boost b2b revenues

What’s mood got to do with it?

“It’s no big deal that we made the error; the customer wasn’t upset.” Is that the criteria your team members use when deciding how to deal with mistakes? One of the tips I share in my seminars is how to recover trust with customers when things go wrong. Unfortunately, the common practice in many organizations when they make a mistake is to do the minimum required to fix the problem. Especially if the customer isn’t particularly upset. The right thing to do when there is a problem is not just fix the problem; it’s also apologizing and providing something extra to address the additional time, hassle, and possible money the customer had to spend to finally get what they originally paid for. The mood of the customer has absolutely nothing to do with it. Do your customers need to be angry before you do the ethical thing?

Tell them Why they’re a Good Customer

Imagine you’re a regular customer at a business and the salesrep or manager says to you: “I was thinking about you the other day and I did some checking… Turns out you’ve been doing business with us for X years now so I wanted you to know that I appreciate your business – when you place your order you don’t ask to have it delivered yesterday, you’re nice to our staff, and you pay your bills.

Tell them Why they’re a Good Customer

Imagine you’re a regular customer at a business and the salesrep or manager says to you: “I was thinking about you the other day and I did some checking… Turns out you’ve been doing business with us for X years now so I wanted you to know that I appreciate your business – when you place your order you don’t ask to have it delivered yesterday, you’re nice to our staff, and you pay your bills.

Ask if it Would be Useful

Here’s a handy tip to enhance your influence. Before providing information, offer a “teaser” benefit. Then ask if it would be “useful” for them to hear about it. For example, before you describe your company’s background, you might say, “It’s important to know that the people you do business with are well established, so you’re not left in a lurch. Would it be useful for you to hear about the company’s background?” Now, you’re not perceived to be “selling.” Instead, you’re providing information that’s useful.

Six words to become a trusted advisor

Imagine you are planning an extended vacation travelling around an unfamiliar country. You spend hours searching hotel and tourism websites trying to decide where to stay and what's worth seeing. Even after all that work you still feel like you're taking your chances. Contrast that scenario to one where you have a close friend who has been living and travelling in that country for the past 10 years. You ask them for travel advice and they reply with 6 magic words, "Knowing you, here's what I'd suggest..." Research - done! The lesson for anyone dealing with customers is you become a Trusted Advisor when you thoroughly understand your products and services and the customer's unique needs. Once you reach that level of understanding, you can instill confidence with the simple phrase, "Knowing you, here's what I'd suggest..."

Selling to Skeptical Customers

When potential customers ask you about your products or services, it's only natural to focus your discussion on value and benefits. The problem is when customers are deciding whether to do business with you, they of course want to know about your products/services; but they also - often subconsciously - are trying to determine your motives. They may suspect you're just trying to maximize the purchase price to serve your own needs. That's why to build greater trust, it's helpful to point out for your customer a few ways for them to save money on the purchase, or even suggest things they could do themselves (rather than paying you) and save even more. By demonstrating that you're looking out for your customers' interests, you become positioned less as a 'salesperson' and more as a trusted advisor.

When your co-worker is a pain

Chances are you work with at least one or two people who you're not crazy about. That's normal. After all, people bring different skills, cultures, and personalities to work. It would be surprising if everyone did want to be best friends with everyone else. That's why in my Leading a Customer Focused Team seminars, I encourage leaders to NOT refer to their group as a family. In families we need to love one another. Instead, talk about your group as a team. Imagine on pro hockey teams how many oversized egos there are in the locker room. Some players have strong dislikes for certain teammates. On the ice however, everyone has a common goal and works together, whether they like each other or not. Your employees will actually be relieved when you say you expect them to work together as a team; not love each other as a family.

Top Six Selling Bloopers (and how to avoid them)

Sports bloopers often about preventable errors that favor the other team. The classic is when players score against their own side. In the world of business, there are similar blunders – particularly during buying conversations with potential customers – that end up favoring the competition. As I explain in my seminars for sales teams, it’s not always a shortfall in your company’s product, price, or service that ruins a potential sale. Often it’s inadvertent comments that put customers off just enough for them to choose your competitor. Unfortunately, sales reps are usually unaware they commit these offenses so they keep repeating them. See if you or your team members ever make these top six selling gaffs.

1. Insulting their intelligence

Let’s assume that if a customer is in a position of authority in their company (meaning they are trusted to make significant buying decisions) they must be somewhat streetwise and smart. That means that any kind of pushy, manipulative sales approach is going to backfire. You need to enter a buying conversation presupposing that this customer is an intelligent, well intentioned grown-up. Your comments should include a healthy dose of, “You probably already know...”, “At your level, you’ve likely experienced...”, “For you this is obvious; the challenge is your staff may not be aware..."

2. Not listening

Contrary to popular opinion, the most important part of a sales pitch is not your value proposition. The most important part of a pitch is demonstrating your understanding of that specific customer’s unique circumstances. That requires asking pointed questions that help customers see for themselves where there are opportunities for improvement. Then verify your understanding with statements like, “Sounds like you...(summarizing their situation).”

