Posted by Deborah Chaddock Brown on December 16, 2009 under Customer Moments, Missed Moments, making a difference | 
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?
Posted by Deborah Chaddock Brown on October 20, 2008 under Connecting Moments, Employee Moments, First Impressions |
Do you put your best foot forward?
A couple of years ago, Norma Rist and I gave a presentation for the Women’s Network entitled Presenting Yourself for Success. Norma exhibited the “right” way and I…well, I didn’t. It was all in fun, but it was to represent a point – people make judgments about your ability to provide value long before you start talking.
When men attend a meeting they enter the room – shake a few hands, have a little easy banter conversation, come almost empty handed, sit in a prominent location and with very little fuss – are ready to participate (or dominate, as the personality dictates).
Women come with a briefcase, purse, drink, laptop, notepads, pencils, documents they’ve reviewed and set up camp.
Men come in, sit and are ready with almost no movements.
Women enter, fuss, fidget, set up house and after 7-10 movements are finally ready.
No one has spoken, and yet the men appear more confident and prepared because of the lack of fuss.
The woman is prepared for anything and yet because of all her gyrations – appears inadequate.
Now that may be a gross exaggeration, but the point remains – we send messages about our professionalism with our body language, our dress and our demeanor long before we open our mouth.
And then when we do speak -
How many of you women reading this have started to offer a comment by saying “This may sound silly…” or “I don’t know if this makes sense, but…” or “I hate to interrupt, but…”
So here are a few things to think about for creating a professional first impression when you attend a meeting based on the handout from the presentation that Norma and I prepared:
STEPPING UP IN BUSINESS
Etiquette in Corporate Meetings
Behavior
? How do you enter a room?
? Dress a little more professional than the dress code for the meeting
? Arrive early/Leave late
? Greeting/Shaking hands
? Voice – confidence
? Body Language – take up space
Communications
? Leave the disclaimers at home
? Learn the language – acronyms, sport analogies, business terms, industry jargon
? Forget the empty adjectives (i.e. terrible, marvelous, always, never)
? Be an active listener – look at who is speaking, all the time, every time
? Save your comments – wait until 80% of the conversation has taken place before offering one insightful comment
Safe Conversations
? Vacations you’ve taken or plan to take
? Sports – unless you root for the Steelers and you are at a Brown’s event
? Boats – trains – plans – automobiles
? Ask questions
Prepare in Advance
? Read all of the material sent in advance, then leave it at home
? If you don’t understand the material – get help before entering the meeting
? Watch other’s behavior for the example to follow
? Take care where you sit
What tips have you used to create a confident first impression? Take a moment to observe how people enter a room and participate in the next meeting you attend. Are you making judgments based on their non-verbal behavior?
Posted by Deborah Chaddock Brown on October 15, 2008 under Customer Moments, First Impressions, Perceptions |
I just went to the mailbox. A variety of political postcards, advertisements, two bills, a letter from my Dad and…..
WHAT?
THE I.R.S.????
“Oh my gawd. What could it be?”
I immediately rack my brain. What could it be? It doesn’t look like a check. Does the IRS send checks?
I hold it up to the light and my brain floods with stories I’ve heard from friends and colleagues: an unexpected audit, a dirty accountant that didn’t pay payroll taxes and the fall out, movies that I’ve seen. Oh what could it be?
Carefully, I open the flap. The page is folded over and the top cover sheet has a payment slip at the bottom. My eyes rake over the page for a dollar amount for afterall isn’t that what is most important? Let’s cut to the chase – I dont know what I did or what I forgot to pay but bottom line – how much do I owe?
No dollar amount is immediately visible.
I look at the second page.
A letter.
I take a deep breath.
“We are receipt of your request to update your 2007 filings with the social security number of your child.”
Oooooooooooooh.
It’s a thank you note.
It’s in response to something I initiated.
I’m not in trouble.
Whew.
Now -imagine if the mere mention of your company name, the visual of your logo or the sound of your voice invoked that knee-jerk response from your customers or employees.
Can you imagine?
What perceptions do our customers have of us? What is the first thought that enters their mind when they hear our name?
It is a heart stopping experience or one filled with happiness and warmth?
I just wondered.
Posted by Deborah Chaddock Brown on October 3, 2008 under Customer Moments, First Impressions, Interviewing Moments |
“This is probably a stupid idea but…”
“I don’t mean to interrupt, but…”
“This may sound silly but…”
Have you ever been in a meeting and opened your comment with one of those phrases? Steve Roesler of All Things Workplace talked about how we reduce our influence with just a few words.
Steve says “I’ve worked with literally hundreds of managers on their meetings and presentations over the years. Nothing makes me wince more than seeing someone who is confident in his material stand up and use words that undercut the power of the message.”
I’m embarrassed to say that I can remember using some of those same phrases when I was in the corporate world, especially when I was first promoted to Director of Operations. I sat in a room of mostly men, all with VP after their name and although I had an opinion, I hesitated to contribute without opening with an apology.
Sadly, by leading with one of those self-deprecating phrases, I was allowing others in the room to discount my contribution even before I spoke.
The same can be said when presenting to a customer. First impressions only happen once.
Have you used apologetic openings as a way of winning over the customer? “This will just take a second…” Steve says
“Whether you are standing up or seated at a conference table, people want you to lead with confidence. Not arrogance, but confidence. When you do something to apologize for your presence you diminish your presence.”
Our opening statement is our own “make or break moment” whether it is with a customer, in a meeting or with a new acquaintance.
