Sales Tip – Crisis … Where Danger Meets Opportunity!

In Chinese the word “Crisis” is represented by two characters. One means danger and the other means opportunity. In sales, any crisis while dangerous it may be, also represents your best opportunity ever to gain a customer for life! Or you can lose one forever. This choice is yours. The key to comprehending this concept lies in our ability to understand customer expectations and how those relate to rating their buying experience.

When I buy a new product or I invest in a new service, I expect it to perform in a certain way. If it does just that, meet my expectations, this buying experience for me is marked “neutral”. I got what I expected. If  that doesn’t happen, mark my buying experience as “negative”. If the product or service exceeds my expectations we have a “positive” experience. Here’s the rub. Even with a neutral or positive experience, the cynic in me is always wondering … “What happens when this thing breaks? Will the service I receive be terrible, exemplary, or somewhere in between?” I simply don’t/won’t know the answer to these questions until that dreaded episode occurs and, trust me, it will. Continue reading “Sales Tip – Crisis … Where Danger Meets Opportunity!”

Adventures With Web Hosting – A Customer Service Tale

Over at least the past six months, the performance of my websites has ranged from abysmal to flat out not being able to even access them. On-line chats with the support staff of my web hosting company have always been a nightmare. They read to me from a script and they always lay the blame on my sites and particularly whatever plugins I am using. A couple of months ago I was forced to beg and threaten until they finally agreed to escalate my service request to a higher tier. As it turned out, the server that hosted my sites was under a denial of service attack which they were attempting to fend off. During the battle, my sites were moved temporarily before being brought back on line. Even then, it took 48 hours before they were accessible again from any computer. I was not a happy camper. Problems I get. Poor customer service … I don’t. Continue reading “Adventures With Web Hosting – A Customer Service Tale”

What Would Your Customer Say About Buying From You?

Or, are you too afraid to ask? That’s a bit of a loaded question. A lot of salespeople I know are either too afraid to ask their customers how they are doing, are too afraid of the answer, or see little to no benefit in doing so. Sad on all three counts. So, how would your customers rate you in the following categories (in no particular order)? Continue reading “What Would Your Customer Say About Buying From You?”

25 Customer Retention Tips Via NetWorks! Boise Members

There is a very old adage that says “it is 10 times more expensive to find a new customer than it is to maintain an existing one.” Not only do I believe this to be very true, I believe it to be even more true today. With the condition of our economy, our good customers are exhibiting behavior today that I have rarely seen in the past.

When times are good, most of us will happily continue along with the vendors who we have traditionally done business with and who have generally met our expectations. But times have changed and many folks are now deciding that perhaps a little investigation of the alternatives available may be prudent. Do I really need “best” when “good” or “better” will do? Having worked in construction related industries, I can tell you that right now it seems that everything is on sale. It’s a great time to buy and most people know that. Continue reading “25 Customer Retention Tips Via NetWorks! Boise Members”