My wife went to test drive a new car on the weekend. She thought that the staff in the dealership were amongst the nicest car dealers she had spoken to. She thought that the price of the vehicle she tried was reasonable, and was quite competitive compared to other cars that she’d seen. She enjoyed the test drive and was quite happy to ask pertinent questions of the sales man in terms of extras, finance agreements and so on.
We left there with lots of literature giving us facts and figures.
She doesn’t want to buy the car.
But this blog is not about the car – it’s actually about the literature. Right now there is a brochure shoved inside the passenger side door of my car. It won’t get read again, and what’s worse is that it didn’t even get read in the first place, and this got me thinking.
As I prepare to go on my holiday at the end of this week, I’ve been making a point of calling all of those companies who asked me to send them some information. So far, not one of them has given me any business. I’m not bitter about that – frankly I accept it as the way of the world, but it does strike me just how many of us are wasting a fortune on printing up information that will never get read.
Think about the last time you were committed to seriously making an important purchase. I’m not talking about browsing or being ‘on the fence’ – I’m talking about seeing something, liking it, reaching into your wallet and actually buying it.
How much literature did you check out first? What did you do about all of the important questions that you had to ask? Did you consult with the brochure or the sales person?
These days, many of us will go online to check out reviews of certain new products before we buy, and if we’re lucky enough to find an impartial review, so much the better. But that’s all we need to read. The rest of the sale requires a personal interaction between you, the product and the person selling it.
I’ve written in the past about how ‘polite’ people ask us to send out information as a means to simply get sales people off of the phone, but it seems that there are a group of people who would rather hand over a brochure than have a real conversation, and as a salesman myself, I just don’t get it.
My recycling bin is filled with catalogues I will never read, and yet the people sending them never even bothered to ask me – they just spent their money and hoped for the best. Well I don’t work that way. If you ask me for a catalogue, I’ll make a point of asking you what it is you’re looking for and then I’ll talk with you about it – trust me, it’s better for everyone that way.
Right – that’s the last blog for a couple of weeks. I’m off to Israel with the family, and just so we’re clear, I didn’t pick the hotel out of a brochure!
Thursday 14 October 2010
Wednesday 6 October 2010
Train your customers, not just your staff
My company prides itself on being investors in people. Not in the traditional, get a certificate and brag to all your mates type way, just in it's strong belief in training.
Each member of the team has the chance to learn about what goes on elsewhere in the company. It's incredibly useful, because by gaining an understanding of what people in other departments do, we can all work more closely together to create the best possible customer experience.
Trouble is, there's one person in that chain of command that a lot of companies don't bother to train at all. Have you figured out who it is yet? Oh come on, it's written in the flipping title of this thing, I mean it's not like I'm trying to make this difficult!
That's right genius, the customer. How many of you actually take the time to train your customers? More importantly, how does that training work?
You see, in any given day, there will be people that make requests of you which you would prefer to politely decline. Well, I say "politely", because sometimes you would just rather be plain rude, but common sense usually steps in to save you.
None the less, you do what you can to help and right there is where the problem begins. Your customer now has an expectation of you. They know that you're prepared to jump through hoops every time they call because they are the customer and you are oh so grateful for their business.
Except if you were to be truly honest, you're not grateful. The time you spend adhering to their near impossible requests is not matched by the amount of money that they're spending with you. It's just not fair to expect these things of you, but they do. Trouble is, it's not really their fault is it? No, it's your fault, and it's because you didn't train them.
Be honest, how scary is it really to have to tell a customer that if something has a three week lead time that needing it within 4 days really makes no difference. You're the expert here - if you think it can be done, then do your best to do it, but if your years of experience tells you it can't then simply tell your customer that this is the case.
Similarly, if a client expects you to run around all afternoon producing reams of quotes with no real focus or direction, take the time to explain to them that you would first like to get their focus in place before you put in all of the work.
Ultimately, the people who take umbrage with such a response are not really serious customers. You're not losing business because the business was not there in the first place.
But what about the good customers who need you to go the extra mile? Well of course you should, but at least make sure that they know and appreciate what you've done for them and that you would really rather not make a habit of it.
Are we still working in a world where people believe that the customer is always right? Yes they are the life blood of your business, so why not treat them as an intrinsic member of your team and train them on how things work around there. They will thank you for it and in the long run will undoubtedly put more business your way.
Think about it, when you wanted to get their business you took the time to learn about their operation. Now that you're partners, shouldn't that information flow both ways?
When they understand and respect you, the headaches just melt away and work becomes easy. You know what you need from them and more importantly, so do they.
Simple really, isn't it? Have a good week.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Each member of the team has the chance to learn about what goes on elsewhere in the company. It's incredibly useful, because by gaining an understanding of what people in other departments do, we can all work more closely together to create the best possible customer experience.
Trouble is, there's one person in that chain of command that a lot of companies don't bother to train at all. Have you figured out who it is yet? Oh come on, it's written in the flipping title of this thing, I mean it's not like I'm trying to make this difficult!
That's right genius, the customer. How many of you actually take the time to train your customers? More importantly, how does that training work?
You see, in any given day, there will be people that make requests of you which you would prefer to politely decline. Well, I say "politely", because sometimes you would just rather be plain rude, but common sense usually steps in to save you.
None the less, you do what you can to help and right there is where the problem begins. Your customer now has an expectation of you. They know that you're prepared to jump through hoops every time they call because they are the customer and you are oh so grateful for their business.
Except if you were to be truly honest, you're not grateful. The time you spend adhering to their near impossible requests is not matched by the amount of money that they're spending with you. It's just not fair to expect these things of you, but they do. Trouble is, it's not really their fault is it? No, it's your fault, and it's because you didn't train them.
Be honest, how scary is it really to have to tell a customer that if something has a three week lead time that needing it within 4 days really makes no difference. You're the expert here - if you think it can be done, then do your best to do it, but if your years of experience tells you it can't then simply tell your customer that this is the case.
Similarly, if a client expects you to run around all afternoon producing reams of quotes with no real focus or direction, take the time to explain to them that you would first like to get their focus in place before you put in all of the work.
Ultimately, the people who take umbrage with such a response are not really serious customers. You're not losing business because the business was not there in the first place.
But what about the good customers who need you to go the extra mile? Well of course you should, but at least make sure that they know and appreciate what you've done for them and that you would really rather not make a habit of it.
Are we still working in a world where people believe that the customer is always right? Yes they are the life blood of your business, so why not treat them as an intrinsic member of your team and train them on how things work around there. They will thank you for it and in the long run will undoubtedly put more business your way.
Think about it, when you wanted to get their business you took the time to learn about their operation. Now that you're partners, shouldn't that information flow both ways?
When they understand and respect you, the headaches just melt away and work becomes easy. You know what you need from them and more importantly, so do they.
Simple really, isn't it? Have a good week.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
