Road To The Customer - Checkpoint #5

Face To Face Strategy

Everything is good. The plan is together, customers are coming in and things look great. Now, the hardest thing to control. You or your staff comes face to face with the customer. (This could be on the phone as well) This is the time that the sale is won or lost, but as business owners or managers, too little time is spent focusing on this area. I had a customer the other day that agreed to an advertising plan. He was from a service industry and I went through the Roadmap To The Customer with him to stress that the advertising that he had just invested in was only one part. He told me then that the person he had answering the phone could be a real witch. (that's not what he really said, but it does rhyme and this is a family blog!) I assured him that his ability to convert phone calls to actually sales would be greatly hampered by this challenge and the better the advertising the more business he would lose if this problem wasn't rectified. He understood and took a copy of the Road To The Customer to try and teach her the importance of good contact with potential customers.

Here are a few areas to focus on :

SMILE - In person or on the phone, everyone wants to see a real smile. Force yourself to smile and it is nearly impossible to be in a bad mood. The attitude of your customer changes with you.

KNOW YOUR PRODUCTS - Where things are. What services are offered. Features and benefits. If you do not know an answer, make it a point to find out as quickly as possible.

PROBE NEEDS OF CUSTOMER - Ask them how you can help them. Probe what they are looking for. Why they are making the purchase. Not to be nosy, but to better understand what to recommend. The more that you know about what they want and why, the easier it is to show them a product that best suits their needs. At this point, it is about their needs, not your products or service.

BE SINCERE - Truly take their needs into consideration. Want to help them get what they want. Sound easy? Too many people just go through the motions. The more that you get involved with them in the purchase, the harder it will be for them to buy somewhere else.

UPSELL - There are only two ways to grow your revenue. Get new customers or sell more to existing customers. If they are making a purchase, it's ok to ask them to buy something to go with it. Sometimes it is something that they needed and forgot. For example, I shop at a local golf store. The owner never fails to ask me if I need a box of balls with every purchase. I have known him and shopped there for 5 years and he has never failed to ask. He will also point out sale items while I am checking out. "Hey, we have a pair of shoes on sale in your size. You can save $50. You are going to need them soon anyway." He has never offended me by asking and a few times I did forget to buy balls and was glad that he asked. If he didn't, I would have bought them at the pro shop or somewhere else on the way when I remembered! The sale would have been lost.

Please do not take this part of the process for granted. Concentrate on it. Train your people. Anyone that talks to customers!