Have you ever sent a hand written note to a customer? A thank you letter? A birthday message? Emily Kelly had this to say about how she uses some old fashion methods to connect with her customers:
Emily Kelly • I firmly believe in the power of “paying it forward”, giving others genuine compliments and sowing affirmation as a regular practice. You’d be surprised how far it goes. I also practice the age old art of hand written thank you notes and calling when promised. These things have really worked for me … probably because few people do them anymore, and just like price and demand … if it’s rare, it’s treasured!
I agree. A hand written notes says that you took time and gave it some thought. Unlike e-cards or computer generated messages, a hand written note is personal. But just be careful that you don’t try to take short cuts with those personal connections. It could come back and bite you!
I recently heard the story of a woman who received a thank you note with a hand written message from her MALE insurance agent. She and her husband have been long time customers of this agent and the thought of a hand written note was a good one. Problem? It was written in a flowery, hearts dotting the “i” hand of his female secretary.
The idea was a good one. The execution? Not so much. In fact, the customer said that “I’m now questioning his ability to personalize his service to me if he can’t even sign his own note cards. I’m thinking of shopping around and all because he delegated the note card writing instead of taking the time to write the note himself.”
Thinking about sending a note to your customers? Great idea – but make sure you don’t try to delegate the assignment of building relationships to a member of your team. You wouldn’t delegate dinner with your loved one to a neighbor, would you?
My phone just rang. The caller introduced himself as Dave Somebody.
“Hi Dave, how can I help you?” I asked.
Well, I represent a company that compiles memorabila for your loved ones.” -pause – HYSTERICAL LAUGHTER.
I am racking my brain. Is this a prank? Is this my brother? I’m thinking back over his name – did I recognize it? Nope. He continues.
“We compile photos and stories into a book that you can present to your aging loved one, kind of a ‘this is your life’ keepsake. We find they like it a lot.”
HYSTERICAL LAUGHTER.
pause.
I said “okaaaaaay.”
HYSTERICAL LAUGHTER. “I always love to hear how people respond to our product. I’ve been in sales a long time and this is a very different product for me to sell.” HYSTERICAL LAUGHTER.
“So do you think this is a product you’d be interested in?”
This whole time I am waiting to see if this is a prank but I don’t think so. This is the guy’s sales pitch. Now he can’t know that my neighbor died unexpected yesterday or that I have a very close friend just diagnosed with stage four cancer. And yet the product he is selling is geared towards those wanting to provide a retrospective of someone’s life- perhaps a gift you give toward the end of someone’s life. A sensitive product. A product that would be filled with love and memories and yes, perhaps laughter but not the HYSTERICAL LAUGHTER this guy was giving me shortly after he said hello.
“So is this a product you’d be interested in?” he asked.
“No.”
“Oh.” He sounds very surprised.
“And frankly,” I continued. “Your sales approach is offensive given the sensitive nature of your product.”
“Oh.”
I am still not sure if this was a prank. Or his first day on the job. Or just his approach. It is like the guy in the bar that comes up and says “haven’t I seen you somewhere before?” And you are like – really? That really works for you?
This isn’t a sales blog but certainly that sales conversation is all about make or break moments. Moments when you begin to develop a lifelong relationship with your customer.
HYSTERICAL LAUGHTER over a product that encompasses the gift of memories isn’t going to win friends or influence people.
I just had to share because if you know someone who thinks this approach works…..it sure doesn’t with me.
Guess we won’t be seeing Lebron in this uniform again. Let me start by saying that I’m not a basketball fan. If I had to pick a sport and lawn bowling wasn’t an option then baseball would be my pick. There is something so boring about watching a bunch of guys in shorts run to one end of the room and then back over and over and over.
But as a resident of Northeast Ohio, even I would have to be living under a rock to not be aware of the drama being played out with the Cavaliers and Lebron James.
Last week after an hour long (longest hour in the history of television?) special on ESPN he made the announcement that he’d be leaving Ohio and headed for sunny Florida.
A lot had to have weighed into his decision. The color of the uniform. Plenty of oranges. Sunshine rather than the midwest clouds. Who knows – but for sure it was a make or break moment for Lebron and his relationship with his customers – the fans of basketball.
The question from the customer’s perspective is this: did Lebron put himself in the shoes of his customers or was the decision based solely on his needs and his goals. You may say that as a professional sports celebrity – he should have only considered himself. If that is the case, I wonder – what will be the long term affect with the fans? Will people forget that his ego seemed to shine brighter than his gifts to the industry?
Make or break moments are those times when we have the opportunity to build a relationship with our customers or times when we do something that harms that relationship forever.
Which has happened with Lebron? Time will tell but as a resident from Ohio, the buzz around here says it will be long time before people forget this particular make or break moment.
Have you ever set out to do the right thing, the professional thing and your inner child just took over?
That happened to me yesterday.
I was shooting a series of one minute commercials for different aspects of my business. One of the commercials was actually the introduction for a series of customer relationship building tips.
