Sales

Your Customer Is Your Company’s Lifeblood – Treat Him Right

When you only have a few employees and a few customers, it’s easy to stay on top of things. As you add more customers and and employees, it gets quite a bit harder. You actually create the potential for growth at the same time you’re creating the potential for disaster.

Creating a customer service policy and sticking to it can make it easier on you.

Take these steps to help you ensure that your clients receive excellent service every step of the way.

Put your customer service policy in writing. These principles should come from you, but every employee should know what the rules are and be ready to live up to them. This doesn’t have to be elaborate. In fact, keep it as simple as you possibly can.>
Establish support systems that give employees clear instructions for gaining and maintaining service superiority. These systems will help you outservice any competitor by giving more to customers and anticipating problems before they arise.
Develop a measurement of superb customer service. Don’t forget to reward employees who practice it consistently.
Be certain that your passion for customer service runs rampant throughout your company. Employees should see how good service relates to your profits and to their futures with the company.
Be genuinely committed to providing more customer service excellence than anyone else in your industry. This commitment must be so powerful that every one of your customers can sense it.
Share information with people on the front lines. Meet with your employees regularly to talk about improving service. Solicit ideas from employees-they are the ones who are dealing with customers most often.
Act on the knowledge that what customers value most are attention, dependability, promptness and competence. They love being treated as individuals and being referred to by name.

Phrases That’ll Make Your Customers Happy

Principles of customer service are all very well, but you need to put those principles into action with everything you do and say. There are certain “magic words” customers want to hear from you and your staff. Make sure all your employees understand the importance of these key phrases:

“How can I help?” Customers want the opportunity to explain in detail what they want and need. Too often, business owners feel the desire or the obligation to guess what customers need rather than carefully listening first. By asking how you can help, you begin the dialogue on a positive note (you are “helping,” not “selling”). And by using an open-ended question, you invite discussion.
“I can solve that problem.” Most customers, especially business-to-business customers, are looking to buy solutions. They appreciate direct answers in a language they can understand.
“I don’t know, but I’ll find out.” When confronted with a truly difficult question that requires research on your part, admit that you don’t know the answer. Few things ruin your credibility faster than trying to answer a question when you are unsure of all the facts. Savvy buyers may test you with a question they know you can’t answer and then just sit quietly while you struggle to fake an intelligent reply. An honest answer enhances your integrity.
“I will take responsibility.” Tell your customer you realize it’s your responsibility to ensure a satisfactory outcome to the transaction. Assure the customer you know what he or she expects and will deliver the product or service at the agreed-upon price. There will be no unexpected changes or expenses required to solve the problem.
“I will keep you updated.” Even if your business is a cash-and-carry operation, it probably requires scheduling and coordinating numerous events. Assure your customers they will be advised of the status of these events. The longer your lead time, the more important this is. The vendors customers trust the most are those that keep them apprised of the situation, whether the news is good or bad.
“I will deliver on time.” A due date that has been agreed upon is a promise that must be kept. “Close” doesn’t count.
“Monday means Monday.” The first week in July means the first week in July, even though it contains a national holiday. Your clients are waiting to hear you say “I deliver on time.” The supplier who consistently does so is a rarity and will be remembered.
“It’ll be just what you ordered.” It will not be “similar to,” and it will not be “better than” what was ordered. It will be exactly what was ordered. Even if you believe a substitute would be in the client’s best interests, that’s a topic for discussion, not something you decide on your own. Your customer may not know (or be at liberty to explain) all the ramifications of the purchase.
“The job will be complete.” Assure the customer there will be no waiting for a final piece or a last document. Never say you are finished “except for….”
“I appreciate your business.” This means more than a simple “Thanks for the order.” Genuine appreciation involves follow-up calls, offering to answer questions, making sure everything is performing satisfactorily, and ascertaining that the original problem has been solved.

Neglecting any of these steps conveys the impression that you were interested in the person only until the sale was made. This leaves the buyer feeling deceived and used, and creates ill will and negative advertising for your company. Sincerely proving you care about your customers leads to recommendations and repeat sales.

Never Let Your Customers Forget You

One important tool for generating repeat business is following up. Effective follow-up begins immediately after the sale when you call the customer to say “thank you” and find out if he or she is pleased with your product or service. Beyond this, there are several effective ways to follow up that ensure your business is always in the customer’s mind.