3. Insulting the competition

If your potential customer is currently doing business with your competitor, it’s fine to compare your offerings, but be careful not to criticize the competition. After all, the customer decided to do business with them. So slamming the competition is tantamount to telling the customer that he or she made a bad choice. (See point #1 – insulting the customer).

4. Ignoring objections

If you propose a solution that ignores a customer’s objection or concern, you are essentially saying that you weren’t listening (see point #2 – not listening). That requires being transparent in how your proposal either addresses their concerns, or it provides extra value that could outweigh their concerns. The key is we shouldn’t pretend we didn’t hear or value their initial objections.

5. Being a know it all

It takes time and effort to gain trust. Yet it’s so easy to lose. It happens when we stray out of our own area of expertise and claim to be an expert in... politics, sports, raising kids, the weather, you name it. Ironically, one of the easiest ways to gain trust is to quickly admit ignorance about anything the customer seems to know a lot about. Showing respect by deferring to your customers’ knowledge and expertise helps them become more receptive to yours.

6. Ignoring the influencers

It’s easy to focus on the key decision maker - presumably the economic buyer. After all, they are the people who will approve the payment. And yet by focusing on that ‘bag of money’ we are inadvertently insulting the people who may have more say in the matter than anyone. The father of the bride may be paying the bill, but imagine the consequences of a wedding planner ignoring the wishes of the bride and her mother! (We all know the groom has no influence – he just needs to do what he’s told). The lesson is no one should feel like they’re being ignored.

Bottom line - Effective selling has less to do with pushiness and manipulation, and more to do with good manners and respect. Talk less. Listen more. Allow your competitors to blunder their way out their customers’ good graces and send them into your capable hands. Here’s to you not dropping the ball.

The #1 Way to be Valued as a Trusted Advisor

If you've attended my Trusted Advisor seminar or used any of my coaching tools, you may recall that my overriding theme is demonstrate that you understand your customers' unique circumstances. If you or your team members aren't convinced, consider this... I recently attended a presentation by Tanya Ecklund, leader of the #1 team at the #1 Re/Max office in the world. Pretty big credentials. During the Q & A I asked Tanya how, when she and her competitors were invited to submit proposals, she closed more deals. Her response was that she proved to the client that she knew more about that customer's unique property, that neighborhood, and that marketplace than the competition. Notice that Tanya's success had nothing to do with the way many realtors try to stand out; by creating hokey slogans or nicknames. Ironically, your brand value is less about your uniqueness, and more about your understanding of your customers' uniqueness.

Four Customer Service Trends to Boost your Business

When organizations invite me to speak at their conferences or train their team members, we start with trends that are impacting their customer relationships. Check out these four customer service trends along with some tips for capitalizing on them to boost your business...

1. Good service is wallpaper

Today’s customers are so busy with their multiple demands at home and work, and are so distracted by their mobile devices that they no longer even notice “good” service. That means your team may work all day long delivering consistent service and your reward will be zero. Today’s customer only notices two types of service: 1) poor service  2) REMARKable service – literally. They need to be so impressed that they’re motivated to remark or talk about your service. That brings us to trend number two and what they talk about.

2. 'Better' brands don't sell

When your company faces tough competition, being better gets lost in the clutter. Lots of organizations claim to have better service. That’s the problem. Customers don’t believe it. Better doesn’t motivate them to make significant changes when what they already have is reasonably good. What customers really want to know is what makes you unique. That requires you and your team members to explore options to do things differently. Get creative. Take calculated risks to test different ways of doing business. Disrupt your market. Give customers something different to talk about. Or one of your competitors will.

3. Choices just confuse

Offering a vast array of products and services is no longer considered by customers to be helpful. If today’s customers want to take the time and energy to explore choices, they can do an internet search and be instantly overwhelmed. Too many choices do not lead to customer purchases. They do lead to decision fatigue. This is where your team members can really stand out. Their role becomes to analyze customer needs, explore which options are best suited to satisfy those needs, and present two or three final candidates in the simplest fashion to make your customer’s decision easier.

4. Retain vs blame

This may seem counter intuitive - in today’s increasingly litigious society, it’s more important than ever that organizations admit fault and make amends the moment they have a service slipup. It’s not just that they could be sued and lose. Smart service providers have done the math and know that’s it’s much less costly to do the right thing for customers than to have disgruntled customers trashing your brand. Especially when social media messages can quickly go viral (an apt term since it effectively gives your brand a disease that makes other customers want to avoid you). The good news is that customers are wonderfully forgiving towards companies who quickly own their mistakes, and who do something to address the customer’s hassle.

Bottom line - make it easy

When we combine these trends we see the emergence of a theme. Growing your business with today’s customers means you and your team members need to be EASY to do business with. That means coming up with unique business processes that make buying from you easier. It means narrowing the choices so that buying decisions are easier. And it means training your team members so that – even when things go wrong – they recover your customers’ trust. Quickly and easily.

REDUCE CUSTOMER CONFLICTS

Register today for our 30 – second Trusted Advisor tips and receive as a bonus 15 Phrases that Pay for dealing with stressed and rushed customers.