8 ways to maximize the value from your most valuable asset:

Delight your Clients

Anyone with half a brain can satisfy a customer. But only when you continually delight customers will they keep coming back. You should aim to exceed your customers expectations on every interaction that they have with you. Do this consistently, and you will have a customer for life.

For example, you think your loyal client could benefit from reading a section of your ebook or an article you’ve written? Surprise them and make it a gift. Sure, you could say, “I’ll give you a fifty percent discount.” Forego the money.

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This year, number of Web sites will grow at an unbelievable rate of 1,000 percent.

The strength of a Web presence is that any organization can look as good or as bad as any other firm on the Web.

Getting on the Web with a home page is a no-brainer.

Getting the most from the Web’s global reach takes a lot of gray matter.

Most Web home pages are developed, controlled and managed by marketing, because “they have the budget”. But the team needs to involve IS, marketing, engineering, advertising, public relations, engineering and customer service.

IS needs to be involved because they are ultimately responsible for protecting the organization’s most critical resource, computerized data.

Before you commit to a home page design, surf the Net and Web. Visit large and small, complex and simple Web sites. Study their strengths and weaknesses.

Determine how to make yours an effective and profitable Web site.

Advertising and marketing materials are usually the first items put on the home page because the Web is often viewed as a new promotional media.

Unfortunately, most organizations stop here; but they’ve really only scratched the surface.

The Web site is an excellent place for marketing and product research. An integral part of your home page should be an evaluation/feedback section. Get input on how you can expand/improve the information presented to help the “reader.”

The Web site can be an open forum for new product ideas and product enhancements as well as a repository for input on products/services customers would like to see.

Your Web site can be an excellent tool for providing timely and cost-effective customer service and customer support.

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Good News: This year more than 95% of the businesses in the U.S. – large and small – will have Internet access. Globally more than 65% of businesses in industrial countries will have Internet access. This year an estimated 60% of homes in the U.S. will have Internet access.

Bad News: This year more than 95% of the businesses in the U.S. – large and small – will have Internet access. Globally more than 65% of businesses in industrial countries will have Internet access. This year an estimated 60% of homes in the U.S. will have Internet access.

Whether your firm’s target customers are businesses, homes or a combination – nationally or internationally – the forecasts for your future are a mixture of good news, bad news. As your business grows so will your support requirements. It’s unavoidable. After all, you are in business – business-to-business, business-to-consumer or simply business-to-customer.

If you’re like most firms in the industry, 70 percent of your customer service budget is staffing. Every day, your support knowledge goes out the front door and home (even if you outsource it or move it offshore). On a monthly basis you probably have to replace some portion of that knowledge that was lost as a support person leaves for a better paying job.

The biggest problem a company (regardless of the channel) faces today isn’t competition from the infrastructure players who threaten to undercut your pricing, the breakneck speed of keeping up with technology or the struggle to balance income with outgo. It’s creating and maintaining relationships. While people are pivotal in the relationship picture it is even more important to use our technology to cement and enhance that relationship.

While some industry “experts” will tell you that automating these processes and activities will be expensive and painful, we disagree.

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Do you remember the last line in your job description in the corporate field?

· Will perform other duties as required.

It was and still is the catch-22 of most working environments. One may have been hired as an engineer, accountant or office cleaner and expected to perform work related to your profession but they can always get ‘ya with other duties as required. It means: I know you didn’t sign on for this, but hey, it’s got to be done, someone’s got to do it. You may say, “why me”? Your boss or the human resources department replies, “why not”?

You might not think as entrepreneurs that we will fit into a mold, but we do, something that I refer to as the entrepreneurial paradox. We want different, we don’t want the usual working hours, answering to a time clock or to someone else, we want to be free and approach tasks and challenges in our very own way.

Most entrepreneurs have a good product or service, combined with a work ethic and an opportunity to be our own boss and work our own hours. Most of us don’t know that this actually means working more hours (sometimes a lot more).

Except for the few of you that may be setting up a bookkeeping or collection service, following up and having to collect on invoices is low on our list. If we think of it at all, we don’t think of it much. After all, when you were telling/convincing your spouse about starting your business, I’ll bet you never said “I’m really looking forward to calling up those customers who haven’t paid their bills!”

There are a number of reasons why about 50% of small businesses will not last more than five years, but what it comes down to is non-performance of ODAR (other duties as required).

Some of these duties may be cosmetic and others are critical. Foremost among the latter is credit and collections.

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