Building a Strong Customer Relationship</h1> <article> <h1>Building a Strong Customer Relationship</h1> <p>MySolutionSpot Editor — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 03:39:22 GMT</p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;">There are many strategies on how you can provide customer satisfaction and keep your customers coming back for more. This is the reason why in almost every department store and supermarket, you will find a customer relations counter that specifically caters to the needs and concerns of the customers. But have you even thought of building customer relationships that goes beyond just providing customers with quality products and an after service feature?<br /><br />Well, in today's world, it is important to build these kinds of relationships because it will provide you with an edge that your competitors do not have. And you should also note that countless competitors can offer similar products or service that is currently in your product line. In fact, they can even provide cheaper prices for the same quality in some cases. In this case, having customer loyalty through building strong relationships with them is essential for you to survive. Here are some tips that will enable you to succeed in this endeavor.<br /><br />1. Be there personally<br /><br />Everyone wants to feel special and your customers are no different. So it is recommended for you to provide the personal touch that will let your customers know that you know about their needs and you care about their satisfaction. You can even let your customers feel the personal touch by answering your phone call personally and always being friendly on the phone even if you're already tired.<br /><br />2. Exceed their expectations<br /><br />You might have heard about this tip before and it is inevitable that you will hear it again because exceeding customer expectation is one of the best ways to build loyalty and establish good relationships with them. This can even be used as a promotional tool because customers who are satisfied are likely to tell their friends and family about your product or service.<br /><br />3. Show emotion<br /><br />This tip is somehow related to the first tip but each is unique in its approach. Showing emotions such as concern and understanding to your customers will enable them to feel that their opinion does matter to you. Of course, their opinion really does matter but showing them that it does will create the kind of relationship you seek.<br /><br />4. Always say thanks<br /><br />This tip may sound simple but it is powerful. Letting your customers know that they are greatly appreciated would mean a lot to them so be generous with your thank you. You might be surprised by the result. <br /><br />The truth is though, these tips are the kinds of courtesies that you must show to everyone but when you apply it to the business setting, you can expect to reap a lot of rewards from this endeavor simply because your customers will feel that they are treated as humans and not just a part of your business.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;"><a href="http://www.articlesinsight.com/">Article Source</a>: <a href="http://www.articlesinsight.com/">http://www.articlesinsight.com</a></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><strong><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;">Obinna Heche. Los Angeles - California</span></strong><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;"> Delivering the best home based business ideas and opportunities so you can work at home successfully.. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.homeincomeportal.com/obhmy365/">www.homeincomeportal.com/obhmy365/</a></span></p> </article> <article> <h1>Practice Online? Not Yet, Say Most Docs</h1> <p>MySolutionSpot Editor — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 14:37:23 GMT</p> <p><b>Waiting rooms for doctors are not going away.</b></p> <p>Virtually all US physicians go online for professional information, and 83% of these physicians say the Internet is essential to their practice,</p> <table align="top" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"> <tr> <td> according to <a target="_blank" href="http://www.manhattanresearch.com/">Manhattan Research</a>'s latest "Taking the Pulse: US Physician Market Trends" report. <br /><br />The research company also said the rise of online physician communities created opportunities for pharmaceutical and healthcare marketers to learn about physician opinions and concerns.<br /><br />Although doctors go online to research and communicate with each other, physicians who communicate with their patients online are in the minority—nearly two-thirds of responding physicians said they did not do so, with the primary reason being concerns about liability. </td> <td> </td> </tr> </table> <p>For their part, US adult Internet users are ready to use a range of doctor-provided online tools and services, according to <a target="_blank" href="http://www.deloitte.com/">Deloitte</a>. In fact, more than one-quarter of respondents said they would be willing to pay extra in order to get same-day appointments and electronic access to medical records and test results.</p> <p align="center"></p> <p>Patients preferred getting advice and information from their doctors rather than other sources. More than three-quarters of US adult Internet users surveyed by <a target="_blank" href="http://www.opinionresearch.com/">Opinion Research Corporation</a> for <a target="_blank" href="http://www.icrossing.com/">iCrossing</a> rated their primary care physician as a trusted source of health and wellness information. That was more than any other source, including the Internet. </p> <p align="center"></p> <p>The eMarketer Pharmaceutical Marketing Online report will be published in the fall. <a target="_blank" href="http://totalaccess.emarketer.com/ReportNotification.aspx?src=report_notification_reports=blank">Click here</a> to be notified when it is released.