Powerful Customer Service - Twenty Key Questions to Ask Yourself (11-15)
Powerful Customer Service - Twenty Key Questions to Ask Yourself (11-15)
Do you appreciate that this doesn't prevent you giving a brief, valid explanation to let your Customer know that the matter has been properly investigated. Example of this: “When the order was being imputed, unfortunately the two numbers were transposed”. If you can then add a further “corrective” activity, this lets the person know that you are taking their complaints seriously e.g. “We’ve brought this problem to the attention of the team leader – and she is going to introduce a new verification procedure for entering figures”. You might also genuinely thank the Customer for bringing a problem to light – allowing you to take action to make sure it doesn’t happen again
Have you ever walked into a store eager to buy something and found that the salespeople were too “busy” to be bothered to sell it to you! I’ve even been in stores where potential Customers have been unattended whilst a training session was being carried out in the public area of that furniture store! And, yes, I listened and the subject was “selling skills”. Make sure no potential Customer of yours ever feels that you are too busy to be bothered. An example: a retail Advertiser (a furniture store) wants to put an extra ad in the Classified Section to let people know that his fitters can be hired independently of needing to make a purchase. His retail advertising salesperson tells him to phone the Tele-Ads. Accurate advice – but not the right answer!
Are you a merchant who sells on price – or one who offers great value? Which would you rather be? Take it a stage further – are you a salesperson who actually sells the price rather than the product? In other words, you spend more time trying to justify the cost of your service; rather than showing this individual the worth of it. Here’s the first stage when selling value – if you were in that potential Customer’s position, would you hand over that amount of your own money – based on the presentation you made? In other words, you must persuade yourself of the worth of the product before you can persuade anyone else!
Do you ever take a moment to work out if the other person knows enough about your products to make an informed decision? It’s easy to forget that, just because you know (and, working with the information every day, it’s obvious to you), it doesn’t follow that any Customer does. This can include even those who have been in business for a long time. This might be in spite of their “lack of knowledge” in certain key respects. When you do feel that there is something a Prospect needs to know – make it a conversation, not a lecture. When providing information, aim to offer both your intent and the context: Intent is “why I’m about to say what I’m about to say”. And, if you can make this a blame-free situation for your Clients they are more likely to accept this and listen to you. One excellent way to achieve this is to provide them with “new” information they couldn’t possibly have known. In this situation, “new” is anything the Customer doesn’t know! Context is about explaining why what you have said is of value to the Customer e.g. linking it to benefits they’ll gain. If you can use a “linking” phrase to add a benefit to the information, this strengthens your point still further. Examples of “linking” phrases: “offering your company the chance to…” – “allowing you to…” – “which means that your business will be able to…” Think up many more of your own!
Powerful Customer Service Twenty Key Questions to Ask Yourself 1115 - To learn more about this author, visit Gordon Veniard's Website.
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Is it too easy to blame another member of the company - thereby letting you “off the hook”? Example: there’s an error in a Customer's order; you might say: “Well, you know what Delivery people are like!” First off all, the person you are talking to doesn’t know – all they do know is that you bad-mouth your colleagues to excuse yourself! However, this doesn’t make the Customer feel any happier about what has happened!
Do you appreciate that this doesn't prevent you giving a brief, valid explanation to let your Customer know that the matter has been properly investigated. Example of this: “When the order was being imputed, unfortunately the two numbers were transposed”. If you can then add a further “corrective” activity, this lets the person know that you are taking their complaints seriously e.g. “We’ve brought this problem to the attention of the team leader – and she is going to introduce a new verification procedure for entering figures”. You might also genuinely thank the Customer for bringing a problem to light – allowing you to take action to make sure it doesn’t happen again
Have you ever walked into a store eager to buy something and found that the salespeople were too “busy” to be bothered to sell it to you! I’ve even been in stores where potential Customers have been unattended whilst a training session was being carried out in the public area of that furniture store! And, yes, I listened and the subject was “selling skills”. Make sure no potential Customer of yours ever feels that you are too busy to be bothered. An example: a retail Advertiser (a furniture store) wants to put an extra ad in the Classified Section to let people know that his fitters can be hired independently of needing to make a purchase. His retail advertising salesperson tells him to phone the Tele-Ads. Accurate advice – but not the right answer!
Are you a merchant who sells on price – or one who offers great value? Which would you rather be? Take it a stage further – are you a salesperson who actually sells the price rather than the product? In other words, you spend more time trying to justify the cost of your service; rather than showing this individual the worth of it. Here’s the first stage when selling value – if you were in that potential Customer’s position, would you hand over that amount of your own money – based on the presentation you made? In other words, you must persuade yourself of the worth of the product before you can persuade anyone else!
Do you ever take a moment to work out if the other person knows enough about your products to make an informed decision? It’s easy to forget that, just because you know (and, working with the information every day, it’s obvious to you), it doesn’t follow that any Customer does. This can include even those who have been in business for a long time. This might be in spite of their “lack of knowledge” in certain key respects. When you do feel that there is something a Prospect needs to know – make it a conversation, not a lecture. When providing information, aim to offer both your intent and the context: Intent is “why I’m about to say what I’m about to say”. And, if you can make this a blame-free situation for your Clients they are more likely to accept this and listen to you. One excellent way to achieve this is to provide them with “new” information they couldn’t possibly have known. In this situation, “new” is anything the Customer doesn’t know! Context is about explaining why what you have said is of value to the Customer e.g. linking it to benefits they’ll gain. If you can use a “linking” phrase to add a benefit to the information, this strengthens your point still further. Examples of “linking” phrases: “offering your company the chance to…” – “allowing you to…” – “which means that your business will be able to…” Think up many more of your own!
Powerful Customer Service Twenty Key Questions to Ask Yourself 1115 - To learn more about this author, visit Gordon Veniard's Website.
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John PowerJohn Power, founder of Biltmore Franchise Consulting, has extensive experience developing and marketing franchises and business opportunities. He has been in and around franchising for over twenty years. From 1980 through 1990 he conceptualized, organized, and developed the American Video Association. He grew AVA to 2,000 national members, before selling the company it 1990. It was later merged into another home video marketing company. From 2000 to 2005 he worked as a contract marketing and human resources consultant to several local and national companies. In 2005 Mr. Power began working as a franchise development consultant on a full-time basis. Since that time he has helped more than three dozen companies initiate and develop their franchising program. He notes that there are many companies interested in developing a franchise program, and who need his specialized assistance. Mr. Power is a “hands-on” franchise consultant. He said, “I am the ‘nuts and bolts’ person who tends to the details for my clients.” Mr. Power holds a B.S. degree with a major in Marketing. See: www.biltmorefranchise.com You may contact Mr. Power at: jpower@biltmorefranchise.co - Visit John Power'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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