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Issue #48 ~ March 9, 2010 Printer friendly PDF file
How to Lose Your Customers
By Scott Gillespie
Have you ever been so busy that you wonder if things are slipping through the cracks? Or worse yet, you know that they probably are, but don’t even know what those things might be?
Could those “things” be your customers?
It can go the other way, too. Sometimes it may be so slow that you lose your focus on the customer because it’s shifted to your quotas and cash flow. You need to keep the lights on, the doors open and food on your table. You may have employees or co-workers that want some food on their tables, too. This added pressure can further tunnel your vision away from your customers and onto your bottom line.
Whether you are experiencing major growth where your cup runneth over, or business is so slow that you’re tempted to hang out on the corner with a cardboard sign in one hand and your cup extended out in the other, never lose site of the service you provide to your customers.
It may be funny to joke that if it weren’t for all those customers, you sure could get a lot more work done! But at the beginning of the day, during the middle of the day and at the end of the day, cash flow is the byproduct of the customers you serve. With that in mind, let’s take a look at a couple of traps that we can easily fall into when we lose focus on our customers.
The first trap is an easy one to fall prey to, especially if you only have a handful of products or services that you sell. Let’s call this trap “comfortably numb.” It is a result of doing the same thing over and over and over and over. Then when you’re done, you do it some more. You’ve explained the features and benefits hundreds of times to hundreds of customers and it gets monotonous and boring.
(Psssst! Every time is the FIRST time for each of your customers.)
Need I say more? Probably not, but I will. You see, no matter how many times you pitch your product or service, whether it’s once a day or ten times an hour, you need to deliver it every time with the same vigor, excitement and passion that you did when you first started. Passion, and lack thereof, is quickly sensed by your customers. Passion = confidence. It’s not only your confidence in your product or service, but your customer’s confidence in your ability to deliver on what they need.
How do you keep from falling into this trap? It takes a consistent, conscious effort. It is a quick, mental reminder just before you greet your customer that you are going to commit to nothing less than a 100% effort each time you ask how you may serve.
A second trap you can fall into is forgetting the little guy. You have all these customers - some big, some small - and only so much time in a day to serve them. Let’s call this trap, “David and Goliath.” In this trap, the little guy can kill the big business.
This trap can be best described through a conversation I recently had with a good friend of mine, Jeff Brandt. Jeff is a Farm Bureau agent and is a model of customer service and business integrity. In a previous life, Jeff was the friendly Schwan’s guy that delivered great food right to your doorstep. It was during this life that Jeff learned a very valuable lesson related to this trap. He shared this story with me and was gracious enough to allow me to share it with you. He definitely learned his lesson and his story may just keep you from learning yours the hard way.
As Jeff’s delivery route and business grew, it became more and more challenging to make it to all of his stops on a consistent basis. There was one particular customer that was a good distance out of the way from his established route. She wasn’t really a big customer; he literally made only a few cents on each delivery to her. One day, his route was running unusually long and it was getting pretty late at night. Since she typically only bought a half-gallon of ice cream, he thought she probably wouldn’t miss him, so he skipped her that week.
Huge mistake. That one little customer was related to, or friends with, several of his other customers on that particular route. Some of them were pretty significant accounts. Key word here is “were.” The next time through on that route, many of them told him that if he couldn’t stop at her place, to never mind coming back to see them either. OUCH!! A little harsh? Maybe. Lesson learned? Definitely!
Flash forward to today and I challenge you to find anyone, in any industry, more committed to serving his customers - ALL of his customers - than Jeff. But his story vividly paints the picture how one little customer (David) can bring a successful business (Goliath) down in size. Thanks again Jeff for sharing this with us!
These are just a couple of traps that you can fall into that will cost you customers and hamstring your ability to reach your quotas, goals and cash flow needs. If you have a story or example of another crippling trap, I’d love to hear about it and possibly share it with the other friends of Selling U in a future newsletter. Simply click on Yes or No below to let me know if you liked this article, write about your trap in the comments box and click Submit.