<br /><br /><b>Article Source</b>: www.emarketer.com</p><div style="clear:both;"></div> </article> <article> <h1>15 Creative and Profitable Ways to Use Autoresponders</h1> <p>MySolutionSpot Editor — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 16:16:23 GMT</p> <p>An interested visitor who has been strolling through your site has finally come to just what she is looking for and is about to make a purchase. It's a sunny afternoon, and her cat, which happens to be sitting on the moss under the visitor's large fifty-year-old snow-rose bonsai tree, suddenly jumps down, and the priceless tree, topples over.<br /><br />In the blink of an eye, your visitor exits your site, and your sale is dust - unless you have had the foresight to utilize an autoresponder that has captured her email address. If you have installed an autoresponder, you can then follow-up with her, and in all probability, make the sale when the poor woman has finished repotting her precious bonsai.<br /><br />Autoresponders are remarkable, versatile programs that do so much more than just automatically answer your email. Here are a few ideas that will help you to creatively and productively use your autoresponder to transform the casual visitor into a profitable customer. Use your autoresponder to:<br /><br />1. Publish a newsletter. Certain quality auto responders will manage subscriptions and follow-up with interested prospects. Your newsletter can keep your visitors informed about your services or products, while building your reputation as a credible expert in your particular business.<br /><br />2. Publish a newsletter only for your affiliates. Inform them of current sales you are running and of promotional material that your affiliates can use themselves to increase their commissions. Include tips, advice, and techniques that your affiliates can use to successfully go out and promote your business.<br /><br />3. Write reviews. Cover books, software, music, e-books, movies, etc., and put each review in an auto responder. Review your affiliate programs, using a link to your affiliate's page in your auto responder.<br /><br />4. Distribute your articles. Writing and distributing targeted articles is a powerful tool to build your business credibility, bring traffic to your site, and increase your sales potential. If your articles contain valuable information, many editors will print what is known as a resource box for you. A resource box contains your bio and a brief description of your service or product. It can also contain your autoresponder address. Let's say you've written fifty articles. Put them on separate autoresponder accounts and create a master list that contains the titles of each article, the autoresponder address, and a brief abstract. Then promote your master list. Additionally, include your publishing guidelines so your affiliates can add their articles to your list, increasing the number of writers who are represented in your article list.<br /><br />5. Create mailing lists. Inform subscribers to your articles when you've written new ones that they may want to publish in their own newsletter or website.<br /><br />6. Automate your sales process. Use an ad to insure repeated exposure of your message, which has been proven to effectively increase sales. In your ad, put your autoresponder address where a visitor will be exposed to numerous marketing materials. This multiplies the chances of converting visitors into customers. For example, if you're selling a particular product, put testimonials about how spectacular it is on your auto responder, and add a detailed, enticing description of your product.<br /><br />7. Distribute advertising. Let's say you sell advertising on your website or in your newsletter or e-zine. Set your autoresponder to send the information about rates and how to place an ad automatically to all prospects' email addresses. Then have your autoresponder follow-up. It can also send notification of any special deals you are currently offering.<br /><br />8. Distribute an email course. Each day, have your auto responder send out another lesson. Just be sure that each lesson has quality content - not a sales pitch. Your content will do the selling for you, and will do it much more effectively. You can include tips centered on a different topic for each lesson, illustrating how your product will benefit the reader. Include the tangible benefits the visitor will reap by purchasing your product. Make sure to include a paragraph or two at the end of each lesson enticing your prospect to consider making a purchase.<br /><br />9. Automate a reminder about your service or product after a visitor has completed your course. This will increase the possibility of sales from visitors who have taken your course but are dragging their feet about actually making a purchase. You can also use these reminders to promote new products or services, and the products and services of your affiliate programs.<br /><br />10. Distribute free reports. This gives your visitor an idea of the type of information you can provide and the quality of your product or service. Make sure these reports are not sales letters or you will more than likely lose a potential customer than gain a sale.<br /><br />11. Create trivia quizzes on your site and place the answers in an autoresponder. Your visitor will then be motivated to request your autoresponder, and you will have a record of the visitors' email addresses who took your quiz. Or create a contest and have any visitors that enter send their responses to your autoresponder. Your autoresponder can be set-up to send them a confirmation of their entry.