Let customers know what you are doing for them. This can be in the form of a newsletter mailed to existing customers, or it can be more informal, such as a phone call. Whatever method you use, the key is to dramatically point out to customers the excellent service you are giving them. If you never mention all the things you are doing for them, customers may not notice.
Write old customers personal, handwritten notes frequently. “I was just sitting at my desk and your name popped into my head. Are you still having a great time flying all over the country? Let me know if you need another set of luggage. I can stop by with our latest models any time.” Or if you run into an old customer at an event, follow up with a note: “It was great seeing you at the CDC Christmas party. I’ll call you early in the New Year to schedule a lunch.”
Keep it personal. Voice mail and e-mail make it easy to communicate, but the personal touch is often lost. If you’re having trouble getting through to someone whose problem requires that personal touch, leave a voice-mail message that you want to talk to the person directly or will stop by his or her office at a designated time.
Remember special occasions. Send regular customers birthday cards, anniversary cards, holiday cards…you name it. Gifts are excellent follow-up tools, too. You don’t have to spend a fortune to show you care; use your creativity to come up with interesting gift ideas that tie into your business, the customer’s business or his or her recent purchase.
Pass on information. If you read an article, see a new book, or hear about an organization a customer might be interested in, drop a note or make a quick call to let them know.
Consider follow-up calls as business development calls. When you talk to or visit old clients or customers, you’ll often find they have referrals to give you, which can lead to new business.

With all your existing customers can do for you, there’s simply no reason not to stay in regular contact with them. Use your imagination, and you’ll think of plenty of other ideas that can help you develop a lasting relationship.

Dealing With Unsatisfied Customers

Studies show that the vast majority of unsatisfied customers will never come right out and tell you they’re unsatisfied. They simply leave quietly, later telling everyone they know not to do business with you.

So when a customer complains, don’t think of it as a nuisance-think of it as a golden opportunity to change that customer’s mind and retain his or her business.

Even the best product or service receives complaints now and then. Here’s how to handle them for positive results:

Let customers vent their feelings. Encourage them to get their frustrations out in the open.
Never argue with a customer.
Never tell a customer “You do not have a problem.” Those are fighting words.
Share your point of view as politely as you can.
Take responsibility for the problem. Don’t make excuses. If an employee was sick or a supplier let you down, that’s not the customer’s concern.
Immediately take action to remedy the situation. Promising a solution and then delaying it only makes matters worse.
Empower your front-line employees to be flexible in resolving complaints. Give employees some leeway in deciding when to bend the rules. If you don’t feel comfortable doing this, make sure they have you or another manager handle the situation.

Close Sales Like A Master

Sales aren’t closed because you didn’t ask the right question. Every answer you need to get in order to meet someone, qualify them as to their needs, get permission to give a presentation or close a sale will come to you only if you ask the right questions.

Keep in mind it’s not just the question that matters, but how it’s presented. You may have to set the stage or tell a story leading up to the question that helps the client rationalize the buying decision. No matter how good your lead in or story is, however, you won’t get the sale if you don’t ask for it.

Here are a few closes that have proven successful. Don’t be concerned if they seem a bit wordy–you’re painting pictures and involving the emotions of your potential clients. Say the words with warmth and sincerity, and they’ll work for you.

When your clients hesitate because they aren’t sure it’s the right decision, try what we call “The Best Things in Life Close.” This is a great close to use with a personal sale, especially when you’re trying to sell something to a husband and wife. Compare the decision they’re considering right now to other decisions they’ve made and have been happy with. It’s especially helpful when they’ve admitted they want the product but are just struggling with saying yes. It goes like this:

“Isn’t it true, John and Mary, that the only time you’ve ever really benefited from anything in your life has been when you said yes instead of no? You said yes to your marriage. . .” [And this next part’s optional: “. . .and I can see how happy you are.” But don’t add this phrase unless you’ve seen signs that they truly are a happy couple!] “You said yes to your job, your home, your car–all the things I’m sure you truly enjoy.

“You see, when you say yes to me, it’s not really me you are saying yes to but all the benefits this product offers… [and then list a few of the benefits they were most excited about.] Those are the things you really want for your family, aren’t they?”