Now, Go Get ‘Em! (er, Go Serve ‘Em!)
By Scott Gillespie
Have you ever been so busy that you wonder if things are slipping through the cracks? Or worse yet, you know that they probably are, but don’t even know what those things might be?
Could those “things” be your customers?
It can go the other way, too. Sometimes it may be so slow that you lose your focus on the customer because it’s shifted to your quotas and cash flow. You need to keep the lights on, the doors open and food on your table. You may have employees or co-workers that want some food on their tables, too. This added pressure can further tunnel your vision away from your customers and onto your bottom line.
Whether you are experiencing major growth where your cup runneth over, or business is so slow that you’re tempted to hang out on the corner with a cardboard sign in one hand and your cup extended out in the other, never lose site of the service you provide to your customers.
It may be funny to joke that if it weren’t for all those customers, you sure could get a lot more work done! But at the beginning of the day, during the middle of the day and at the end of the day, cash flow is the byproduct of the customers you serve. With that in mind, let’s take a look at a couple of traps that we can easily fall into when we lose focus on our customers.
The first trap is an easy one to fall prey to, especially if you only have a handful of products or services that you sell. Let’s call this trap “comfortably numb.” It is a result of doing the same thing over and over and over and over. Then when you’re done, you do it some more. You’ve explained the features and benefits hundreds of times to hundreds of customers and it gets monotonous and boring.
(Psssst! Every time is the FIRST time for each of your customers.)
Need I say more? Probably not, but I will. You see, no matter how many times you pitch your product or service, whether it’s once a day or ten times an hour, you need to deliver it every time with the same vigor, excitement and passion that you did when you first started. Passion, and lack thereof, is quickly sensed by your customers. Passion = confidence. It’s not only your confidence in your product or service, but your customer’s confidence in your ability to deliver on what they need.
How do you keep from falling into this trap? It takes a consistent, conscious effort. It is a quick, mental reminder just before you greet your customer that you are going to commit to nothing less than a 100% effort each time you ask how you may serve.
A second trap you can fall into is forgetting the little guy. You have all these customers - some big, some small - and only so much time in a day to serve them. Let’s call this trap, “David and Goliath.” In this trap, the little guy can kill the big business.
This trap can be best described through a conversation I recently had with a good friend of mine, Jeff Brandt. Jeff is a Farm Bureau agent and is a model of customer service and business integrity. In a previous life, Jeff was the friendly Schwan’s guy that delivered great food right to your doorstep. It was during this life that Jeff learned a very valuable lesson related to this trap. He shared this story with me and was gracious enough to allow me to share it with you. He definitely learned his lesson and his story may just keep you from learning yours the hard way.
As Jeff’s delivery route and business grew, it became more and more challenging to make it to all of his stops on a consistent basis. There was one particular customer that was a good distance out of the way from his established route. She wasn’t really a big customer; he literally made only a few cents on each delivery to her. One day, his route was running unusually long and it was getting pretty late at night. Since she typically only bought a half-gallon of ice cream, he thought she probably wouldn’t miss him, so he skipped her that week.
Huge mistake. That one little customer was related to, or friends with, several of his other customers on that particular route. Some of them were pretty significant accounts. Key word here is “were.” The next time through on that route, many of them told him that if he couldn’t stop at her place, to never mind coming back to see them either. OUCH!! A little harsh? Maybe. Lesson learned? Definitely!
Flash forward to today and I challenge you to find anyone, in any industry, more committed to serving his customers - ALL of his customers - than Jeff. But his story vividly paints the picture how one little customer (David) can bring a successful business (Goliath) down in size. Thanks again Jeff for sharing this with us!
These are just a couple of traps that you can fall into that will cost you customers and hamstring your ability to reach your quotas, goals and cash flow needs. If you have a story or example of another crippling trap, I’d love to hear about it and possibly share it with the other friends of Selling U in a future newsletter. Simply click on Yes or No below to let me know if you liked this article, write about your trap in the comments box and click Submit.
Now, Go Get ‘Em! (er, Go Serve ‘Em!)