<br /><br />12. Offer a trial version of your product. Give your prospects a sample of your e-book, course, software, membership, etc. People who are exposed to a little taste often end up wanting the whole pie. You can also capture their email addresses when you offer them a free trial from your website. Set up your auto responder to give instructions on how to obtain their free trial, and then make sure to follow-up to try and close the sale.<br /><br />13. Link to hidden pages on your autoresponder. For example, a hidden page could be your affiliate page that contains graphics, promotional articles, and text links that interested affiliates can make use of. Inform visitors that they may have free access to your affiliate page by simply requesting your autoresponder. You will then gather a list of visitors who may be interested in becoming your affiliates.<br /><br />14. Use an autoresponder on your order page. Post a request form for visitors to be notified of special offers or discounts in the future. This creates a very effective mailing list that contains the names of people who are already your customers.<br /><br />15. Put your links page on your autoresponder. It should contain up to fifty links that would be of particular interest to your visitors. Make sure to add your own promotional copy at the top or bottom of this page.<br /><br />Now that you have proof that auto responders can be used creatively, see if you can come up with some brilliant ideas of your own<br /></p><div style="clear:both;"></div> </article> <article> <h1>Four Tips to Make the Most of Online Communications</h1> <p>Deborah Garry — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 20:24:27 GMT</p> <p>There are two thoughts that appeared on the marketing landscape this year that, I have to admit, make me chuckle.<br /><br /><br />One says that email is dead. The other heralds the birth (or return) of Word-of-Mouth Advertising.<br /><br /><br />I was highly surprised to hear that email is dead as a communications or marketing tool because nobody told me. Nor did they tell all my business contacts, vendors, clients, associates, and would-be vendors who routinely communicate with me or market to me on a daily basis.<br /><br /><br />IN DAY-TO-DAY BUSINESS LIFE AND ON THE DIRECT MARKETING LANDSCAPE, email is as strong as ever. If you want more proof than what’s in your in-box, take a look at DoubleClick, ExactTarget , and Habeas, all of whom have released studies over the past month or so testifying to the overall strength of email. All show customers are quite comfortable buying through email and feel comfortable receiving email — as long as they have granted their permission and the companies are ones they know and trust. In fact, across the board, consumers prefer email when dealing with businesses for most communications. Not even college students see that changing any time in the near future.<br /><br /><br />Why are these false alarms proclaiming the death of email appearing? Because new communication channels are emerging rapidly. Although email is currently the established technology for outbound digital messaging, more are appearing on the scene at great speed, adding even more complexity to direct marketing. Since 2000, there has been an explosion of new communication tools to add to the one-to-one marketers toolbox.<br /><br /><br />The challenge to marketers is to evaluate and discern the role each tool should play within a balanced, integrated plan. To further complicate things, customers use different sets of tools for communication, and they use those tools differently depending upon varying factors. And those preferences don’t always line up in neat categories alongside traditional data points like age, income, or zip code.<br /><br /><br />What’s an E-Marketer to do? Start Listening!<br />So what would your marketing program look like if you really listened to your customers? How do they share about deals they know are a good value and want to pass along? Or promotions? What about new products and services? Industry news? Or customer service alerts? Do they only use email? Or text? Or podcasts? Or the phone? Most likely they will want to receive communications differently, depending upon topic, content, and other factors. To listen to our consumers means that we need to commit to understanding and meeting how they wish to be contacted and communicated with. Here are integral issues to ask your customers about:<br /><br /><br />1. Permission. Do your consumers want to hear from you at all? Are you a "friend"? We need to understand this at a very base level, but then go deeper as well. How “close” of a friend are you? How can you deepen the relationship? Hint: be a friend by offering something of value with no strings attached.<br />2. Type of communication by channel. How do they want to receive promotions? What about account statements or product alerts? They may want certain types of communications to arrive by text, others by email, and some even by direct “snail mail”. Ask them.<br />3. Frequency. How often is too often? Again, this will vary by customer and by channel. They may want email once a week, direct mail quarterly, podcasts downloadable at their convenience, and text messaging — only in emergencies!<br />4. Content. "Opting-in" should give your customers a chance to tell you what they want and don’t want, and when, not just be an on/off switch. Don’t assume that one channel will work for them.