Are You a “Friend” or a “Professional”? – Building customer relationships

Build Customer Relationships Without Compromising on Price

You’ve probably heard in other customer service training programs about the importance of creating stronger personal relationships with customers. You’re supposed to get to know the customer personally: their interests, family. You’re supposed to socialize and schmooze.

That’s not what I teach in my programs where I’m training people who want to compete beyond price. I believe friendliness is fine but it isn’t the goal. Frankly, the more a customer considers you to be a close friend the more they want to pay the discounted ‘family rate’.

Ask yourself when you’re a customer, who you’d want to perform heart surgery on you. The neighborhood surgeon who’s a friend, has cheap prices, but a questionable success record. Or the surgeon who you’ve never met who has the highest success rate in the country – who also happens to have steepest prices. Remember, your customers already have friends. What they want and are willing to pay for – are professionals.

Today’s chuckle:

Action speaks louder than words but not nearly as often. – Mark Twain

Written By Jeff Mowatt (original content – not AI generated)

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Jeff Mowatt is a customer service & sales speaker, customer service & sales trainer, a business communication strategist, award-winning speaker, and best-selling author.