I’ve written 78 ways to Put Your Customer First and plan to share them, one or two at a time on YouTube. I call it Make or Break Moments TV: Tips to Build Customer Relationships.
It is all still a work in progress, but here’s me, trying to be professional and my inner giggle just wouldn’t quit….
Here’s the deal: when we give in to our inner child, we become more approachable – a person people want to do business with. That is provided you can avoid the dreaded laughing snort.
Okay – look for a more professional kick off to this new resource coming soon. If I could just stop laughing….
If your customer is between the ages of 18-35 – you need to learn to master the art of social media – or at the very least – be listening real close and often to what is being said. Of all of the stats in the article, here is the most valuable one:
“80% of Twitter users tweet using their mobile device.” The author goes on to say “Imagine what that means for bad customer experiences?”
Eighty percent of what, you ask? Maybe it isn’t that many people. Well, here’s another stat for you – “As of this year there are an average of 30 MILLION tweets a day.” And 75 MILLION users. That’s a big chunk of your customers.
So how do you listen on Twitter? Visit Search.Twitter. Click on the Advanced Search button. Enter your company name, your products, your industry key words and see what is being said. You’ll see that you can subscribe to the feed for those key words and be notified the next time someone mentions your company or products.
Take it a step further. Scroll down the Advance Search page and click the sad face and/or the “?” and see the negative reviews and questions being asked within Twitter.
You may not like it – but bottom line – social media, in some form or fashion, is here to stay and we need to jump in this afternoon and get connected.
For those of you in the NE Ohio region – I’ll be conducting a new series of hands-on workshops, once a week for four weeks on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and Creating a Strategy starting next week.
I just finished reading Spencer Johnson, M.D.’s new book Peaks and Valleys. Just like the One Minute Manager and Who Moved My Cheese, the book is set up in a story format to share the great insights of the author.
Basically the book is about how we view the peaks and valleys of our life; at work and in our personal life. By dwelling on the negative, blowing fear out of proportion and letting our ego get in the way of reality; valleys loom larger and more daunting than necessary.
In one example in the book the wise one man on the peak tells the story of a once great company:
“When I was younger, I worked for a very large and famous company. We provided a great service at a good price-the best in out industry. Then our costs rose and the economy took a turn for the worse. Our service cost us more to provide and soon fewer people could afford it. Sales fell, but due to our fame, management believed they could simply ride out the bad time. The reality of course, was that we needed to change. But they didn’t see this, because their arrogance had made them complacent. Eventually we lost most of our customers and had to sell the business.”
“So what did you do?” the young man asked.
“I asked myself, what is the truth in this situation? The truth was that we were not making our customers happy.”
I love this example. The point of the story is so simple. WE WEREN’T MAKING OUR CUSTOMERS HAPPY. The company became too big for its britches, as my Grandma would say, and because they weren’t willing to set aside ego and look at how they might change to stay a viable solution for their customer, they became extinct.
The book goes on to talk about how to view the valleys of life in a more realistic, sensible way and to appreciate the gifts we have even in our hard times. And when we are on top of the world to make sure we don’t get too full of ourselves and simply enjoy every moment for the gift that it is.
It is a quick read and has lessons that can be applied to all walks of life. I’d recommend giving it a read.
Have you ever lost a customer and didn’t know why?
I was talking with Business Coach and Professional Speaker Leslie Ungar of Electric Impulse Communications about customers. She shared a story with me that really helped put things in perspective.
As the economy takes its good old time recovering, the trickle down effect of lower revenues is hitting some of the smaller companies and as such, companies are cutting back some of their vendor/freelance relationships. Each time we loose a customer we have to access the situation.
Is there something I could have done differently?
Was it price?
Was it attitude?
Should I have said something different?
Should I have kissed him?
(That’s what Elizabeth Kitt – recent participant who was eliminated from ABC’s The Batchelor is asking herself today.)
Leslie used to show horses. She told me that at the end of a competition participants could approach the judges and ask for advice on what they could do differently next time to place or win in their category.
“I was always the first in line to ask a question,” Leslie told me. “I wanted to know why I didn’t win and what the judges thought I should have done differently.” Sometimes they would remember, or after refreshing their notes they might have a specific comment, but often it was a general bit of advice that they would share. She listened carefully each time to what they had to say.
“If one person told me something, I would listen but I might not make a change. I was listening for patterns that I couldn’t ignore. If I heard the same comment from different judges or multiple times then I knew that was an area I needed to address.”
She was looking for patterns.
We need to do the same thing with our customers. Of course that means we have to engage them in conversation – exit interviews – follow up surveys or phone calls to ask about the service and experience and then listen for patterns.
Customer complaints are another great place to look for patterns. Some times you just have a complainer – but often, if you listen closely enough, you’ll find out about an area of service you need to address because it impacts the customer’s experience.
Have you lost a customer lately? Do you know why? Has it been the first time you’ve heard the reason or has a pattern begun to emerge?