<br /><br /><br />I am happy to report email is certainly not dead, but it is far from being the only communications channel either. Pay attention to your customer’s preferences, or someone else will.<br /><br />This is critically important because Word-of-Mouth is popular again. Personally, I doubt that anyone in any local/regional business community ever seriously thought it went away. But we have moved light years from the time when mass marketing and broadcast media were our only options, and word-of-mouth spread only to people our customers actually spoke to.<br />Prospective and existing customers we communicate with want to have more control, they want to provide input into our programs, and they use all these communication channels to tell their friends, acquaintances, colleagues, and complete strangers what they think of us — in seconds. So, build the tools to listen now and reap the rewards for years to come.<br /><br />Deborah Garry is president of BBG&G, a full service advertising, marketing, and public relations agency servicing a wide range of local and regional clients from healthcare and financial services to B2B, tourism destination, and franchise promotion industries. She can be reached at smartstrategies@bbggadv.com</p><div style="clear:both;"></div> </article> <article> <h1>The Stairs of Customer Loyalty</h1> <p>MySolutionSpot Editor — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 03:39:17 GMT</p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;">Many companies follow the same formulas for bringing them closer to what they think their customers really want. Concepts like "customer focus" and "customer satisfaction" are warmly embraced. Today, who isn't focusing on satisfying customers?<br /><br />However, in today's ultra-competitive marketplace, if you're doing what everybody else is, you'll never get to where you want to be. It is incumbent for companies to set themselves apart from the rest of the competition. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;">If your company is going to be a leader in your market, you are going to have to really practice things like "customer intimacy", "customer interaction", "customer loyalty" and perhaps more important - "customer partnership". <br /><br /><b>Partnership is a single-thread relationship.</b> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;">It is being "one." Such a relationship is built upon a mutually agreed-upon plan that reflects the nature and needs of all parties involved. This is not a re-wording of old terminology or a re-defining of the same, tired concepts of "sales and service". Instead, it is a paradigm shift, moving away from transactional customer satisfaction and towards permanent customer loyalty.<br /><br />In order to achieve success in the New Economy, your company must develop the needed skills to develop long-term relationships with their best customers. Too often, however, the constant push to increase sales and market share leads companies away from their current customers and, instead, towards finding new ones. Such a strategy is a terrible waste of time and money. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;">The most effective way to assure the growth in profitability that every company wants is to turn their already-existing customers into "apostles". <br /><br />For far too many companies today, the overriding focus of their growth strategy is on increasing sales and market share. This is eerily similar to what I experienced when I was working my way through college selling cookware door to door. As a beginning salesperson, I naively believed the best way for me to make more money was to make more sales. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;">The foolish dedication to this premise led me to ignore my past customers in favor of always finding new ones. It was only afterwards, when I found myself working harder than ever before and making less money for the time I invested, that I realized my strategy was wrong. Unfortunately, many companies today are acting and thinking like I did over thirty years ago. They dedicate far more of their resources to expanding sales at the expense of their already existing clientele.<br /><br />Since 1974, while working with some of the smartest and most successful companies across America, I have learned that the ability to convert new sales into "apostles" for the company is the best path towards stable, long-term growth. Moreover, I have recognized which skills are needed to accomplish this task. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;">The stairs of customer loyalty is the process which, in a simple, straightforward manner, shows you how to convert your prospects into sales, and then to customers, and finally, into apostles, who are a group of raving fans who will "preach your message" and "sing your praises" to the marketplace.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;">Finding the Right Prospects and Avoiding the Wrong Prospects</span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;">Possessing the right marketing skills is crucial in properly identifying the right kinds of prospects for a company. Smart companies accomplish this responsibility by profiling the top twenty percent of their current customers who typically provide eighty percent of their profits. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;">Criteria like profitability, frequency of purchase, after-sales service required, revenue, and loyalty potential are quantified and used as measuring devices in determining the most important characteristics of a company's best, most potentially loyal customers.