How To Handle A Concern

Center for Organizational Energy - Jim Ullery: How To Handle A Concern: “We are satisfied with our current provider…” I am sure that many of us have either heard or seen this type of reply from a prospect. The ...

DWYSYWD and the “Grandmother Rules”

Center for Organizational Energy - Jim Ullery: DWYSYWD and the “Grandmother Rules”: As Sales Pros forge new relationships, their new clients are watching them.   The things that they are watching for include many of what cl...

DWYSYWD and the “Grandmother Rules”

As Sales Pros forge new relationships, their new clients are watching them.  The things that they are watching for include many of what client service professional speaker Lisa Ford calls the “Grandmother Rules.”  One that is often used in sales departments is the DO WHAT YOU SAY YOU WILL DO (DWYSYWD) adage.

The five rules of Gold Standard Sales & Client Service rules are:

1. BE RELIABLE

Be consistent and follow the “Grandmother Rule,” which says, “Do what you say you're going to do, do it when you say you're going to do it, and do it right the first time.”

2. BE RESPONSIVE

Act fast and consider the human side of things.

3. MAKE CLIENTS FEEL VALUED

Make each person feel like they are your most important client.

4. SHOW EMPATHY

Work hard to understand the client’s side of the situation.

5. BE COMPETENT

Adopt  the “One Voice Concept,” where one Sales Pro takes ownership of a client’s problem or dissatisfaction and sees it through to resolution.

Resolving Customer Service Issues

Providing excellent customer service after a sale is essential to maintaining strong relationships with customers. Starting at the closing, tell customers that they should feel free to call you any time to discuss any problems or questions related to your products.

If a customer has a problem with a product purchased from you, try to see this situation as an opportunity. If you can demonstrate to customers that you really are committed to helping with their problems, they will think more highly of you, your company, and your commitment to customer service.

This is another example of a way that you can turn a potentially negative situation into a positive one. “Customer Service” is a lot more than just a phrase. When a customer comes to you or calls you, it is important not to simply play lip service to their enquiries.

Should a customer complain to you that a purchase they have made from you is not living up to their expectations, your first response should be to get to the heart of their complaint. Your response should be along the lines of “Oh, I’m sorry to hear that – what is the problem?”. From their response to this, you should be able to think of a few solutions to that.

There are three elements to be taken account of in your response to a customer problem – efficiency, politeness and thoroughness.

All customers with complaints will want their problem to be dealt with speedily. In doing this you need to find the right balance between “too quick” and “too slow”. Many people take an attitude to problem solving which seems to suggest that the last thing they want to be doing is dealing with problems as it holds them back from going to do what they consider to be their “real job”.

However, the way that you deal with problems has a real impact on customer retention. It is best to deal with them quickly, but to be fully aware of what the customer wants before going straight into a process of solving the problem.

The above point is linked to politeness – naturally you will want to solve any problem quickly, but if you do not pay attention to what the customer wants and needs, and take the time to apologize for any problems then they will feel like you resent them taking up your time.

Without a reasonable, polite attitude from you, they may well simply wait for their problem to be solved and then take their leave of you. If you are polite and understanding, this will stick in their mind. It is essential to consider that the final impression given to a person is the one that will resonate most. If they have a problem with an item but you solved it, and did so quickly and politely, then it will be the latter fact that stays with them.

The final point is that you must be thorough with your problem solving. From the nature of a customer’s problem you will either know how to solve it so that it does not reoccur, or know someone who will be able to do this.

There is sometimes a tendency to go for a quick fix (“Have you tried turning it off and then on again?”) – but this is far from advantageous, as the chances are that the problem will be back again before too long.

This will not help the customer, and will not help you retain the customer. If you deal with the problem quickly, politely and completely they will be happy to come back again when they have another purchase to make, and their overall impression of your company will be “When I had a problem, they solved it”.

Strategies for Customer Retention

Positive and negative retention strategies

A distinction exists between strategies that lock the customer in by penalizing their exit from a relationship, and strategies that reward a customer for remaining in a relationship needs understanding in the retention scenario.  The former are generally considered negative, and the latter positive customer retention strategies.  Negative customer retention strategies impose high switching costs on customers, discouraging their defection.

