Have you ever encountered one of those salesmen who have a glib tongue and so, naturally assume that the quantum of words that they speak is what clinches the deal? When I encounter a sales person who seems to be more interested in the sound of his own voice, he has lost me. I am hardly interested in what he has to offer! Why? I am no longer seeing a salesman, I am seeing a politician on a soapbox! Like many others, I like to buy but I hate to be sold! In the wisdom of a Chinese proverb, talk does not cook rice! The best salesmen are those who learn to pitch a sale to a customer from the angle of a sincere desire to help that customer solve a problem such that the customer sees what he is paying for as a gift from above, and then simply shut up and listen to the customer. While listening to the customer talk, they see new dimensions of his problem and his concerns which they probably did not know before. This gives them greater opportunity to amplify further, the relevance of their offer to him! In the midst of the several products and brands that promise me the same value, why should I choose yours? What is the difference between the various brands that you are offering at different prices even if they claim to offer the same value? Why should I part with the premium that your product requires me to part with to procure what you are offering? As you listen to your customer talk, ask him value questions that show that you are listening. Summarize his concerns into concise value possibilities. Statements like, “If I hear you right, you are saying in essence that so and so areas are of immediate concern to you?” Reaffirm the areas that he has addressed in your summary and go ahead to propose how your value proposition will address those concerns. Even if your product cannot solve all the identified problems but you know one that can or someone that might be able to, offer a recommendation. That shows that you were actually listening and that you care. You are winning a friend, not just selling a product remember? Effective communication is not in the quantum of words but the quality of content. This is why mastery of your product and its value proposition will always make you outstanding in the marketplace. So often I ask people to educate me on the products they are selling and why one brand is more expensive than another even when both offer similar value. Too often, the answer I get is that that is how they too bought them or they say it is because of the name (or brand). What do I care about what the product is called unless that name has a reputation for solving the problem I have in a peculiar way that others don’t?
You must be fully informed about your product. Peter the apostle counsels in 1Peter 3:15 that a believer who wants to successfully represent the gospel must always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who enquires about the reason for his hope in Christ. Paul the apostle says it differently but with the same intent. “Preach the gospel” he counsels his protégé Timothy, “be instant in season and out of season” The same principle applies in the marketplace as a compelling imperative if you desire sustainable success! It is a costly error to sell a product whose value proposition you have not first mastered. Only a desperate customer buys under such conditions. Once he has a suitable alternative to you, he junks you like last year’s news!
One deadly sin of customer relations that I have seen committed several times over is the ridiculous idea of holding on to a customer’s change without his consent. I am talking about that situation where you buy something, pay with a particular denomination of currency that requires that you collect change. In many instances, when the seller thinks that the amount involved is not much, he simply assumes that you have let go the change. He does not even mention the fact that he owes you change. I have seen this happen several times in supermarkets and fuel stations. Every time this has happened to me, I have insisted on collecting my change even if I need to wait. Never withhold a customer’s change without his consent. If he is to forfeit the change, let him take that decision, especially when you know that if his own payment for your services was short by the same amount, you would insist that he paid in full before you would release goods to him! When you literally compel a customer to forfeit his change, the angst he feels is usually not about the amount involved, which is usually negligible, but the sense of having lost control of a process that he was funding! It makes him feel like your victim rather than your champion! Secondly, it makes him doubt the integrity of your business, especially if he can identify someone else who has had a similar experience with you!
Your customer is a full blooded human being and not a figure of statistics. No one likes to be treated as if he was just a bank account number or the number on the tally that indicates his position on a queue! Medical and bank staff in this part of the world are usually guilty of this. I don’t know whether it is the suit they wear or the stiffness of their starched shirts that give some bank staff that disconnected disposition but it can sometimes be annoying. Go to an average hospital, private or public. The palpable clinical disconnect between the medical personnel – nurses and doctors – and their patients can in itself be sickening.
Remember, the sky is not your limit, God is!
Do you know your regular loyal customers? Do you check on them with a text or phone call when you have not seen them in a long while? Do you even have any information on them even though they are constantly patronizing you? If your answer to all these is ‘No’, you have a serious problem. You are raising customers for a more customer service-savvy competitor. When they find an alternative to you that shows the care that you lack, they will vote against you with the only cards they know, their feet and their purse! You may throw tantrums and complain about how you are haemorrhaging patronage or how bad the economy has been. You might even wax spiritual.
But trust me, your misfortune would have been occasioned by your stupidity and not because the spell of witches in your village against you has been so effective!
and then