<br /><br />Looking for new business is very expensive. Therefore, companies need to avoid the wrong kinds of prospects for them. Just as it is critical in distinguishing the attributes of the right prospects, a company needs to outline the characteristics that make-up the bottom twenty percent of their customer base. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;">Anybody in business can easily recognize whom the complainers, price-grinders, and transaction-oriented clients are. By clearly understanding the bad traits of those bottom twenty-percent, companies can much easier avoid the wrong prospects and focus their resources on the upper twenty-percent instead. <br /><br /><b>The "20/80 Rule" works at the bottom of the customer base as well.</b> <br /><br />That is, twenty percent of a company's customers more than likely cost more to handle than they're worth. These customers give more grief; chew up more time with requests and complaints; and, generally, cause the most stress for a company.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;">The Steps to Successful Sales</span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;">When a company is ready to make contact with the right type of prospect, three face-to-face steps are used to move to the next stair, "making the sale". Each step requires particular selling skills that are necessary to "close the sale". A successful sale is like building a pyramid; each step depends upon the success of the previous ones, and no step can be omitted without creating disaster.<br /><br /><b>Exploring Needs</b><br />The exploring step of sales gives you the chance to get deeply involved with your prospects to determine exactly how your product or service can help them. It's where the partnering process begins. The purpose of exploring is to get enough information from the client to enable you to recommend appropriate options. This step is epitomized by the guiding principle of Collaborative Selling, "Prescription before diagnosis is malpractice."</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;">Collaborating Solutions</span></b><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;"><br />After you've worked with your prospects to identify needs and concerns, the next step is to determine whether or not your product or service will solve a problem or seize an opportunity for them. Usually there are several different ways you can put your product or service together to meet the needs of your prospects.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;">The collaborative selling way is much less adversarial and much easier. You actually involve your prospects in deciding which one of your options makes the most sense for them.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;">Confirming the Sale<br /></span></b><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;">If you've done your job properly to this point, your customer should be asking to buy from you. The commitment becomes a how and a when, not an if. Signing the agreement is merely a formality. However, before confirming the sale, you'll want to be sure your prospect has all the information he needs to increase their perceived value of your product or service.<br /><br /><b>Building Long-Term Customers: Operations-Driven vs. Customer-Driven</b></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;">Leaders in their industries are always customer-driven, instead of operations-driven. Through the keen application of service skills, smart companies design strategies that assure that customer expectations are consistently identified, managed, and monitored. Then, once these are accomplished, exceeding customer expectations becomes the compelling focus. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;">Companies that apply the correct service skills create moments of magic for their customers, rather than moments of misery.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;">Moments of Misery vs. Moments of Magic</span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;">Any occasion a customer comes into contact with any aspect of your company is actually of moment of truth for your organization. When the customer encounters a member of your staff, a piece of advertising, or any thing else that can be tied to your company, they formulate opinions, beliefs, impressions, and ideas about who you are and what you're about. These moments of truth normally result in one of three outcomes: a Moment of Misery, a Moment of Mediocrity, or a Moment of Magic.<br /><br />Customers who consistently have their expectations exceeded - or, receive Moments of Magic - are those who become apostles for your organization.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;">Converting Customers into Apostles</span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;">Exceptionally strong intimacy with the customer characterizes the apostle stair of customer loyalty. Creating apostles should be the highest goal of customer development. Apostles will do more for your organization through their good will and word of mouth than almost any other form of marketing or sales. Smart companies look to double the number of apostles each year by moving prospects, sales, and customers up the stairs of customer loyalty.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;">Apostle-Driven </span></b><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;"><br />Companies that become "Apostle-Driven" are those that do not constantly have to dedicate limited resources of time and money to always finding new customers. Their Apostles accomplish this task for them. Such leading companies, of which there are far too few, are the ones that will dominate their industries now and well into the new century.