Pamper Your Customers

BursaSnipers

Publish date: Sat, 08 Sep 2018, 01:42 PM

9 According to Dialog Direct’s Customer Rage study, the No. 1 phrase that makes everyone crazy is this doozy: “Your call is very important to us. Please continue to wait on hold.”

That’s from Jeanne Bliss, author of “Would You Do that To Your Mother? The ‘Make Mom Proud’ Standard for How to Treat Your Customers.” Bliss is a co-founder of the Customer Experience Professionals Association.

Bliss notes that 56% of respondents in Microsoft’sMSFT 2017 State of Global Customer Service report have ceased doing business with a brand because of poor service experiences.

Today’s challenges extend to salespeople too. Brian Signorelli, author of “Inbound Selling: How to Change the Way You Sell to Match How People Buy,” says only 50% of reps hit their quota. And it takes twice the number of attempts to connect with a prospect as it did 10 years ago, he adds.

“If you want to succeed in a world where buyers are more informed and empowered than ever,” due to the internet, “you’ll need to change the way you sell to match how people buy,” said Signorelli, who is also director of HubSpot’s Global Sales Partner Program.

Tips on remaking the customer experience in the self-service age:

Humanize connections. Modern sales representatives must “personalize, personalize, personalize,” Signorelli said.

“What really matters the most,” he emphasized, is “having an open and genuine conversation with someone. Ditch the script. It’ll reframe how you think and behave in every conversation, for the better.”

Demonstrate your worth. If a salesperson “cannot provide insight or information that a prospect could otherwise find on their own, they have no reason to speak with you,” Signorelli said. “Period.”

Data from marketing firm Corporate Visions shows that 74% of buyers choose the sales rep that was first to add value.

“Pay close attention to what your prospects share with you,” Signorelli said. “And use this insight to your advantage.”

Pounce on opportunities. When today’s internet-savvy buyer actually wants to speak with a sales rep, “they want to speak right then and there, not wait for a callback, Signorelli said.

This is so important that the business responding to a buyer’s inquiry first ends up winning the customer’s business 35% to 50% of the time, Signorelli says. “The best sellers leverage technology to engage buyers quickly through the buyer’s preferred communication channel.”

Bliss adds that 77% of global consumers think more favorably of a company when they receive proactive alerts and notifications from it.

Seek caring employees. Know the human behind the resume. Why? Because they are the ones most in contact with your customers.

Bliss points out that companies such as Southwest AirlinesLUV spend significant time with candidates to know their life priorities.

Be there. Bliss cites PetSmart’sPETM http://bit.ly/2Mc4Eat. It provides 24/7 service by person, chat or email. “Service is delivered from people who care and who know the answers,” Bliss said. Chewy’s sale are now “over $2 billion a year, up from $26 million in 2012.”

Bliss suggests evaluating how long you put customers on hold and rethinking the concept of work hours. “Are you working on customer time, or company time?”

“Failure to empathize or take the customer’s situation seriously is one of the most-cited reasons for customers to walk away from a company,” she added.

Give to get. Lemonade Insurance wanted to remove the imbalance that sometimes defines the insurance experience, Bliss says. So its claims process includes an honesty pledge — by which it chooses to believe customers’ words

Bliss advises that you complete a customer trust review. “Look at all your paperwork — is there any fine print that reads like it was written to protect you from customers?”

And move your people from being “ ‘policy cops’ to people able to honor customers,” she said.

Telegram me: Bursa Snipers Weekly

Discussions

Be the first to like this. Showing 0 of 0 comments

Featured Posts

MQ Trader

Introducing MY's First IPO Fund for Sophisticated Investors!

MQ Chat

New Update. Discover investment communities that resonate with your ideas

MQ Trader

M & A Value Partners IPO Equity Fund has been launched - Targeted 13% Return p.a

Latest Videos