Listen carefully to those patterns you can’t ignore and then start to make some changes!
Yesterday as my daughter and I drove down the snow-covered road she had an interesting observation.
“Sure it looks pretty but it is amazing how quickly it turns ugly.”
It is so true. As I watch the flakes fall I remember that no two flakes are exactly alike and that made me think of our customers.
No two customers are alike.
If we treat them as if they are alike, we run the risk of missing an important piece of information which could lead to:
The prospect not turning into a customer
A customer with a challenge turning irate
A missed opportunity to make a difference
Having policies and procedures are a good thing but only if we realize that they are merely guidelines and shouldn’t supersede our customer’s INDIVIDUAL situation.
Like snowflakes, each customer’s needs are different and we have to be open and aware by using our active listening skills to learn about their unique circumstance.
If we don’t, that individual customer, like freshly fallen snow, might turn ugly before our eyes.
I’m struggling to regain my composure. I have just been made to feel more stupid than dirt and it isn’t a feeling I enjoy.
You may have read that I joined a gym recently - happy one week anniversary to me – and I’m using this TechnoGym thingie that keeps my workouts on a computer chip. I insert the handy-dandy thumb drive into each piece of equipment and it tells me the seat height, number of reps and weight I should lift. At the end of the session, I put my thumb drive into a main computer and it tells me how many pounds I lifted (15,680, thank you very much) and gives me more charts and graphs than I care to look at.
But what happens when you have to use one of the old fashion, non-computer pieces of equipment because the fancy stuff isn’t available? Well, that’s what happened to me yesterday and today. It isn’t a prob – I just used the regular equipment, but it messed up the computer thumb drive.
So today I decided to ask for help to fix the problem. The staff member shall remain nameless (but it sounds like TROY) lolly gagged his way across the gym in my direction, the tortoise could have beat him and still had time for a movie, and doesn’t make eye contact but mumbles something.
I hate mumblers.
I am already frustrated but I know it is human error, my human error - I just want a work around. Show me how to get credit for the sweat I just left all over the bike.
He put my thumb drive in the machine.
“You didn’t do the exercise.”
“Yes. I did. I already said that. I just did it on a different machine.”
“Well, it says here you didn’t do it.”
“Y..e..s..I know that. That is the problem. How do I get credit for it?”
“You can’t because you didn’t do the exercise.”
I am about to learn a new exercise called strangulation, but I take a deep breath. I decide to take a different tack. Because here’s the deal – if I don’t figure out how to get credit it won’t allow me to access my other workouts.
“How can I get out of this computer mode?”
“You can’t until you do the exercise.”
URG.
So, what did I do? I got on the Techno bike and RE-DID my exercise so the computer would feel better.
He came over and said. So did you figure it out?
AHHHHHHHH.
I felt like he thought I was stupid. I felt like the computer thought I was stupid and now my legs are like rubber because I did the exercise twice just to make the computer feel better. How stupid is that?
And guess what? I AM PAYING FOR THIS!
I am not a happy customer right now. I am not happy that I paid EXTRA for this computer support and I definitely don’t feel like I experienced good customer service. I limped out of there bordering between anger and tears over a stupid exercise.
How often do we follow the rules and policies to a tee and make our customers suffer the consequences? When we talk down to our customers, use company jargon, don’t listen carefully to the issue we run the risk of making our customers feel stupid. What customers wants to pay their HARD EARNED MONEY to feel stupid?
I was reading Leslie Ungar’s monthly newsletter from Electric Impulse Communications - always a great read but one of her Lessons this month really hit home:
Retail – In Person and Email
This particular boutique emails to me their monthly newsletter and sales announcements. I assume the purpose of Internet marketing is to create sales. I walked into the small store. One person was behind the desk, I was no more than five feet away and talking to her when she picked up the phone and called a vendor, totally ignoring my presence.
Lesson Learned: One way to create sales is to get people into the store. The marketing worked, I was there in person. Yet, a phone call appeared to be more important than engaging me in even trivial conversation. All the marketing in the world will not succeed if people do not transform prospects into buyers. It is not the job of the prospect to buy it is the job of the seller to sell. Are you taking advantage of face to face time to engage prospects and clients?
Here is a perfect example of marketing driving the traffic and a sales person dropping the ball. I used to have a franchisee who said to me “you bring them to the door and I’ll close them.”
That’s fine and good, but if the sales associates don’t understand the importance of those first 30 seconds, then you’ve missed the opportunity to make a difference. We only get one chance at a first impression and Leslie’s first impression clearly isn’t positive in this example.
Do your associates understand the value of a smile, eye contact and a quick hello.
In this case, the associate could have done both: greeted Leslie warmly and answered the phone. It isn’t an either/or proposition.
Does your marketing drive traffic?
How well do your associates handle that first make or break moment with the customer?
Read the First Comment 
I’m struggling to regain my composure. I have just been made to feel more stupid than dirt and it isn’t a feeling I enjoy.
