The Value of a Customer

from Art:

This Week's Tip:
Preventing Huge Losses

Greetings!

While sharing some customer service horror stories,
a seminar attendee told me he quit using a certain
airline because he had an encounter with a rude
telephone rep. He spent about $50,000 a year
with the airline. Fifty grand. Gone. One bad
call. Wow.

Perhaps you've experienced the sting of having
a valuable customer of yours jumping ship. You
can't do much about it once it has happened.
Oh, sure, you can call and grovel ... asking for
another chance, but we know that does little good.
The damage didn't occur overnight. It festered over
time. Best case, after the fact, we can learn from

our mistakes to prevent it from happening again.

The best route is Preventive Customering.

That's simply paying attention to your customers ...

performing routine maintenance so they don't pack
up and leave when you least expect it.

And it really is simple and fundamental. But

sometimes those are the things that fall by the

wayside, just like in other types of relationships.

When other sales reps call your customers, you

want the customers to say what you might have

heard before when prospecting: "I'm satisfied

with (your company)." Here are some incredibly

simple, but time-tested truths to help

keep customers.

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FIRST IMPRESSIONS ARE LASTING

Go out of your way to leave an indelible

pleasing memory after the first sale. Underpromise

and overdeliver when it comes to delivery times.

Throw in something free as a welcome gift. Mail a

handwritten thank you note. Call after the order

has been delivered with additional useful information.

Reinforce their wise buying decision.

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LEARN THEIR BUSINESS AS IF WERE YOUR OWN

The bottom line is the bottom line. There's a lot

to be said for building relationships on a personal

level, but the best way to become truly indispensable

is to be an integral part of their business. The more

you know about them, the better-equipped you are to make

profit-building recommendations. If you're looked at

as a sales-boosting consultant as opposed to a

salesperson, customers will never consider listening

to the overtures of competitors attempting to stick

their foot in the door with promises of lower prices.

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PROVIDE VALUE EVERY TIME YOU CALL

Don't call to "just touch base," to "check in," or,

"to just stay in touch to see if they need anything."

Customers could potentially view these reactive,

no-substance contacts as a nuisance. Make it policy

that every time you call you have a value-added reason

for doing so. Answer this question: What information

can you call with that would cause the customer to

say they were better off after taking your call

than they were before it? Any kind of industry or

product news they might find interesting, notification

of sales or promotions, or ideas you feel they could

use are all value-added reasons for calling. Come

up with your own.

=================================================

ASK THEM WHY THEY CONTINUE BUYING

This is so incredibly simple, yet it's rarely used

by companies. What you might think is a great benefit

of doing business with your company could be meaningless

to your customer; they might buy for a totally

unrelated reason. My dry cleaner might like to believe

she gets my business because she does superb work and

has competitive prices; I use her because she calls

me by name when I walk in the door. She has never asked.

Ask your customers, "Pat, I want to make sure we continue

providing you what you want. What is it you like best about

doing business with us? What else would you like to

see?"

=================================================

BUILD PERSONAL RELATIONSHIPS

With new customers, at appropriate points during calls

(such as the end), ask innocuous questions about their

plans for the weekend, or for the summer. Listen

carefully to the answers, and react accordingly,

sharing of yourself as well. If they mention they're

going to curl up in a beach chair with a good book,

find out more about what they like to read, and what else,

if anything they do at the beach. Again, common sense

stuff, but this works. One word of caution: I've seen

reps who were everyone's best buddy, but rarely sold

anything. Likeable, yes. But also very easy to get

rid of by customers, and reluctant to directly ask for

business, fearful of being too "pushy." Build

relationships, sure ... in the context of business.

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KEEP YOUR NAME IN FRONT OF THEM

You don't need to call every week, indeed you shouldn't,

if you don't have a valid reason for doing so.

However, in between your calls, stay in touch in other

ways. I've received postcards from sales reps' personal

vacations. Well-read reps clip industry-specific

articles from any and every appropriate source and photocopy

and send them to customers with a note attached.

Send a fax to customers with confidential news of an

upcoming sale. E-mail them. Advertisers call this

strategy getting your piece of "mindshare," meaning

they'll think of you if they have a need before your

next contact, or when a competitor comes courting.

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CONTINUE ROMANCING THEM

Some sales reps are passionate about chasing the

business, but lose interest once the relationship

has begun. You need to be committed to the relationship,

and be fanatical about service. Otherwise, nothing

else matters.

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QUOTE OF THE WEEK

"Vision without action is merely a dream. Action

without vision just passes the time. Vision with

action can change the world."

Joel Arthur Barker

Continue having your best week ever!

Art

Contact: Art Sobczak, President, Business By Phone Inc. 13254 Stevens St.,
Omaha, NE 68137, (402) 895-9399. Or, email:arts@businessbyphone.com

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