With these words, you’re helping them focus on the benefits they want from the product rather than their hesitation to make the investment to own it. The little agreements you ask for during the close get the “yes” momentum started. If they do truly believe your product is good for them, these words will help them get over their hesitation to give you the final yes and close the sale.

Another situation might be during a business sale where the decision-maker uses “the budget” as a reason not to go ahead. This purchase might not have been in their plans, so the money isn’t in the budget. If you truly believe your product would provide excellent benefits to their company, your goal in this situation is to get them to admit and agree to that point.

Ask this: “John, if the money for this investment was in your budget, would you proceed?” If he says yes, agree with him by saying “That’s wonderful, John. I’m glad you see the benefits our XYZ product can bring to your business.”

At this point, you can either move on to a discussion of their return on investment or try these words:

“I can understand your concern with your budget, John. That’s why I contacted you in the first place. I’m fully aware of the fact that every well-managed business controls the flow of its money with a carefully planned budget. The budget is a necessary tool for every company to give direction to its goals. However, the tool itself doesn’t dictate how the company is run, does it?

“It must be flexible to allow the company to manage crises or take advantage of unplanned opportunities. As the controller of that budget, you retain for yourself the right to flex it in the best interest of the company’s financial present and competitive future, don’t you?

“What we’ve been examining here today is a system which will allow your company an immediate and continuing competitive edge. Tell me, under these conditions, will your budget flex or will it dictate your actions?”

Hopefully, you see the difference between just asking for the sale and helping people make decisions that are good for them. That’s the difference between an average salesperson and a great one!

Win With Successful Phone Strategies

Your telephone is not the enemy. It’s not covered with spiders and it won’t electrocute you if you touch it. It’s your fear of rejection that’s your problem.

Granted, not too many people are brave enough to willingly put themselves in a position to be rejected. However, those who do will find all sorts of long-term rewards for the temporary pain they’ll experience.

With the right attitude and by paying close attention to what happens, each rejection you deal with will be a learning experience. You’ll learn what not to say and when not to call. The key here is to turn that around so you can master what to say and when to call.

With every rejection, you’ll want to take a quick moment to analyze the situation in order to benefit from it. Rather than letting it ruin your attitude for the next call, you should find yourself saying, “Well, that didn’t work. What’s a better way to say it?”

With proper fine-tuning, you’ll soon find your calls being well received and you’ll experience fewer rejections. To save you some time on this learning curve, here are eight points you need to consider before making any business calls.

Develop a professional greeting. Don’t just say hello and jump into your telephone presentation without taking a breath or allowing the other party to participate. Your greeting should err on the side of formality. Begin with Mr., Mrs. or Ms, as in “Good morning, Mr. Smith.” Or “Good evening, Mrs. Jones.” Everyone else says, “Hello.” Be different. Be professional.
Introduce yourself and your company.“My name is Sally Smith with ABC Company. We’re a local firm that specializes in helping businesses like yours save money.” Don’t get too specific yet. Don’t mention your product. If you do, that allows the other party to say, “Oh, we’re happy with what we’ve got. Thanks anyway,” and hang up. By keeping your introduction general, yet mentioning a benefit, you’ll peak your prospect’s curiosity and keep them on the line longer.
Express gratitude. Always thank the potential client for allowing you a few moments in his busy day. Tell him that you won’t waste a second of his time. “I want to thank you for taking my call. This will only involve a moment of your time so you can get back to your busy schedule.” Don’t say that you’ll “just take a moment.” The feeling evoked by them hearing that you’ll take anything from them will put them off.
State the purpose of your call. It’s best if you can provide the purpose within a question. “If we can show you a way to improve the quality of your product at a lower cost, would you be interested to know more?” This is very likely to get a yes response. At this point, you’re ready to start selling an opportunity to meet this person or to get their permission to provide them with more information. You’re not selling your product yet–you’re selling what your product will do for him.
Schedule a meeting. Get a confirmation to meet, either in person or to teleconference to get the information you need in order to give a solid presentation. If he’s so interested that he wants to do it right then and there, that’s OK.
If a face-to-face meeting is the most appropriate next step, use the alternate-of-choice questioning strategy. Offer him two times, “Mr. Johnson, I can pop by your office at 2:15 p.m. today to discuss this further. Or would 9:45 a.m. tomorrow better suit your schedule?” You didn’t say, “When can we meet?” When you use the alternate of choice, you take control of getting the appointment. And note: Asking for an off-hour gets you noticed. There’s something about setting a meeting at an off-hour that says you’re a salesperson who’ll be punctual and respect your prospect’s time. Try it.
Thank them for their time today and for the upcoming appointment. Reconfirm the date, time and location of the appointment. Ask for directions if you need them. Tell him how much preparation you’ll do in order to make the best use of the time you’ll share. Give him your contact information this way: “If anything else comes to mind that I should be aware of prior to our meeting, please contact me at (212) 555-1212.”
Follow up. If your meeting is more than a few days in the future, send a letter of confirmation immediately. If the meeting is tomorrow, send an e-mail confirmation. Keep it short and upbeat.

