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Customer complaints can wreak havoc on any business and can easily neutralize the best marketing campaigns. An increasing percentage of complaints center around so-called ˜standard business practices. Thats the bad news. The good news is that you can use these facts to tremendous advantage. For example:
When it comes to customer service, are you and your employees experts in what your business does and sells? Finding people who know what theyre talking about is becoming increasingly difficult, making those who do all the more refreshing. Do you ask open-ended questions designed to get the customer talking about her/himself or do you try to push products and services on them? Get customers talking about themselves and they will close the deal without you having to sell a thing. Better yet, buyers remorse and the refunds that brings will decline. Do you stand behind your products or do you restrict refunds and exchanges? Believe it or not, the more liberal your guarantee and refund policies, the fewer returns youll get.
How about your marketing? Do you wax poetic about your company, your products, your services, your prices, you, you, you? Or do you build lasting relationships with your customers using a step-by-step process that turns leads into prospects into customers into clients into referral sources? Each step of this process must be all about giving value. After all, you can talk about how great you are, or you can prove it. Which carries more weight? Many customer complaints have to do with marketing. If youve ever deal with overly persistent telemarketers, you know exactly what Im talking about. What if these companies instead sent information of interest to you? Lets use this column as an example. Could I run weekly ads touting my skills and experience and exhorting people to engage my services? Sure. Would that approach be more or less effective for you than reading columns containing information that you can use to improve your business?
Are you seeing a common thread here? I hope so because the simple truth is that your business is not about you. Its about your customers. If you go out of business, customers will simply shop elsewhere. Youre the one who will be in a world of hurt, not them. The secret is therefore to always err on the side of your customers. Place yourself and your employees in your customers shoes and learn to constantly ask what you would want to happen were the situation reversed.
The Golden Rule states that you should treat people the way you want to be treated. If you are applying the Golden Rule in your business then you are already light years ahead of far too many of your peers. That said, let me suggest the New Golden Rule, which states that you must treat people the way they want to be treated. Do that and you will virtually eliminate customer complaints. Do that and your marketing will be all about your customers. Right there, you will have overcome the all too prevalent perception among consumers that They (businesses) dont care about me, they just want my money.
The sheer number of businesses that have lost sight of treating customers like the lifeblood that they are means that you have a real opportunity to stand apart from the crowd. Im working on a new book called Guerrilla Marketing in Action as a follow-on to the video by the same title produced (if I remember correctly) in 1993. Guess what: Every single business featured on that tape is still in business today and going strong. The one common threat binding these disparate entities is their unwavering dedication to their customers. You get my point.
This is not to say that you cant or shouldnt play favorites. Take a good look and youll probably find that youre getting 80% of your business from 20% of your customers. Treat these people like family. Treat those who buy less like royalty. Treat everyone else like honored guests.
Place your customers needs and wants ahead of your own and your needs will be richly taken care of. Place your needs ahead of your customers and you will go wanting. Its that simple.
Great customer service and customer-centric marketing need not be expensive. It need not be difficult, complex, or overly time-consuming. It must, however, come from the heart. Master both and you will reap not one but two very profitable windfalls. Thats a promise.
The ability to place yourself in your customers shoes depends to a great extent on your level of knowledge about what you are selling. Becoming an expert in your products and services will give you deep insights into your customers needs, wants, and budgets. This will help you close more sales. The same holds true for your employees. A little investment in training can pay off handsomely. Well talk about that next week.
If you want to know more about the power of giving as way to increase your own abundance in work and life, I cannot recommend The Power of Giving by Azim Jamal highly enough. You can find this book at Amazon.com or at your favorite bookseller. This book is proving to be a tremendous help to me and it can help you find innovative ways to reap the windfalls described above.
When it comes to customer service, are you and your employees experts in what your business does and sells? Finding people who know what theyre talking about is becoming increasingly difficult, making those who do all the more refreshing. Do you ask open-ended questions designed to get the customer talking about her/himself or do you try to push products and services on them? Get customers talking about themselves and they will close the deal without you having to sell a thing. Better yet, buyers remorse and the refunds that brings will decline. Do you stand behind your products or do you restrict refunds and exchanges? Believe it or not, the more liberal your guarantee and refund policies, the fewer returns youll get.
How about your marketing? Do you wax poetic about your company, your products, your services, your prices, you, you, you? Or do you build lasting relationships with your customers using a step-by-step process that turns leads into prospects into customers into clients into referral sources? Each step of this process must be all about giving value. After all, you can talk about how great you are, or you can prove it. Which carries more weight? Many customer complaints have to do with marketing. If youve ever deal with overly persistent telemarketers, you know exactly what Im talking about. What if these companies instead sent information of interest to you? Lets use this column as an example. Could I run weekly ads touting my skills and experience and exhorting people to engage my services? Sure. Would that approach be more or less effective for you than reading columns containing information that you can use to improve your business?
Are you seeing a common thread here? I hope so because the simple truth is that your business is not about you. Its about your customers. If you go out of business, customers will simply shop elsewhere. Youre the one who will be in a world of hurt, not them. The secret is therefore to always err on the side of your customers. Place yourself and your employees in your customers shoes and learn to constantly ask what you would want to happen were the situation reversed.
The Golden Rule states that you should treat people the way you want to be treated. If you are applying the Golden Rule in your business then you are already light years ahead of far too many of your peers. That said, let me suggest the New Golden Rule, which states that you must treat people the way they want to be treated. Do that and you will virtually eliminate customer complaints. Do that and your marketing will be all about your customers. Right there, you will have overcome the all too prevalent perception among consumers that They (businesses) dont care about me, they just want my money.
The sheer number of businesses that have lost sight of treating customers like the lifeblood that they are means that you have a real opportunity to stand apart from the crowd. Im working on a new book called Guerrilla Marketing in Action as a follow-on to the video by the same title produced (if I remember correctly) in 1993. Guess what: Every single business featured on that tape is still in business today and going strong. The one common threat binding these disparate entities is their unwavering dedication to their customers. You get my point.
This is not to say that you cant or shouldnt play favorites. Take a good look and youll probably find that youre getting 80% of your business from 20% of your customers. Treat these people like family. Treat those who buy less like royalty. Treat everyone else like honored guests.
Place your customers needs and wants ahead of your own and your needs will be richly taken care of. Place your needs ahead of your customers and you will go wanting. Its that simple.
Great customer service and customer-centric marketing need not be expensive. It need not be difficult, complex, or overly time-consuming. It must, however, come from the heart. Master both and you will reap not one but two very profitable windfalls. Thats a promise.
The ability to place yourself in your customers shoes depends to a great extent on your level of knowledge about what you are selling. Becoming an expert in your products and services will give you deep insights into your customers needs, wants, and budgets. This will help you close more sales. The same holds true for your employees. A little investment in training can pay off handsomely. Well talk about that next week.
If you want to know more about the power of giving as way to increase your own abundance in work and life, I cannot recommend The Power of Giving by Azim Jamal highly enough. You can find this book at Amazon.com or at your favorite bookseller. This book is proving to be a tremendous help to me and it can help you find innovative ways to reap the windfalls described above.