Customer Service: your most important sales tool?‏

You can have the greatest sales people on the planet, but if you’re leaking customers through poor customer service, your balance sheet will suffer.
 

And the cost of acquiring new customers usually far outweighs that of keeping existing customers. Surely it's much more preferable to keep more of those customers you have? For me, every company should realise that their ultimate sustainability depends on their ability to generate consistent excellent service that keeps customers coming back and singing their praises. 

Yet 77% of customers say that if they experience poor service, they would avoid using that company again where there is another option available.  
 

But, is it me...or are customer service standards still sadly lacking?  
 

How good is your customer service? Are you aware some people could have stopped buying from you because they became unhappy with some aspect of your product or service – and don’t feel as though anyone has taken responsibility for fixing the problem? And didn’t tell you?  
 

Don’t rely on technology. There’s so much technology around nowadays that many customer transactions could be done automatically. I say COULD because, even though we have the power to automate so much nowadays, I would think very carefully about whether automation could help, or actually hinder, your customer service. For me the key aspect is accessibility. The customer should be able to speak to a real person, easily, if they want to.  
 

What could you do ?  
 

Remember many products and prices are the same these days, so the differentiators are going to be the buying experience and customer service throughout. How’s yours?  
 

My take on what you could do?

• Firstly, your team. Make sure you’re practising the very best internal customer service with your own team – are you treating your team how you’d like them to treat your customers? There’s plenty of research that, summing up in one sentence, confirms that if you take care of your employees, they will take care of the customers – and this in turn will take care of your profits. Read more here 

• Where do you want to be? Take time out to think... What, in a perfect world do you want your customers to be saying about you, your team, your brand, your company? Come up with some potential statements you’d want them to come up with if you asked them.

• What needs to happen? Looking closely at the statements you came up with, think about what sort of changes you’d need to make to ensure these statements come true. If you can’t get there in one go, prioritise.

• Where are we now? Asses. Where are your team now compared with where you’ve just established they need to be? Have they the skills to fill the gap? Have they the mindset? Are they capable of taking on board the changes you require?

• How can you get there?  What do you need to do first? What do you need to do next?  

• Measure and manage. Work out a way to measure your customer service. This could be simple, or sophisticated, but do something. You’ll need to be able to compare customer service scores this month v last month v last year etc  

As usual, not enough space here to elaborate but one thing is clear...if you sell and you’re not already pulling out the stops to guarantee high levels of customer service, I’d start now.
  

Protect those hard earned sales and get that sales success!  
 

Until next time  

Leigh

PS:7things not to do in 2014... 

results@sales-consultancy.com

020 7903 5426  

www.sales-consultancy.com

Forprevious 'Tricks of the Trade' go here

The "MOT" you MUST pass!

How good is your company when it comes down to passing your MOT tests?  

 

MOT? Moment...Of...Truth.

 

Those occasions when you come into direct contact with your customers and potential customers. Those moments which, ultimately, determine what your customers think of you.

It might be an incoming phone call. It might be a chat on an exhibition stand. It might be at the very point you deliver your product. It could be when your products are returned to you, deemed unsuitable by your customer. 

These are the key moments when your customer or potential customer decides...are you any good at what you do?

You’ll know your MOT’s – and you’ll know that you should be wowing the customer at each and every MOT.

 

The ultimate MOT

 

And then there’s that ultimate Moment Of Truth for the customer...when they complain to you. Your company’s future could depend on how well you deal with those complaints. And with the onset of social media, whether you work for a multi-national brand or own the local cafe, if you don’t handle customer complaints and comments in the right way, you could be in trouble.
 

My thoughts about turning complaints into opportunities are not new, you’ll see them in many ‘how to’ guides. But, as we head towards the busiest time of the year for many companies, we’re heading for the busiest time of the year for complaints too.
 

So it's worth checking in...how good are you at dealing with complaints? Here are my thoughts... 

• Welcome complaints. What fantastic feedback they are. If something’s not right, surely you want to know about it? When you get a complaint it's not time to hide - it's time to spring into action! Treat it as valuable feedback on your product or service. Receiving complaints in the short run might save your company in the long run. It’s those that don’t complain and quietly ditch you that are the concern!  So...when clients complain, it’s not a nuisance; it’s an opportunity.

• Make it quick and easy to complain. Make sure that if ever your customers have need to complain – that they are QUICKLY able to speak to the correct person to complain to.  There’s nothing worse than being passed around the houses before getting through to the right person.

• Recognise a complaint when it arrives. A complaint can be subtle - they may tell you very calmly, rather than shown in anger, but they are giving you an important message all the same. They may not tell you anything at all - but their actions make it clear something’s not right. Better to find out there and then.

• Empathise. Think about the complaint from the customer's point of view - we've all complained at some point, or should have!

• Treat it as an opportunity. Individual complaints give you the chance to demonstrate your value the customer. See complaints as your chance to shine. Respond proactively and these customers will become your biggest fans. Make sure you get on the case quickly – and turn the whole thing around in a way that befits the image you want to create.

• Spot the trends. A complaint may well be a one-off. Maybe not! Record all of your incoming complaints even if seems like a one-off, you never know, a trend might be emerging which you’ll want to nip in the bud. 

And of course make sure you’ve developed a mindset which embraces complaints - you might have the best sales operations in the world, but much of that can be in vain if you don’t handle complaints properly.

It’s all about sales psychology.

 

Until next time  

Leigh

 

 Sales Mistakes you MUST avoid!

 

Get the complimentary download NOW or have the DVD posted to you.

 

results@sales-consultancy.com

020 7903 5426

www.sales-consultancy.com  

Forprevious 'Tricks of the Trade' go here

Referrals: Are you asking?