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;">The Stairs of Customer Loyalty shows you how to consciously shape a plan for developing your customer relationship skills in a more congruent manner and is a benchmark in fostering and promoting permanent customer relationships for businesses of all sizes. The Stairs of Customer Loyalty helps you recognize the wide range of challenges facing your company today and provides the skills indispensable for overcoming them so you can achieve the critical relationships needed to survive and thrive in the new millennium. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b><i><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;">Copyright</span></i></b><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;">Copyright© 2002, Dr. Tony Alessandra. All right reserved. Dr. Tony Alessandra, CSP, CPAE has authored 13 books, recorded over 50 audio and video programs, and delivered over 2,000 keynote speeches since 1976. Dr. Tony Alessandra is recognized by Meetings and Conventions Magazine as... "one of America's most electrifying speakers." For information about Tony’s keynote presentations, contact the FrogPond at 800.704.FROG(3764) or email <a href="mailto:susie@FrogPond.com">susie@FrogPond.com</a></span></p> </article> <article> <h1>Customers Are NOT Always Right</h1> <p>MySolutionSpot Editor — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 03:39:16 GMT</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;">"The customer is always right."</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;">Lots of people believed that for a long time. Some still do. It has sold a lot of books and made for entertaining Nordstroms customer service speeches. It appears on posters at companies all over. Certainly most customers believe it.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;">But it's not true.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;">Ask a business owner, or a retail clerk who has to tussle with demanding, lying, cheating individuals. </span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;">In fact, I did a web search on that phrase and came up with an overwhelming number of responses to the contrary. Here's an example from a business forum:</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;">"I HATE that concept. I take phone calls for a living. And I can promise you that 90% of the time the customer is not just wrong, but annoying and deserves to be punished."<em> </em></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;">So what is a customer, anyway? </span> </p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;">It's someone who does business with a company or individual. Now, consider that thieves, liars, criminals, and others with bad character and ill intentions all are customers of someone.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"> <span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;">A <strong>profitable</strong> customer is the right customer. </span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;">And you need to decide if profitable means short-term, long-term, and also their effects on other profitable potential customers.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"> <span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;">Just ask Best Buy. In a <em>Wall Street Journal</em> cover story last week, Best Buy's CEO says he wants to separate the "angels" among his 1.5 million DAILY customers from the "devils."</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;"></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;">The devils are its worst customers. The ones who buy products, apply for rebates, then return the items. Or they present rock-bottom price quotes from Internet merchants demanding Best Buy make good on its lowest price promise. Or they buy just the loss-leader items intended to jack up store traffic, then resell the items on e-bay for a profit.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;">Best Buy believes that up to 20% of its customers are not profitable for them, so they want to focus on the people who buy products without waiting for markdowns or rebates.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;">(And, by the way, what's up with people who think that they deserve to buy a car BELOW the dealer's cost. What, isn't a car dealer allowed to make a profit? I digress.)</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;">So, what's the point for you, fellow salesperson?</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;">Oh, don't get me wrong. I'm not suggesting you become a paranoid cranky curmudgeon, skeptical of everyone, thinking they're all trying to screw you.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;">Most people are good. Just know the difference.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;">Here's what to be aware of in sales situations:</span> </p> <ul style="margin-top:0in;"> <li class="MsoNormal"><strong><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;">People who try to use you to get a better price from their vendor</span></strong><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;">.</span></li> </ul> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;">It's totally your fault if you fall victim to this.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;">Whenever you give someone a price quote for anything you should know two things at minimum. Ask these questions, or variations of them.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;">"What is your criteria for making a decision on this?"</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;">"If we meet that, will you buy from us?"</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;">I see too many sales reps waste time figuring up price quotes for business that the "prospect" has no intention of ever giving them.