Customer Satisfaction is One Key to Success
Customer Satisfaction is One Key to Success
Some suggestions that work:
· Face-to-face interaction whenever possible. Some salespeople rely on the telephone and email and avoid actual human contact altogether. While phone calls and emails are quick, it is important to meet your clients face-to-face during the course of any sales project so a personalized element exists. Rapport is more quickly and smoothly created when you meet your clients in person.
· Just be nice and approachable. Seem obvious? Probably, but in the rat race of the business world, common courtesies and manners are sometimes forgotten. Make your clients feel as though you like him/her. Act like you care about your customer. Let them know you're here to help them. Regardless of how frustrating your interaction with a client may be, you must never let on how annoyed you are. Respond to your client's wishes as best you can and be courteous and polite while doing so.
· Answer voicemails and emails promptly. We all know how annoying it can be to leave a message for someone and wait for a return call for days on end. As a sales person, you may not be able to get back to everyone in the space of a few hours, but at least call/email and let the client know you received their message and will get back to them as soon as possible. Even if you don't have an answer for them or you cannot solve the problem they have immediately, let them know you're aware of it and working on it.
· Have a customer service policy in place. When you first start out, you may be so anxious to actually have customers that you won't put in the effort to have a customer service policy, but you need one. If a customer has a problem, what should they do about it? If the first option in your policy doesn't work, then what happens? If your customer is not satisfied, what does she do? Passing a client from person to person to deal with a problem is the worst thing you can do. Make sure you and your clients both know what to do at each stage of their inquiry.
· Be proactive by anticipating your client’s needs. Understanding your client to this level takes a lot of skill and hard work and will do wonders for your working relationship. If you anticipate your client's needs, go out of your way to help them out with these needs. They will be impressed and so will your boss!
· Keep your word. There is nothing worse than a salesperson who can't be trusted. When you promise something, deliver it. If you say something will be done on a certain date or that a product will be delivered by a certain date, every day that it's late damages your reputation. No salesperson wants a reputation of not delivering, and bad news travels fast!
Some people believe successful selling is an art; others think it is a science. Regardless of what side you take (art vs science), customer satisfaction is absolutely imperative in any business. Keep in mind that without the customer, there is no business.
Customer Satisfaction is One Key to Success - To learn more about this author, visit Colleen Stanley's Website.
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Most business people would agree that no business can exist without customers. In any business, whether it be real estate or website design, it is very important to work closely with your clients to make sure what you have provided or designed for them is what they wanted. To ensure successful sales and customer satisfaction, your clients need to feel both valued and wanted.
Some suggestions that work:
· Face-to-face interaction whenever possible. Some salespeople rely on the telephone and email and avoid actual human contact altogether. While phone calls and emails are quick, it is important to meet your clients face-to-face during the course of any sales project so a personalized element exists. Rapport is more quickly and smoothly created when you meet your clients in person.
· Just be nice and approachable. Seem obvious? Probably, but in the rat race of the business world, common courtesies and manners are sometimes forgotten. Make your clients feel as though you like him/her. Act like you care about your customer. Let them know you're here to help them. Regardless of how frustrating your interaction with a client may be, you must never let on how annoyed you are. Respond to your client's wishes as best you can and be courteous and polite while doing so.
· Answer voicemails and emails promptly. We all know how annoying it can be to leave a message for someone and wait for a return call for days on end. As a sales person, you may not be able to get back to everyone in the space of a few hours, but at least call/email and let the client know you received their message and will get back to them as soon as possible. Even if you don't have an answer for them or you cannot solve the problem they have immediately, let them know you're aware of it and working on it.
· Have a customer service policy in place. When you first start out, you may be so anxious to actually have customers that you won't put in the effort to have a customer service policy, but you need one. If a customer has a problem, what should they do about it? If the first option in your policy doesn't work, then what happens? If your customer is not satisfied, what does she do? Passing a client from person to person to deal with a problem is the worst thing you can do. Make sure you and your clients both know what to do at each stage of their inquiry.
· Be proactive by anticipating your client’s needs. Understanding your client to this level takes a lot of skill and hard work and will do wonders for your working relationship. If you anticipate your client's needs, go out of your way to help them out with these needs. They will be impressed and so will your boss!
