Million Dollar Sales Tip 3

What do potential customers complain about? Complaints indicate pain and pain points to selling opportunities.

KeFactors Friday (Rewind): Right, Wrong, or Customer Service

One of the first mistakes most people make when responding to customer complaints is to get overly mired in determining right or wrong.

“Of course,” you say, “that’s a no-brainer. The customer’s always right. Everybody knows that.”

Unfortunately, not everyone does, because a great many customer grievances are not so cut and dry. How do you address a customer’s ire over your late delivery of a project when he himself was late getting essential information to you? How do you explain to her that her abrasive behaviors have been upsetting your staff?

Here’s the key: Don’t think in terms of right or wrong. First, get inside the customer’s head to comprehend how they’re perceiving the problem. Usually you’ll find it has less to do with right or wrong, more to do with other issues that have cropped up to ruin their day—the customer may be feeling new stressors at work or need help doing some incidental face-saving.

But don’t get into the trap of determining right or wrong: you’ll only earn your customer’s resentment. After all, who died and made you judge and jury?

Take the time to fully understand how your customer’s experiencing the stated problem, and you’ll be more than halfway there to solving it. Along the way, you may also gain crucial insights on your customer’s work environment.

KeFactors Friday: Key Behaviors of Post-Recession Customers

You may already be dealing with customers who aren’t shy about complaining, but

… better get used to it. Word-of-mouth is going to be more powerful than ever. I’m also adding advisory from (refreshingly blunt) business author Geoff Burch about the various ways we can kill off customer loyalty (in italics).

1. Post-recession customers will be increasingly intolerant of customer service errors. (“To defend your position to the death is a serious mistake. It costs so little put things right with your customer.”)

2. Customers will be more vocal and “activist” in using social networking sites to state their objections and negative experiences. (“Your offer is crap. Live up to the expectations your marketing generates.”)

3. Customers will not be committed to a particular brand but seek “best value” regardless of who’s providing it. It’ll be harder for market researchers to detect a fixed pattern of behavior in understanding these customers, and deeper insights will be required. (“Trying to be everything to everyone is a mistake. Don’t alienate your core customer base by trying to broaden your appeal.”)

4. Ninety-seven percent (97%) of your customers will research products and future purchases online, so your marketing and product support will need to be more targeted to specific customer needs and expectations. (“Don’t be afraid to ask. Where do my customers’ aspirations lie?”)

5. Multi-channel customers want — and expect — to use a variety of ways to interact with you. (“Data should make selling more human.”)