Negative customer retention strategies

In the business to consumer context, mortgage companies have commonly recruited new customers with attractive discounted interest rates.  When the honeymoon period is over, these customers may want to switch to another provider, only to discover that they will be hit with early redemption and exit penalties.  Customers wishing to switch retail banks find that it is less simple than anticipated; direct debits and standing orders have to be re-organized.  In the business to business context, a customer may have agreed to a deal to purchase a given volume of raw materials at a quoted price. Somewhere through the contract, a lower cost supplier makes a better offer.  The customer wants to switch, but finds that there are penalty clauses in the contract.  The new supplier is unwilling to buy the customer out of the contract by paying the penalties.

Positive customer retention strategies

In the following sections we look at a number of positive customer retention strategies, including creating customer delight, adding customer-perceived value, creating social and structural bonds and building customer engagement.

Customer delight

It is very difficult to build long-term relationships with customers if their needs and expectations are not understood and well met.  It is a fundamental precept of modern customer management that companies should understand customers, and then acquire and deploy resources to ensure their satisfaction and retention.  This is why CRM is grounded on detailed customer-related knowledge.  Customers that Sales Pros are not able to serve well may be better served by their competitors.

Delighting customers, or exceeding customer expectations, means going beyond what would normally satisfy the customer.  This does not necessarily mean being world-class or best-in-class.  It does mean being aware of what it usually takes to satisfy the customer and what it might take to delight or pleasantly surprise the customer.  Sales Pros cannot really strategize to delight the customer if they do not understand the customer's fundamental expectations.  Sales Pros may stumble onto attributes of their performance that do delight the customer, but they cannot consistently expect to do so unless they have deep customer insight.  Consistent efforts to delight customers show their commitment to the relationship.  Commitment builds trust.  Trust begets relationship longevity.

Customer delight occurs when the customer's perception of their experience of doing business with you exceeds their expectation.  In formulaic terms:

CD = P > E

Where CD = customer delight, P = perception and E = expectation.

This formula implies that customer delight can be influenced in two ways: by managing expectations or by managing performance.  In most commercial contexts, customer expectations exceed customer perceptions of performance.  In other words, customers can generally find cause for dissatisfaction.  Sales Pros might think that this would encourage companies to attempt to manage customer expectations down to levels that can be delivered.  However, competitors may well be improving their performance in an attempt to meet customer expectations.  If the Sales Pro’s strategy is to manage expectations down, they may well lose customers to the better performing company.  This is particularly likely if you fail to meet customer expectations on important attributes.

Our Sales Pro Professional Selling System Guarantee

As A SALES PRO^® Graduate, You Will Have the Ability to Repeat SALES PRO^® at No Additional Fee:

You are free to attend any future SALES PRO^® public session held by Center for Organizational Energy in part or full without additional fees as many times as you wish on a space available basis.  You must bring your SALES PRO^® materials from the prior class or purchase new materials.  In the case of a book version update, you may be required to purchase a new book.

 If A SALES PRO^® Graduate Leaves Your Company Within 1-Year of Completing SALES PRO^®:

Your company will have the ability to enroll a “replacement salesperson” in any public session SALES PRO^® held by  Center for Organizational Energy on a space available basis with no additional fees, other than a new SALES PRO^® book and materials.

   Should You Leave Your Present Company, As A SALES PRO^® Graduate:

You are free to attend any future SALES PRO^® public session held by Center for Organizational Energy in part or full without additional fees on a space available basis.  You must have your new employer’s HR department sign off on your attendance.  You must bring your SALES PRO^® materials from the prior class or purchase new materials.  In the case of a book version update, you may be required to purchase a new book.  Our clients tell us that education attracts excellent employees and having this guarantee in place helps assure education plays a part.  Please do not forget to let your new employer know about this valuable training benefit that you enjoy.

 

Tips on Getting Prospects to Call You Back

The fine line between persistence and stalking:

·       Make only one call per day to each prospect.

·       Call consistently.

·       If you leave a message, tell the prospect you will call them back and indicate when - and then stick to it.  Say: "If I don't hear from you by February 12th, I'll call you back on the 13th."

·       It takes at least 4 to 8 attempts to reach your prospect over a period of weeks, or even months.

Get down to business quickly:

·       No one cares for phony friendliness.

·       State your business.

·       Be professional.

·       “Greg, Jim Ullery calling.  239-599-8408.”

·       Sharing more in a voice mail is a waste and not relevant.

·       There is no need for company, title, reason for the call.

Share the name of a prominent person that referred you:

·       Open the call, with the name of the person that referred you.  Say: “Greg Meeks suggested that you might be interested in hearing about my services.”

·       Do not open with your own name.

·       When you close, the calls say, “As I indicated earlier, our mutual friend Greg Meeks encouraged me to call you.”

Sound like a trusted advisor:

·       Bring personal value to the relationship.

·       Buyers want to work with confident Sales Pros.

·       Do not convey hope to meet or gratefulness for a few minutes.

·       Converse as if you are calling a collaborator with an idea.

Mention a precise point you want to have a dialogue with them about:

·       Use a voice of expectation not one of question or doubt.

·       Will vs. would  - Now vs. sometime.

·       “I will appreciate the ability to hear your comments about the proposal I sent you last week.”

Present a strong value proposition:

·       Talk in terms of outcomes that you will deliver.

·       Do not talk about your product or service.

·       Use metrics.

·       Use business terminology.

·       Use time frames.

·       Use dollar amounts.

·       Use percentages.

·       Do not round numbers 2.3 is far more believable than “a bit more than 2.”

·        Say: “We help companies in the conversion to cash cycle with a 23.2% reduction in time and expand order sizes by 13.3%.”

·       Mention how the call will benefit them.

Share the primary business drivers that are enhanced when customers work with you:

o   Employee turnover.

o   Productivity.

o   Waste.

o   Time to market.

o   Operating cost.

o   Share of customers.

o   LTV – Life time value.

o   Cost of goods sold.

o   Customer retention.

o   Compliance.

o   Collections.

o   Inventory turns.

“When you return my call, I will make clear how my services can increase your company's turnaround time.”

 

Send a handwritten note:

o   Increases your likeability.

o   Helps make the prospect feel good about you.

o   Encourages them to take your calls.

o   Have an effect on people that yet another voicemail or email does not.

o   Customers thank Sales Pros for handwritten notes.

Do your homework and demonstrate that you have:

·       Researched the target prospect on the internet.

·       If you have worked with similar companies tell them.

·       Say: “I was recently on your website and noticed  ...” or “I have worked with other chemistry development firms and I know the industry struggles with…”

Put them on “gentle rain”:

·       You have tried everything you can and you are not ready to give up entirely.

·       Send interesting things of value (not simply advertisements) every month or quarter.

·       Stay at the top of the prospect’s mind.

Get rid of self-serving verbiage:

·       A prospect does not care to talk about the Sales Pro or their company.

·       No self aggrandizing puffery.

·       No creative crap.

·       No procedural drivel.

Create a deadline:

·       Gain agreement from the prospect as to next steps.

·       Remind the prospect of the agreement to take the next step based on the agreed follow up dates.

·       Say: "I'm calling since the last time we spoke; we agreed to have further dialogue today about…."

·       If they do not return your call in a couple of days, keep calling, and gently remind them of your mutual agreement.

Mention a newsworthy recent event:

·       Let the prospect know that your call is triggered by an event.

·       Cite the event being relevant to the offering you wish to provide.

·       New management, an acquisition, an expansion, a change in the market, change in environmental policies all provide reasons for such dialogue.

·       Read online industry trade publications.

Call early or late in the day:

·       During normal hours, C-level executives have “directors of first impressions” on duty.  Some prefer to call these “gatekeepers”.

·       Call quite early in the morning or late in the day.

·       Do not leave a message attempt to reach the executive when they are alone and likely to pick up the phone on their own.

·       To bypass the voice mail system attempt to dial one number higher than the main number.

·       Learn to ask for after hour numbers.

Use a call outline:

·       You do not want to ramble on.

·       Every word counts if you are leaving a voice mail.

·       A call outline helps you stay on task and focused.

Change your media:

·       If a prospect has not responded to a call you made within 5 - 8 business days, email them.

·       Everyone has his or her own preferred way to communicate.  Find out which communication tool is easier for the prospect. 

·       Do not be surprised if social networking sites become places to communicate.

Prospects that go silent:

·       Whether in voicemail or email, when you are ready to write an uncommunicative prospect off, let the prospect know that this will be the final attempt you make to reach them.  Try something like:

"I noticed that it's been X weeks since we last spoke, and I'm assuming that is because you are no longer interested in our product.  That is OK; I understand that we are not a fit for everyone.  The last thing I want is to become a follow-up pest!  If you are still interested, you can reach us at 239-599-8408.  If I do not hear from you, then I will assume that you are moving ahead in a different direction, and I will not call again to interrupt.  I wish you all the best on your project, and thank you for considering us”.

If the prospect is still interested, this may result in a quick return call or contact. If it does not, you have at least achieved an understanding that you are not in the running this time.