2 minute read
Send customers away empty-handed86
by iKnow
86
SEND CUSTOMERS AWAY EMPTY-HANDED
Advertisement
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 fi nancial 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.
The idea Small businesses owners are personally responsible for their organisations’ reputations and we can learn from the way they treat their customers.
One of the busiest little companies I know is PCS, a computer repair shop near my home. The fi rst time I went there I asked to buy a new wireless router. Instead of asking me, “This one or that one?” Panos, the owner, asked me “What’s not working?” Then he explained that if I tried a few things I’d probably be fi ne with the one I already owned. He was right since then I’ve been back for everything I need to keep my home offi ce going. Hermitage Oils’ online store keeps an amazing range of rare perfumery materials. I ordered a basket full of obscure items like opoponax and goji berry absolutes for my personal perfume project. With my order confi rmation, I also got an email from the owner, Adam Michael. He just wanted to warn me that the seaweed absolute I’d ordered was really diffi cult to work with and to check, before he took my money, that I was sure about it. I went ahead but I was grateful to him for pointing this out and it made me happy to shop there again.
In practice • Individuals working for large organisations don’t always think about their brands’ reputations, but every relationship between one customer and one member of staff makes a difference. Your staff need to know that they are an important part of your organisation, and to understand their own part in infl uencing the way the outside world sees your brand. • You can judge your fi nancial targets and achievements in parallel with the Net Promoter Score, to measure the numbers of customers who go away unhappy. • Think like a small business. If you were the owner and the personal relationships between the organisation and the customers were down to you, would you behave better?