Sales Letters That Actually Sell

Do you draw a blank when you try to write a sales letter? Do your ideas sound good in your head but don’t come together on paper? You’re not alone.

These seven tips can help you write more effective sales letters:

Be the customer as you write. This is the most important aspect of a good sales letter, but it’s often overlooked. Imagine yourself as the reader of your letter, and write what the customer wants to know–not what you want to say. You have one page to attract a customer; you’ll lose the opportunity if your sole emphasis is on your business. Remember, your customer’s main concern is fulfilling his or her needs and desires, not increasing the balance in your bank account.
Organize your letter. Sales letters, just like high school term papers, need an introduction, a body and a conclusion. In the introduction, tell why you’re sending the letter. The body is your “sales pitch,” where you’ll explain why your offer is irresistible. The conclusion wraps it up by briefly bringing your points together and asking the customer to take advantage of the offer.
Make it easy to read. Many sales letters are thrown away without being read simply because they appear too complicated. Don’t let this happen to you. Use the following guidelines:
- Write in a conversational style. Write exactly as you normally speak; formal tones are usually unnecessary in sales letters.
- Use short sentences. Once you start writing more informally, you’ll notice your sentences will get shorter.
- Compose short paragraphs. People like to have breaks in their reading. If it doesn’t flow smoothly and sound natural, rewrite it.
- Edit and then re-edit your letter. Besides being difficult to read, misspelled words and grammar errors destroy the credibility and effectiveness of your letter.
Capture your reader’s attention. Headlines are not limited to ads. They can also be used in letters to tell readers something they want to know in a bold way that grabs their attention. You can also use longer headlines–up to three or four sentences–to present important information. In either case, always make the headline compelling so customers want to read the rest of the story.
Get your readers interested. Involve the reader in the letter by bringing it to life with a steady flow of interesting information. Write in an active voice.
Build on your sentences and paragraphs so the reader is encouraged to continue reading. Every sentence needs to be interesting; a reader can become bored quickly.

June Van Klaveren, owner of Compelling Communications, a copywriting firm in St. Louis, recommends including a handwritten note or an arrow in a different color ink to highlight an important fact and retain your reader’s interest. “I also include a `P.S.’ at the bottom of the letter,” says Van Klaveren.

“You can count on this and your headline being read because you’ve piqued the reader’s curiosity.”
Make your readers want your product or service. This is best done by answering the reader’s question, What’s in it for me? People are bombarded daily with billboards, commercials and direct mail–all trying to sell something. Your letter can stand out by not selling, but offering benefits.
Ask your readers to take action. Potential customers won’t know what you want unless you tell them what to do next. If you want them to call you, say that in your letter and provide your phone number. If you want them to visit your facility, invite them to stop by and give them clear directions and specific office hours.

It’s also important to urge your readers to take action right away. The longer it takes them to respond, the less likely it is you’ll hear from them. If you’re running a promotion, offer the special for a limited time. If you only have a few units available, be sure to state that quantities are limited. This generates urgency to follow up on your letter.

Great Online Customer Service Surveys

Online surveys are very effective and affordable. They’re a great way for you to obtain the feedback you need. Through online surveys, you can better understand your customers. Then, you can hone products and services accordingly, build customer loyalty, expand your customer base and better fulfill your potential.

