The title for this two-part post is a quote borrowed from Roger Staubach. If you’re not an NFL football fan, he was the guy who quarterbacked the Dallas Cowboys from 1969-1979, and was MVP of Super Bowl VI in 1972.  You might think it strange for a football player to pen a quote like this, but it makes more sense when you learn that following his NFL career he founded The Staubach Company, a super-successful commercial real estate firm in north Texas.

No Traffic JamsIf you have been in sales for any length of time, I’m sure you have seen the following statistics more than once. They outline the reasons businesses lose customers:

1%   Die

3%   Move away

5%   Form other relationships

9%   Leave for competitive reasons

14% Quit due to product dissatisfaction

68% Stop buying your product/service due to an attitude or feeling of indifference displayed by one or more persons representing your company.

You don’t have to go too far in America today to begin to hear plenty of these customer service horror stories. When they emerge salespeople often attribute the indifference to service and/or admin employees at their companies. They take the position that once a job is sold and the handoff is made to the service folks, any unhappiness that occurs must be a result of mishandling by techs or admin employees.

This is a big mistake, since the sales team must continue to provide positive care and feeding to those whom they have sold. To that end, parts I & II of this post will provide a list of ten suggestions to help you continually “touch” customers, in order to keep them satisfied and nudge them toward becoming goodwill ambassadors who will stay on board for years; buy more of your stuff down the road, and provide referrals and testimonials to help you enlarge your footprint in the marketplace.

  1. Send thank you notes – Most companies have some method in place for thanking new customers, but there a couple of caveats you should consider to insure these are über-effective. One is to send them periodically each year, rather than only one on the day after the sale is made. This insures that your customers know they are continually on your radar screen. The second caveat is to make them more personal than professional, and the way to accomplish this is by sending handwritten notes. At my house handwritten mail ALWAYS gets opened first!
  2. Conduct an initial post-installation face-to-face visit to insure satisfaction – New customers are typically fearful that after signing the dotted line they won’t see their rep again. They will be blown away when you follow-up in person and verify that every facet of what you sold was delivered, completed/installed properly, resulting in a smiling customer. When you care, they won’t despair!
  3. Secure cell #’s/email addresses and provide 3 business cards – People are extremely mobile in today’s society, so your contact information should be too. I continually rotate between two residences/offices nearly 300 miles apart, while operating my coaching/training business; but am easily reached day and night by cell phone, text, email, and website. Heck, I’ve even picked up new customers as a result of being ‘friends” with others on Facebook.

When it comes to business cards, I’ve touted my 3-card technique before. Very simply, you’ll get more mileage from your cards if you provide three to each customer and explain why. Tell them to keep one for themselves and then get them to promise NOT to throw the other two away, but rather commit to give them to friends or family members who may need to talk to you.

  1. Introduce customers to your company’s social media (website, Facebook, blog, etc.) – The best way to insure customers feel a part of your corporate “family” is to connect them to any and all availablesocial media. This way they will continually be “touched” electronically, supplementing the other contacting methods you use. This vicarious involvement will make it less likely for them to leave your firm or be stolen away by an aggressive competitor.
  2. Notify customers of your ongoing follow-up – Certainly your company has protocol in place for subsequent contact with customers. Whether this is quarterly quality assurance checks or some sort of seasonal or annual inspection; it’s a good idea to tell the new customer what you will do and when you will do it when they come on board. From the customer’s perspective, it’s much more comforting to hear you lay out your scheduled plan, than to hear you say, “Call us if you need anything.”

Sales Coaching and Traffic
How about sharing a customer service secret that has helped you keep clients happy and satisfied? Use the Speak Your Mind area below and share the wealth.

I know you know lots of people who need a positive, informational blast each week to help jump start their creative juices. Why not share Selling Points (this blog) with them by forwarding this post? I thank you in advance and they will eventually thank you. Oh, by the way, you can also access all the past posts here.

©2014 Robinson Training Solutions, LLC