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Of your most satisfied customers of 2013, how many of those customers have you asked for a referral?

Most sales and business people never ask for referrals. Those that do often ask when it’s too late - and make a fatal mistake when asking for them (more on that later). Yet referrals are just about the easiest, quickest and least expensive way of increasing sales and building your business.

But you must ask!

Most businesses never ask for referrals – ever. Maybe this is because they think asking for a referral is too close to ‘selling’. If you’re nervous about asking for a referral, remember that people usually like to tell others about good things that have happened to them, so why wouldn’t they want to share how great you are with their friends or colleagues?

Secondly, if you’re good at what you do, how sad would it be if you weren’t able to help more people and businesses simply because you were shy about asking for referrals?

Ask early

Don’t wait until after you’ve finished what you were hired for. On no account should you ask a few weeks later either. In both situations ‘the moment’ has already passed. You may indeed have done a brilliant job, but memories fade fast and it's likely you won’t be as well thought of after a lapse of time.

The time to ask is as soon as the customer is starting to get results. They will often be at their happiest fairly early into your work with them. That’s the prime time to ask for a referral. So pick a time when they are massively enthusiastic – and dive in!

Asking for referrals (the fatal error)

 “Do you know anyone who would be interested in having similar work done?” 

What’s wrong with this question? Well if you have been on any of my training courses you will already be shouting out “It’s a closed question”!!!. Correct. You can only have two answers to that question – yes, or no. And it’s more likely to be a no because that’s the easier answer to give – you’ll have directed their brain into shutdown mode.

So the question to ask (ensuring you have excellent levels of rapport beforehand) is ...”Who else do you know that would be interested in achieving the sort of results you’re getting”. Although I changed the end of the question a little, the main difference is the “who else” bit at the start. This takes the customer’s brain down a whole different pathway. Instead of encouraging their brain to shut up shop, you’ve opened up the ‘search’ facility in their mind and they will therefore unconsciously search much more intently for a worthwhile answer. A subtle but crucial change.

Get them to introduce you

So it’s all gone swimmingly so far. You’re doing a great job. You’ve asked the perfectly worded question – and your customer has thought of someone who you could help. In a perfect world they will contact your next potential customer initially. Ask them to do that for you. It’s so much better if, when you contact the new customer, they’re already expecting your call.

Offer a reward

If you can, why not thank your customer with flowers, or maybe a bottle of bubbly, even just a thank you card? That shows how much you appreciate their help – and might just nudge them into introducing you to someone else!

So who can you ask in the next few days?

Until next time.

Leigh

 

PS; Click here if you have a fear of selling.

results@sales-consultancy.com

020 7903 5426

www.sales-consultancy.com

For previous 'Tricks of the Trade' go here

There's No Such Thing as Failure - ask Sepp Blatter

Has Sepp Blatter failed at FIFA - or just received some timely feedback? I'd love to ask him!

There’s no such thing as Failure...
Just results! Some results you'll like. Some results you don't like. The key thing is to learn from each of your experiences.

The world is full of people who endured several setbacks before ultimately achieving success on a massive scale. Walt Disney was fired by his local newspaper because 'he lacked imagination and had no good ideas', before suffering severe setbacks in several businesses. Eventually he found a recipe that worked.

Even Henry Ford's early business career floundered as he went broke five times trying to get a business model that worked.

What did Walt Disney, Henry Ford and thousands of others have in common?

They learned from their setbacks. They ultimately succeeded because they learned from each and every time things went wrong.

So 'There's no such thing as failure' stands the test of time because it’s true. We can learn from all our experiences...good and bad. So - no failure, just a result you didn’t want, a mere stepping stone to success!

Action?
If something goes fantastically well – bottle it! Learn what it was that contributed the most to that success. You need to identify the winning formulas and then replicate them.

What if something did not go well at all? Celebrate! You'll learn more here than when you succeed. Think about the steps you took, the use of resources, the timing and every other detail that made up the result. What could you have done differently that could have made a difference?

Get feedback
Where do you get your feedback from? Who tells you how you are doing? Do you plough a lone furrow, never really thinking about it? Or are you inundated with 'feedback' from well meaning but ultimately unhelpful would be business mentors?

Welcome feedback. Get it from wherever you can. Ask for it. Ask yourself and others ‘what could I have done better?’ When people give you feedback, take it graciously. Don’t try to justify your actions, just learn from these lovely people that are kind enough and care enough to be helping you this way.

It comes down to you though - what mechanisms have you got in place to take the learns from your successes? And how are you going to dig down and find out how to avoid replicating that poor meeting, that lost sale, that unsuccessful pitch?

Example
Think about a meeting or interaction that didn’t go well.

Ask yourself the following questions:

* Was I clear on my direction and focus throughout?
* How successful was I in opening the discussion?
* Was the client at ease and able to talk freely?
* Did I collect all the information needed?
* Did I impart all relevant information?
* Did I collect information in sufficient detail?
* Did I provide clear understandable information to the client?
* Did the discussion flow smoothly from one topic to another, without awkward pauses?
* Was I courteous, tactful, etc?
* How did I show I was listening?
* Did I ask open-ended questions and expand where necessary?
* Did I ask leading questions or answer my own questions?
* Did I talk too much?
* Did I listen?
* How successful was I in closing the discussion?
* Does the client know what is to happen next?
* Did I achieve my outcome?

This check list can be used equally as effectively for up and coming meetings. For each question above ask 'How can I...' before using the same points above. Prior thinking along these lines will definitely set your unconscious mind in action to make sure you meet your imagined objectives.

So - build up your personal feedback and monitoring skills and make sure that in years to come the feedback you learn now is the springboard to massive future success.

You deserve it!

Leigh Ashton

http://www.sales-consultancy.com/