· Keep your word. There is nothing worse than a salesperson who can't be trusted. When you promise something, deliver it. If you say something will be done on a certain date or that a product will be delivered by a certain date, every day that it's late damages your reputation. No salesperson wants a reputation of not delivering, and bad news travels fast!
Some people believe successful selling is an art; others think it is a science. Regardless of what side you take (art vs science), customer satisfaction is absolutely imperative in any business. Keep in mind that without the customer, there is no business.
Customer Satisfaction is One Key to Success - To learn more about this author, visit Colleen Stanley's Website.
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Dianne CramptonDianne Crampton is an executive leadership coach, team culture consultant, author and president of TIGERS Success Series, Inc. Dianne has been helping CEO's and Executives connect their employees to their core values and goals for over 20 years using the trademarked TIGERS team culture process, which stands for trust, interdependence, genuineness, empathy, risk and success. To download a free white paper on behaviors that build strong teams and behaviors that will predictably tear them down go here. Dianne's contribution to the 2010 Pfeiffer Consulting Journal (an imprint of John Wiley and Sons Publishers) entitled TIGERS Hearted Teams is available in November 2009. Her new book TIGERS Among Us: 5 Winning Business Team Cultures And Why, Three Creeks Publishing will release in March 2010. To receive publishing discounts, subscribe to the free TigerTracks Newsletter here. - Visit Dianne Crampton's Website |
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David AchesonDavid Acheson is the founder of DCJA Consultancy. DCJA Consultancy is a management consultancy business specialising in B2B sales consultancy. They offer bespoke and packaged sales consultancy including Sales Optimisation Review, Interim Sales Management, Sales & Marketing Review, 1:1 Sales & Management Staff Analysis, Management Training, Solution Sales Training, Creation of New Pay Plan, KPI's, run Customer Feedback Campaigns, assist with Recruitment, Coaching, Appraisals and set up Strategic Marketing Campaigns. David spent his early career in accountancy and then moved into sales in 1982, working in Office Equipment, IT, Advertising, Training, Outsourcing and Consultancy. He has held many Senior Positions in SMBs and Global Organisations including Head of Sales Operations & Head of Business Development. His knowledge, skills and great experience of the Sales Industry has led to David making keynote speeches and running educational sessions to key businesses through organisations including The Chamber of Commerce and Business Link. - Visit David Acheson's Website |
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Leanne Hoagland-SmithAre your sales where you want them to be? Will you be one of the few who achieves sales or business success or one of the many who have failed to change? Are you tired of being told you are like everyone else? Then you may find my first book on sales of interest. Be the Red Jacket in the Sea of Gray Suits, The Keys to Unlocking Sales available at Amazon or at http://www.processspecialist.com/red-jacket.htm. This book is a reflection of my no-nonsense approach to improving sales to overall business results. If you are truly committed to making sustainable changes, then I can help you secure a positive return on your investment because I focus on executable solutions not telling you the problems you already know you have. From training to corporate (group) coaching to executive one on one coaching, my approach is to assess, create awareness, build a goal driven action plan and then execute. The bottom line question is "Not do you or your employees know it, but do you or they want to do it?" Please call for a free strategy session at 219.759.5601. - Visit Leanne Hoagland-Smith's Website |
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Linda RichardsonLinda Richardson is the Founder and Executive Chairwoman of Richardson, a global sales training and performance improvement company. As a recognized leader in the industry, she has won the coveted Stevie Award for Lifetime Achievement in Sales Excellence and she was identified by Training Industry, Inc. as one of the “Top 20 Most Influential Training Professionals.” Ms. Richardson is credited with the movement to Consultative Selling and is the author of ten books on selling and sales management, including Sales Coaching — Making the Great Leap from Sales Manager to Sales Coach, and Stop Telling, Start Selling. She teaches sales and management at the Wharton Graduate School of the University of Pennsylvania and the Wharton Executive Development Center. Linda is a frequent speaker at industry and client conferences, has been published extensively in industry and training journals, and has been featured in numerous publications, including The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Nation’s Business, Selling Power, Success, and The Conference Board Magazine. Learn more about Richardson's sales training and performance improvement solutions at http://www.richardson.com web - Visit Linda Richardson's Website |
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