But obtaining the quality and quantity of feedback you want means you need to ask the right questions. Here are 10 tips that will help you create effective surveys:

Clearly define the purpose of your survey. Effective surveys have focused objectives that are easily understood. For a survey to be successful, you need to spend time upfront to identify, in writing, the following objectives:
- What is the goal of this survey?
- What do you hope to accomplish with this survey?
- How will you use the data you are collecting?
- What decisions do you hope to be able to provide input to from the responses to this survey?
By answering these questions now, you’ll be able to more easily identify what data you need to collect later in order to make these decisions.

It sounds obvious, but a few minutes of planning upfront could mean the difference between receiving quality responses-responses that are useful as inputs to decisions-and uninterpretable data.

Consider the case of the software firm that wanted to find out what new functionality was most important to its customers. Their survey asked “How can we improve our product?” The resulting answers were anything from “Make it easier” to “Add an update button on the recruiting page.”

While interesting information, the data wasn’t really helpful for the product manager who wanted to take an itemized list to the development team, using customer input to prioritize his list.

Spending time identifying the survey’s objectives might have helped the survey creators determine if they were trying to understand their customers’ perception of their software-that is, hard to use, time consuming, unreliable-in order to identify areas of improvement or if they were trying to understand the value of specific enhancements by asking respondents to rank the importance of adding new functionality X, Y or Z.

Fuzzy goals tend to lead to fuzzy results, and the last thing you want to end up with is a set of results that provide no real decision-enhancing value. Upfront planning helps ensure that the surveys ask the right questions to meet your objectives and therefore that the data you collect will be useful.
Keep the survey short and focused. Keeping it short and focused helps with both the quality and quantity of the responses you’ll get. So it’s generally better to focus on a single objective than try to create a master survey that covers multiple objectives.
Keep the questions simple. When crafting your questions, make sure you get to the point and avoid the use of jargon. If you’re asking something like this: “When was the last time you used our RGS?” you’re probably going to get a lot of unanswered questions. Don’t assume your survey takers are as comfortable with your acronyms as you are.
Use closed-ended questions whenever possible. Closed-ended questions make it easier to analyze results and can take the form of yes/no, multiple choice or a rating scale. Open-ended questions are great supplemental questions and may provide useful qualitative information and insights. However, for collating and analysis purposes, close-ended questions are best. One warning: Make sure your closed-ended questions don’t force survey takers into choosing a “less bad” answer.
Keep rating scale questions consistent. Questions that offer rating scales-for example, rating something on a scale of 1 to 5-are a great way to measure and compare sets of variables. But if you elect to use rating scales, you need to keep them consistent throughout your survey: Use the same number of points on the scale for each question, and make sure the meanings of high and low remain the same. Switching your rating scales around throughout the survey will only confuse survey takers, leading to untrustworthy responses.
Make sure your survey flows in a logical order. Begin with a brief introduction-don’t reveal the survey objective. Next, start with the broader-based questions, later moving to those that are narrower in scope. It’s usually better to collect demographic data and ask any particularly sensitive questions at the end (unless you’re using this information to screen out survey participants). If you’re requesting contact information, put those questions last.
Pre-test your survey. Before launching your survey, be sure to pre-test it with a few members of your target audience to help you uncover glitches and unexpected question interpretations. Also, to make sure it’s not too long, time a few of your test subjects as they take the survey. Ideally the survey should take no more than 5 minutes to complete. Six to 10 minutes is acceptable, but you’ll probably see significant abandonment rates occurring after 11 minutes.
Schedule your survey by taking the calendar into account. When you’re planning your e-mail blast date#151;the e-mail that asks people to visit your site to take the survey-keep in mind that Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays are the best days to do it-you’ll generate more responses than if you send it out on one of the other four days. You want to catch people’s attention, and you won’t do that on a Friday, when your survey respondents are most likely gearing up for the weekend, Saturday or Sunday, when the last thing on people’s minds is a customer survey, or a Monday, when most people are wading through a loaded in-box.
Offer an incentive for responding. Depending on the type of survey you’re conducting and your survey audience, offering an incentive can be very effective in improving your response rates. People like the idea of getting something in return for their time-incentives typically boost response rates by an average of 50 percent.
Consider using reminders. While not appropriate for all surveys, sending out reminders to those who haven’t yet responded can often provide a significant boost to your response rates.