Lesson #4: Make Your Customers Happy
Lesson #4: Make Your Customers Happy
Vernon’s typical customer is a ‘she’, who Vernon claims desires the values of generations past with the conveniences of a modern today. Thus, Vernon fashioned her catalogs “to have the appeal of an old-fashioned general store, while featuring merchandise that will make her life easier and a bit happier,” she says. “That ‘bit happier’ is the key.”
Vernon understood that making customer satisfaction her business’ number one priority was key for two reasons. First, it would serve as the foundation for customer loyalty, when her clients could feel consistently confident in relying upon her company. Secondly, Vernon believed that a happy customer was the basis of excellent word of mouth advertising. Her general rule of thumb was that “a happy customer may tell three others about what you have to offer. Which is good. An unhappy customer, more ominously, will tell ten others about the bad experience. Which is very bad.” Thus, with customer satisfaction at the core of her business philosophy, Vernon’s sales skyrocketed.
Once she understood the necessity of making her customers happy, Vernon set out to do just that. She outlined three basic building blocks of happiness: selecting the right products, being honest with customers, and welcoming communications between her company and her customers.
The first and most important step for good salesmanship was for Vernon to know her market. When she first began selling her matching bag and belts, she marketed it to teenage girls. A few months later, she then tried to advertise the same product in Vogue, but her products were met with less enthusiasm. “All of a sudden, what had been the right product became the wrong product, sold to the wrong customer, through the wrong avenue,” she says. The lesson that Vernon took away from this early experience was “Don’t try to be all things to all people. Concentrate on selling something unique that you know there is a need for, offer competitive pricing and good customer service.”
Once she identified the right market, Vernon set out to ensure that her products were always of the highest quality and value possible. She steered clear of hype in her catalogs and instead strove to be as honest as possible with her customers. She encouraged her customers to give their feedback and tried herself, personally, to respond to as many of their comments as possible. Vernon also began offering a 100% money-back guarantee with no time limits, even refunding an unopened box of stoneware 20 years after it had been purchased.
While Vernon’s kitchen table and index cards have been long since replaced by computers and high-tech distribution facilities, she claims that the basics haven’t changed. “From a catalog image that attempts to tap into their yearnings to be ‘a bit happier,’ to the steps we have taken to assure they aren’t disappointed, we deliver on both a philosophical and practical level,” she says. “In doing so, we are guarding our crown jewels."
Lesson 4 Make Your Customers Happy
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“In my view, each of my 21 million customers is a real person,” says Vernon “I always keep a clear image of her.” Vernon’s success has come about as a result of her core principal of trying to make her customers happy.
Vernon’s typical customer is a ‘she’, who Vernon claims desires the values of generations past with the conveniences of a modern today. Thus, Vernon fashioned her catalogs “to have the appeal of an old-fashioned general store, while featuring merchandise that will make her life easier and a bit happier,” she says. “That ‘bit happier’ is the key.”
Vernon understood that making customer satisfaction her business’ number one priority was key for two reasons. First, it would serve as the foundation for customer loyalty, when her clients could feel consistently confident in relying upon her company. Secondly, Vernon believed that a happy customer was the basis of excellent word of mouth advertising. Her general rule of thumb was that “a happy customer may tell three others about what you have to offer. Which is good. An unhappy customer, more ominously, will tell ten others about the bad experience. Which is very bad.” Thus, with customer satisfaction at the core of her business philosophy, Vernon’s sales skyrocketed.
Once she understood the necessity of making her customers happy, Vernon set out to do just that. She outlined three basic building blocks of happiness: selecting the right products, being honest with customers, and welcoming communications between her company and her customers.
The first and most important step for good salesmanship was for Vernon to know her market. When she first began selling her matching bag and belts, she marketed it to teenage girls. A few months later, she then tried to advertise the same product in Vogue, but her products were met with less enthusiasm. “All of a sudden, what had been the right product became the wrong product, sold to the wrong customer, through the wrong avenue,” she says. The lesson that Vernon took away from this early experience was “Don’t try to be all things to all people. Concentrate on selling something unique that you know there is a need for, offer competitive pricing and good customer service.”
Once she identified the right market, Vernon set out to ensure that her products were always of the highest quality and value possible. She steered clear of hype in her catalogs and instead strove to be as honest as possible with her customers. She encouraged her customers to give their feedback and tried herself, personally, to respond to as many of their comments as possible. Vernon also began offering a 100% money-back guarantee with no time limits, even refunding an unopened box of stoneware 20 years after it had been purchased.
While Vernon’s kitchen table and index cards have been long since replaced by computers and high-tech distribution facilities, she claims that the basics haven’t changed. “From a catalog image that attempts to tap into their yearnings to be ‘a bit happier,’ to the steps we have taken to assure they aren’t disappointed, we deliver on both a philosophical and practical level,” she says. “In doing so, we are guarding our crown jewels."
Lesson 4 Make Your Customers Happy
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Jay Kubassek(Jay's Full Bio: EvanCarmichael.com/jaykubassek) In five years, Canadian-born entrepreneur Jay Kubassek went from selling mufflers at a Midas franchise to revolutionizing Internet marketing with the 2004 launch of CarbonCopyPRO, a online marketing education company, now worth over $20 million with customers in over 160 countries.
As an independent film producer, his upstart film fund Aliquot Films is currently producing a films with Spike Lee and Abel Fererra (starring Ethan Hawke and Dennis Hopper.)
Jay's entrepreneurial spirit is irrepressible. He’s the owner of five companies, a professional speaker and trainer, international real estate developer/investor, extreme sport enthusiast and emerging philanthropist. Jay resides in NYC with his wife Jamie, son Milo and dog Cooper. Visit Jay's official website: www.JayKubassek.com - Visit Jay Kubassek's Website |
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Kim CastleWith nearly two decades in the advertising and design business, with clients like Domino's Pizza, General Motors, Direct TV, Pedigree, Wolfgang Puck, Higher Octave Music, Hollywood Celebrity Products, Disney, and Paramount, as well as thousands of entrepreneurs around the world define, structure, communicate, and position their business for greater profits, BrandU(R) co-creators Kim Castle and W. Vito Montone discovered that entrepreneurs could experience the same power that big brands command for a fraction of the cost with the world's only process-based results-drive Integral approach to business creation. BrandU(R) is helping entrepreneurs grow with the power of extreme clarity from idea...to brand...to market(TM) and helping one million entrepreneurs become successful and whole so that they can make a difference in the world. Are you one of them? If you want to experience clarity all the way to the bank(TM), get started now at http://www.brandu.com. - Visit Kim Castle's Website |
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George LudwigGeorge Ludwig is a recognized authority on sales strategy and peak performance psychology. An international speaker, trainer, and corporate consultant, he helps clients like Johnson & Johnson, Abbott Laboratories, Northwestern Mutual, CIGNA, and numerous others improve sales force effectiveness and performance. Though it's George's strategies and processes that help corporations increase productivity and performance, it's his tremendous energy and dynamism that spark the transformation. Again and again, clients remark on his amazing ability to unleash human capacity and inspire men and women to break out of their comfort zones. The result is a whole new type of salesperson. His customized presentations teach achievers to make stunning advances in their lives. From helping salespeople realize cherished dreams to helping corporations exponentially accelerate revenue streams, George Ludwig leaves audiences and individuals empowered, emboldened, and clamoring for more. George is the best-selling author of Power Selling: Seven Strategies for Cracking the Sales Code and Wise Moves: 60 Quick Tips to Improve Your Position in Life & Business. - Visit George Ludwig's Website |
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