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SEND CUSTOMERS AWAY EMPTY-HANDED
This is an exception, not a rule – you don’t want to go out of business – but good brands are built on honesty. Give your customers a choice, and if you don’t have what they need, send them to where they can get it. There are brands with terrible reputations for hard selling; once they’ve got someone’s attention they won’t let go until they’ve made the sale, closed the deal and probably “upsold”, talked the customer into buying more than they originally intended. One problem salespeople have is that they’re set short-term financial targets and are put under pressure to meet them. Their managers have their own targets and so the directors, each one expected to perform to standard. But if you push too hard when you’re selling, you’ll end up not only having customers warning their friends to stay away from you, they’ll report you to the press, your industry watchdogs and Trading Standards.
180 • 100 GREAT BRANDING IDEAS
100 Great Branding Ideas 14dec.indd 180
12/14/11 11:14 AM
