Customers do not forget

I have done numerous sales rallies, and I absolutely love doing these talks.

I often ask this question in my seminars, “Your sales department does not represent your entire company, right?” Some of the participants (who are mostly salespersons) would slowly nod.

And then I would complete the sentence by saying, “your sales department does not represent your entire business organization, but everyone in your business organization should represent your sales department.” Then everyone would nod in agreement.

It doesn’t take much for anyone in your organization to lose a sale and upset a customer so much that he or she would switch to your fiercest competitor.

They say that an elephant has a long memory, customers too, they do not forget easily.

Take this test yourself. Do you still remember the worst kind of customer service you ever experienced? I bet you do. The customer service experience begins as early as when your client parks the car in your parking lot. Is it clean and spacious? Is it orderly? Is there uncollected trash? What does this say about your establishment? You lose customers when you don’t offer enough parking spaces for those who took the time and effort to visit your establishment.

The handling of the transaction, the physical place, the displays, the lighting, the ambience, the music and most of all, the behavior of the sales staff would either make your customers loyal or turn away from your organization.

Barbara Wold, an international speaker, author and business strategist, said it beautifully, “Customers are observant and they are particularly sensitive as to how they are treated from the beginning of the sales transaction even up to the end of it. They expect to be treated well because they know their money makes the business cash registers ring and are responsible for the business success.”

Here are things to remember:

1. Customers do not forget the way they were treated.

These are the small things like a smile, a pleasant and respectful conversation, the quick response or the ability to provide answers to their questions. In other words, customers do not forget the attitude and so these seemingly small things are not small at all. They are huge.

2. Customers do not forget the way you handled their problems.

Businesses are not exempted from mistakes. Humans drive systems and humans are not inerrant.

If a mistake is made, the customers may be mad, but if you handle the error with great care, efficiency and if you add a touch of something extra for “making up” (technically this is called “service recovery”), the customers won’t forget your actions and instead, will be more confident in continuing their business with you. They may even refer you to their friends and talk about the way you handled the situation.

3. Customers do not forget the promises you made.

You said you will deliver, you better do. You said you won’t charge extra, you better not. You may be forgetful, but your customers aren’t.

If you know you cannot deliver or aren’t sure, then you should not make any promises.

But if you delivered more than what you promised, then you win the customer.

4. Customers do not forget how you valued and cared for them.

The “after-sales-service” is the game changer, but many companies fail to deliver on this. Just when the customer does not expect anything else because the transaction is done, you remember to send a thank you note or a simple follow up on how to improve the experience, it spells the difference in saying, “come back and do more business with us.”

Genuine care behind a transaction makes all the difference. After all, no one wants to be used like an object.

Excellent customer service involves both art and science.  It is as practical as inconveniencing yourself for the convenience of your customers.

Yes. It’s that simple.

(Spend two life-transforming days with Francis Kong learning leadership and life skills as he present Level Up Leadership on March 17-18 at EDSA Shangri-La Hotel. For further inquiries, contact Inspire at 09158055910 or call 632-6310912 for details.)