</span> </p> <ul style="margin-top:0in;"> <li class="MsoNormal"><strong><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;">People who buy from you once, ONLY because you drop a price, but then leave when they find yet another lower price.</span></strong></li> </ul> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;">If you're looking for repeat business and relationships, you don't want to waste time with these types. They'll negotiate you to the bone. Just like they did with the supplier before you, and the one they'll try it with after you. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;">Ask them questions like, </span> </p> <ul style="margin-top:0in;"> <li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;">"Aside from price, what else are you considering in your decision?"</span></li> </ul> <ul style="margin-top:0in;"> <li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;">"Who have you purchased from before? Why did you leave them?"</span></li> </ul> <ul style="margin-top:0in;"> <li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;">"Assume we deliver on our end, what volume do you project we'll do together over the next year?"</span></li> </ul> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;">Again, the customer is not always right. And the right customer is a profitable customer.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal"><strong><em><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;">Copyright</span></em></strong><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;">Copyright© 2005, Art Sobczak. All right reserved. Art Sobczak gives real world, how-to, conversational ideas and techniques helping business-to-business salespeople use the phone more effectively to prospect, sell, service, and manage accounts without "rejection." Art is author of numerous books, taped training programs, and publisher of the TELEPHONE SELLING REPORT sales tips newsletter. He’s also a speaker and trainer, providing high-content, one-hour to multiple-day customized speeches and seminars. To receive his free “TelE-Sales Hot Tips of the Week visit www.businessbyphone.com. For addition information, contact the FrogPond at 800.704.FROG(3764) or email <a href="mailto:susie@FrogPond.com">susie@FrogPond.com</a> </span></p> </article> <article> <h1>Turn Customers Into Loyal And Profitable Clients</h1> <p>MySolutionSpot Editor — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 03:39:16 GMT</p> <p><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: black;">If you want to turn your customers or members into loyal clients and not be viewed as a commodity, add value and build relationships.<strong> </strong>Let me tell you about Pete, our financial advisor. One of the main reasons he earned our business is he was the only one offering quarterly client review meetings to review our portfolio. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: black;">While we can meet in person, we prefer to do them efficiently by phone in a 30-45 minute call. Without fail his office proactively calls us each quarter to set up our review meeting. As a result we feel he genuinely is interested in our business and on top of things. So we continue to give him our investment business, referrals and remain loyal. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: black;">Another strategy is to educate your customers or members and position yourself as a partner and a resource. For example, a community bank recently contacted me to speak at their customer appreciation and education event. They are planning to invite many of their business customers to a special half-day event with a nice breakfast, a local economist, a sports figure and me. This added-value strategy will pay off in the future with expanded relationships and referrals. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: black;">Brainstorm with your team all the ways you can educate your customers or members. What information can you share to help them in their life or business? For example, a staffing firm may provide a salary survey or tips on interviewing. A hospital or doctor can offer ideas on staying healthy. You can offer an ezine just like the one you're reading now or do your own teleseminar. The key is to stay in touch periodically. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: black;">So in summary: </span></p> <ul style="margin-top: 0in;" type="disc"> <li class="MsoNormal" style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">Offer to do client review meetings </span></li> <li class="MsoNormal" style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">Host an appreciation event with education </span></li> <li class="MsoNormal" style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">Provide helpful information periodically</span></li> </ul> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><strong><em><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">Copyright</span></em></strong><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">Copyright© 2004, Barbara Sanfilippo. All right reserved. Barbara Sanfilippo, CSP, CPAE, is an award winning speaker, retreat facilitator, consultant and author of Dream Big! What's The Best That Can Happen?Romano & Sanfilippo partners with organizations to accelerate their sales and service culture, compete on service, retain loyal customers and get staff commitment and participation. To inquire about speaking availability, training and consulting services or see Barbara's demo video, contact the FrogPond at 800.704.FROG(3764) or email <a href="mailto:susie@FrogPond.com">susie@FrogPond.com</a></span></p> </article> </main></body></html>