How can you make the most of the opportunity?
- Take a deep breath, slowly exhale before speaking
- Remember that you offer value – don’t apologize for being
- Think through your opening comment BEFORE you open your mouth
- Offer your opinion or opening statement with confidence and a smile
What tips have you used to make the most of a first impression moment?
p.s. Thanks to Norma Rist who led me to Ann Handley who left a tweet leading me to Steve’s post. Whew. Talk about your roundabout journey.
Photo courtesy of Shaw University
Posted by Deborah Chaddock Brown on October 2, 2008 under Customer Moments, First Impressions |
Thanks to a Tweet from Small Biz Bee I learned of a post entitled One Simple Secret For Keeping Customer for Life. The idea is to treat each customer with the same enthusiasm and total attention that you gave your very first customer.
It is so true – whether you are selling a service or a widget – the very first time someone was willing to pay cash for what you offer was a high you’ll remember forever.
My first customer needed a sales letter. A simple task but I remember approaching it with the intensity and focus of a brain surgeon. I wanted to make sure everything was just perfect.
I wanted to make a difference. I wanted to exceed their expectations.
Small Biz Bee said something that really resonated with me when they wrote:
What’s old hat for you, is brand spanking new for them
Even though you’ve given the same sales pitch 1,000 times, or had hundreds of people shop your website and come into your store, the experience for the next customer is completely new. You only have one moment to capture them as a customer for life. If you aren’t into it, if your enthusiasm wanes for even a moment, you shortchange their experience and they likely will not be back. Conversely if you treat them as you did that first customer, you better believe they will be back and the beauty of it is they are going to tell all their friends about you too.
That’s just what I mean by make or break moments. By realizing that each customer is unique and therefore needs to be treated like our very first, we make the most of our first interaction. First impressions go a long way towards developing a relationship and ultimately building trust. People buy from those they like and trust.
Switch shoes for a moment.
Imagine if every place of business you entered treated YOU like their very first customer. How would that make you feel?
Check out this article by Michelle Sterling entitled First Impressions: Do You Make Your First Impression Your Best One?
If you treated every customer like your very first; what would that look like?
Posted by Deborah Chaddock Brown on September 30, 2008 under First Impressions, Telephone Moments |
Not to belabor the whole “make or break telephone moments” conversation but today Drew McLellan left a tweet that he’d called a company and got a human. He said:
Just called a company — was surprised to hear a human answer the phone. That’s how rare it is today.
Wayne Hurlbert responded back saying:
Being rare also shows what a powerful customer service & PR idea it is to have a real person at your biz first contact points
When did humans become rare? I can remember being in high school, or it might have been when I worked at the telephone company on the cord board (dating myself, I know) and the girls would comment that someday “robots” would do what we do. We’d all scoff and laugh it off and yet…how many companies have the automated voice answering service that segments the calls.
I have even called residential phone numbers and the computer voice says “press one to leave a message for Mom and 2 for Dad.”
WHAT??
If the telephone is our first opportunity to establish a relationship with a customer – do we really want that impression to be a long laundry list of options – none of which lead you to a person?
If WE don’t like calling a company and hearing the automated options, what makes us think our customers do?
How can we make that first impression a memorable one. Memorable in a good way?
Posted by Deborah Chaddock Brown on September 22, 2008 under First Impressions, Non Verbal Moments |
The stars were on parade at the Emmy’s last night – each having their Make or Break Moment live on the red carpet as paparazzi snapped and interviewers grabbed the most famous of the famous for a 30 second sound bite.
Make or break moments can happen even before you open your mouth. So often we make assumptions about people based on their dress. Remember Bjork and the famous swan dress?
As a speaker, a rule of thumb is to dress one step up from the dress code of your audience. When I was still working for Cole National/Pearle Vision, we were acquired by Luxottica Corporation/Lenscrafters. As a home office employee going through the long drawn out process of being sold, the dress code had been down graded from business to business casual to “whatever the hell you want.” Most of us wore t-shirts and jeans.
The day after the purchase was final, the Luxottica officials were scheduled to come and meet with the department heads, directors and vice presidents. The Lux people had done their research and were familiar with our lack of dress code. Following the “dress one step up” rule, they arrived in polo shirts and Dockers expecting to address an audience in jean chic.
However, in an unspoken gesture of solidarity, without exception, the Cole/Pearle managers arrived in full on dress mode. We all dusted off our two and three piece suits, spit shined our infrequently worn dress shoes and even took a shower. We knew that the first impression would be critical if we wanted to continue as a valuable asset to the company.
After greeting the audience, the clearly uncomfortable Lux leaders joked that they had wanted to fit in by dressing in a business casual mode and were surprised by our formal dress.
“We’re here for a week,” the president said “and we’ve only packed business casual clothes, so could you please go back to your normal fashion of wearing jeans?”
The point was – without us saying a word – our dress had set the tone; had raised us up in their estimation.
Isn’t the same true for you with your customers? What does your fashion sense say about you to your customer? Do you project an image of cleanliness, professionalism and authority? Or have you just thrown on your most comfortable clothes hoping that WHAT you say will be valued above HOW you look?
CNN offers an article on how to dress for success.
Interested in helping others make a statement? Check out Dress for Success a charitable organization that provides business attire for those in need.
Meagan Francis offers a guide to creating a Dress Code for your Associates.
Finally, in the background of the above picture of the lovely Felicity Huffman, check out this guy. Don’t you wonder what impression he was striving for?
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:
