101 Ways to Build Customer Relationships

101 Ways to Build Better Relationships with Your Customers Peter R. Garber HRD Press, Inc. Amherst, Massachusetts Cop...

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101 Ways to Build Better Relationships with Your Customers Peter R. Garber

HRD Press, Inc. Amherst, Massachusetts

Copyright © 2007, Peter R. Garber

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or used in an information storage or retrieval system, without prior written permission from the author.

Published by: HRD Press, Inc. 22 Amherst Road 1-800-822-2801 (U.S. and Canada) 1-413-253-3488 1-413-253-3490 (Fax) www.hrdpress.com

ISBN: 978-1-59996-050-0

Cover design by Eileen Klockars Production services by Anctil Virtual Office Editorial services by Sally M. Farnham

Table of Contents Introduction ................................................................ .................................................................. .................................. Getting to Know Your Customer........................ Universal in Nature ............................................ You Are Responsible.......................................... How to Use This Book ........................................

1 1 2 3 4

Part 1: Customer Expectations ................................... ................................... 1. Try as Hard to Keep the Customer’s Business as You Did to Get it in the First Place ................ 2. Keep Your Promises ............................... 3. Follow up with the Customer .................. 4. Avoid Selling Tactics ............................... 5. Send the Customer Thank-you Letters ................................... 6. Don’t Take Credit That’s Not Yours........ 7. Help Make the Customer Feel Good About the Purchase............... 8. Think Outside the Box............................. 9. Pay Attention to Details .......................... 10. Close Loops ............................................. 11. Don’t Have Hidden Agendas .................. 12. Keep Internal Problems from the Customer.................................. 13. Value Your Relationship with the Customer................................... 14. Don’t Cry “Wolf” to the Customer........... 15. Give the Customer Reasons to Brag About You........................................ 16. Expect Less from the Customer .............

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101 Ways to Build Better Relationships with Your Customers

9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 iii

17. Don’t Expect the Customer to Do Your Homework ................................. 18. Be Accessible to the Customer .............. 19. Be Responsive......................................... 20. Be Responsible ....................................... 21. Exercise Flexibility ................................... 22. Be Reliable .............................................. 23. Lose Graciously ....................................... 24. Don’t Over Commit.................................. 25. Do What You Say You Will Do ................. 26. Don’t Oversell .......................................... Part 2: Problem Solving Together ............................... 27. Put Things into Perspective for the Customer ..................................... 28. Reduce Paperwork for the Customer..... 29. Be a Contingency Thinker ....................... 30. Be Creative .............................................. 31. Don’t Follow the 80/20 Rule with the Customer................................... 32. Be Proactive ............................................ 33. Prevent Problems Before They Occur .... 34. Do Things Right the First Time ............... 35. Help Reduce Cycle Time for the Customer ..................................... 36. Synergize with the Customer.................. 37. Reduce Your Company’s Bureaucracy ............................................ 38. Bend the Rules for the Customer........... 39. Be a Problem Solver................................ 40. Refer the Customer to Other Sources.......................................... 41. Look for Other Possibilities..................... 42. Roll with the Punches ............................. iv

26 27 29 30 31 32 33 35 37 38 41 43 44 45 46 47 49 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 59 61 62


Part 3: Communica Communicating ting with the Customer ................. 43. Learn the Customer’s Language............ 44. Keep the Customer in Your Company’s Communications Loop ........ 45. Have the Top Executives in Your Company Meet the Customer ........ 46. Don’t Fill the Customer’s Voice Mail–Box with Messages.............. 47. Don’t Call the Customer on Their First Day Back from Vacation ................. 48. Don’t Put the Customer On Hold............ 49. Get on the Customer’s Mailing List........ 50. Keep Confidential Information Confidential ............................................. 51. Really Listen to the Customer ................ 52. Always Be a Page Away........................... 53. Be Computer Compatible ....................... 54. Be a “Safe Ear” for the Customer .......... 55. Give Feedback to the Customer............. 56. Don’t Spread Rumors About the Customer ................................ 57. Don’t Let the Customer See You Sweat ........................................ 58. Admit Your Mistakes ............................... 59. Don’t Burden the Customer with Your Problems ................................. 60. Don’t B.S. the Customer ......................... 61. Keep Good Records ................................ 62. Don’t Become a Nuisance to the Customer ...................................... 63. Understand When “No” Means “No” ..... 64. Link Electronically to the Customer .......


63 65 67 68 69 71 73 74 76 78 80 81 83 84 86 87 89 91 92 93 95 97 99

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Part 4: Understanding the Customer .......................... 65. Be a “Constant” During Change............. 66. Read the Customer’s Annual Report ..... 67. Study the Customer’s History ................. 68. Ask the Customer if it is a Good Time to Call .................................... 69. Take the Customer to Lunch .................. 70. Keep the Customer’s Priorities in Mind ..................................... 71. Stay “In Tune” with the Customer’s Business........................ 72. Empathize with the Customer ................ 73. Feel the Customer’s Pain........................ 74. Understand the Customer’s Requirements...................... 75. Consider the Customer’s Perspective .......................... 76. Anticipate the Customer’s Needs...........

101 103 104 105

Part 5: Supporting the Customer ................................ 77. Give the Customer the Benefit of the Doubt................................ 78. Avoid Conflicts of Interest....................... 79. Keep the Customer’s Logo in Your Computer .................................... 80. Talk Nicely About the Customer ............. 81. Join the Customer’s Team ...................... 82. Collaborate with the Customer............... 83. Help the Customer Accept Change ........ 84. Play a Supportive Role for the Customer ..................................... 85. Treat the Customer Like a Friend........... 86. Don’t Take Unfair Advantage..................

117

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106 107 108 109 110 111 112 114 116

119 120 121 123 125 127 128 130 132 133


87. Become a Resource to the Customer ...................................... 88. Think Win/Win with the Customer ......... 89. Be a Team Player .................................... 90. Think Long-term Relationships............... 91. Don’t Waste the Customer’s Time ......... 92. Act Like a Business Partner ................... Part 6: Achieving Results ............................................ ............................................ 93. Deliver on Your Deliverables .................. 94. Sell with Class ......................................... 95. Share Awards with the Customer........... 96. Don’t Depend on the Customer’s Loyalty.................................. 97. Help the Customer Reduce Costs .......... 98. Focus on Beating the Customer’s Competition................... 99. Focus on Getting the Customer Results.................................... 100. Look for Ways to Add Value to the Customer ...................................... 101. Search for Ways to Improve Your Service or Product ..........................


134 136 138 139 141 143 145 147 149 150 151 153 154 155 157 158

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Introduction

Your relationships with your customers can be the most important factor to your success in business. More business is gained or lost as a result of a supplier’s relationship with the customer rather than as a result of their ability to provide a quality service or product. However, as in your dealings with other people in other aspects of your life, building a good relationship with your customers can take a long time to build and only a short time to break down. One incident can damage what you worked hard for a long time, possibly even years, to build. There are many different ways to build stronger working relationships with customers. However, there are no absolutes, no necessarily right or wrong ways, and no shortcuts. What might work effectively with one customer could be detrimental or even destructive to your relationship with another customer.

Getting to Know Your Customer You need to get to know your customers and what is most important to maintaining good working relationships with them. Building better customer relationships is not just something that would be nice to do—it is something that you must do if you expect to be successful in business today.


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The competition is getting tougher every day. There will always be a competitor out there just waiting for an opportunity to get an “in” with your customers. By not developing relationships with your customers, you could be “opening the door” for the competition to come in and take them away. Building stronger relationships with customers can be very satisfying in many ways. It provides new opportunities to be of service and to learn what you need to be focused on not only today, but in the future as well. By getting to know your customers better, you also learn more about them and their business. The more you learn and understand about the customer, the less likely someone else could even be able to take away your customer’s business. Your relationships with your customers can be the best investment in your business or career that you can ever make.

Universal in Nature All of the 101 Ways to Build Better Relationships with Your Customers described in this book are universal in nature. That is, they would apply regardless of your business or that of your customer, if you provide a service or a product to the customer, if you or your customers are a large or small company, or if you have been in business a long time or are just starting out. These 101 Ways are all about people and how they react or respond to others. Most of the 101 Ways deal with common courtesies that anyone, regardless of the situation, would appreciate. Is there any reason why you wouldn’t or shouldn’t treat your customers with these same common courtesies? In addition, most of 2


the 101 Ways deal with common sense. Again, is there any reason why you shouldn’t exercise common sense with your customers? Knowing and understanding your customers is getting increasingly difficult today as organizations are becoming more and more complex. The better your relationship with customers, the better you will be able to understand them and their ever changing needs. The world is also changing at an increasingly accelerated pace. So too are most businesses, including your customers’. Your organization is probably changing as well. Staying in touch with all these changes requires extra effort and attention on your part.

You Are Responsible You are the one who must take the initiative and responsibility for maintaining and building the relationship between you and your customer. If you depend on the customer to be the one to be most concerned about your working relationship together, it might not happen. Your customers both want and expect you to be the one to initiate and nurture your business relationship. Your relationship with the customer is a critically important aspect of your business and success. Unfortunately, this is something that is often overlooked or ignored. Customers are the key to your success—they are why you are in business. An important link to your customers is your working relationship with them. If you lose this relationship, you can also lose their business and, ultimately, your livelihood.


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Building better relationships with customers goes far beyond what is typically thought of as meeting this objective. It is much more than just inviting the customer to dinner or for a round of golf. It goes beyond just entertainment. This may indeed be important to your relationship with the customer, but your relationship involves much more as you will see in these 101 Ways to Build Better Relationships with Your Customers.

How to Use This Book This book includes many important and useful suggestions to help you build better relationships with your customers. Your working relationship is actually based on how well you meet the customer’s requirements, and your customer undoubtedly has many requirements. All of these requirements are important to your customers. This book is really about how to meet these requirements. In fact, it could have been called, “101 Ways to Meet the Requirements of Your Customers”! This book goes beyond what is typically expected of you, but can make such an important difference. These 101 Ways are what can make the difference between ultimately keeping your customers’ business and losing it to your competition. This book is divided into six sections: Customer Expectations, Problem Solving Together, Communicating with the Customer, Understanding the Customer, Supporting the Customer, and Achieving Results. You can use these sections to find the general topics you are interested in learning more about.

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You can use these 101 Ways to Build Better Relationships with Your Customers to develop training programs to deal with difficult situations, solve problems with your customers, create more effective customer service strategies, and help reach your sales and marketing goals. There is a brief exercise included in each of these 101 Ways designed to help teach and reinforce the learning points presented. The bottom line is that 101 Ways to Build Better Relationships with Your Customers will help you better serve your customers. Any time you have contact with a customer should ultimately help you build a better relationship. This is the goal that you need to continuously work toward every day you are in business. After all, that is what your business is based on—your relationships with your customers. Good luck and keep building better relationships!


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Part 1 Customer Expectations

1 Try as Hard to Keep the Customer’s Business as You Did to Get it in the First Place You probably worked very hard to get your customer’s business in the first place. You spent a great deal of time explaining to the customer the many benefits of your product or service and of doing business with you. You learned about the customer’s needs and how you could meet their requirements. You promised that you would deliver the quality that the customer demanded— on time, every time. Now that the sale has already been made, you need to try just as hard to keep the customer’s business as you did to get it in the first place. You need to look at every interaction with the customer as if you are trying to get their business for the first time. You need to work just as hard to keep their business as you did to get it in the first place. How can you make the customer feel that you are trying just as hard to keep their business as you did to get it? __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________


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2 Keep Your Promises You might make promises to your customer in many different ways. These could be in the form of guarantees or warranties, a contract you signed with the customer, or simply telling the customer you would do something. Regardless, a promise is a promise, and you need to live up to it. Keeping your promises is fundamental to maintaining any relationship. It is certainly no less important to your relationships with your customers. What are some of the promises you have made to your customers? __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ What can you do to ensure that you keep these promises? __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________

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3 Follow up with the Customer Follow-up is critically important to providing excellent service to the customer. Most of the time, follow-up efforts do not require any significant additional effort or service. But the benefits of follow-up with your customers can be immeasurable. Following up to ensure that the customer’s needs are being met shows that you are committed and care about their business. It is amazing what a simple question such as “Is everything going all right with our product/service?” can impact the customer’s opinion and attitude about doing business with you. How can you ensure that there is follow-up with your customers? __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ What opportunities might there be to provide additional follow-up with customers? __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ How can this follow-up be provided? __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ 101 Ways to Build Better Relationships with Your Customers

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4 Avoid Selling Tactics Selling tactics are those gimmicks that some people think can make the difference between a customer buying something or not. However, most customers can spot selling tactics a mile away. Selling tactics can cause customers to lose trust in those who are trying to get them to buy something. They might wonder why the salesperson would need to resort to such tactics. “Why is the salesperson trying to pressure me so much to get a sale?” the customer might ask him-/herself. “Might it be that the product or service is so inferior that it needs to be sold in this way?” Avoid using selling tactics with your customers. You will not only help your relationship with the customer, but also their perception of your product. What are some selling tactics that you should avoid when dealing with customers? __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________

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5 Send the Customer Thank-you Letters It might sound trivial, but most people do appreciate receiving a thank-you note or letter for something they have done. Sending your customer a “thank-you” for an order or simply continuing doing business with you can only help strengthen your working relationship together. Sometimes it can be the smallest things that can make the biggest difference in your relationship with others. What opportunities do you have to thank your customers for their business? __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ How can you say thank you to your customers in other ways? __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ 101 Ways to Build Better Relationships with Your Customers

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6 Don’t Take Credit That’s Not Yours It may seem that so often you don’t get credit for things that you really do deserve that it only seems fair that you should be able to get credit for something that you don’t deserve once in awhile! However, if the customer should ever discover that you took credit for something that you really didn’t do, it could seriously affect your credibility. You need to make sure that the customer has an accurate understanding of what results you were responsible for as well as what you don’t deserve credit for. The customer will respect your honesty and ethics when you say, “I can’t take credit for that; the credit really belongs to someone else.” Ultimately it is this type of character and honesty that build long-lasting business relations with customers. For what results might you have to clarify, for the customer, who really deserves credit? __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ Finish the following sentence: I can’t take credit for ______________________________; credit rightfully belongs to _________________________.

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7 Help Make the Customer Feel Good About the Purchase Have you ever bought something and then wondered if you just did the right thing? This might have occurred for any number of reasons including the salesperson’s attitude about the product or service you purchased. If the salesperson didn’t have confidence in the product or service, how could you ever be expected to feel good about the purchase? Customers want to know that they are making the right decision to buy from you. Thus, you need to be able to help them understand why they have made the right decision to buy from you. You need to help the customer feel good about their purchase. Be equipped with all of the facts, figures, statistics, comparisons, technical data, etc., needed to help the customer understand why buying from you is the right thing to do. How can you help your customers feel good about buying your product or service? __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ What might you need to do in order to be able to make your customers feel good about buying from you? __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________


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8 Think Outside the Box A popular cliché today in business is to “think outside the box.” This means that sometimes you need to go beyond what conventionally has been done in the past and find new or different ways of doing things. Thinking outside the box can also be useful when dealing with your customers. Sometimes it is the different approach rather than what has always been done in the past that is most interesting to the customer. Thinking outside the box can help you find new solutions to old problems or take the customer in directions never considered before. Draw a box. Now think of the way you have always done things in the past with your customers as being inside this box. Write in the box one thing that comes to mind. Now, think of ways that you could do things differently concerning the customer. Write this outside the box.

(continued)

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8. Think Outside the Box (concluded) What might be some potential benefits of this “outside the box” idea? __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ What is preventing you from doing this? __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________


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9 Pay Attention to Details There used to be a company that would always state in their advertisements, “We pay attention to the details.” This was a powerful message to their potential customers, letting them know this company was truly committed to providing the highest quality service and products possible. Details are important to any business. Overlooking just one of the countless details that must be paid attention to can result in significant problems for the customer. What the customer wants is for you to pay attention to details so that they don’t have to worry about them. This way they can focus on something else—such as their customers’ details. What are some of the details that your customers would like you to pay attention to that you may be overlooking now? __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ What effect might paying attention to these details have on your relationship with your customer? __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________

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10 Close Loops “Closing the loop” means that you don’t leave any loose ends or unfinished business. Providing complete service to your customers means that you finish what you start—you don’t leave things undone that cause problems or delays for the customer. Usually the best thing to do is to take care of these things as soon as they come up. That way, they don’t get overlooked or forgotten about as new things come up. Your customers want and even demand that their suppliers close all the loops as they provide their products or services. What are some of the “loops” that you need to ensure you close when providing service to your customers that you might not be taking care of now? __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ What would be the benefits to both the customer and your company by doing a better job of closing these loops? __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________


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11 Don’t Have Hidden Agendas Having a hidden agenda is when someone isn’t completely honest about their motives or objectives. Do not play this game with your customers. It can be very deceptive and can cause the customer to lose trust in you. Be up front about what you are trying to achieve. Never use or manipulate the customer to serve your own agenda instead of the customer’s. If you are caught by the customer doing so, and it is likely that you will be, it would most likely result in much more damage to your relationship with the customer than any possible gains you would receive from having a hidden agenda. Think about when someone you have dealt with had a hidden agenda that you initially were not aware of. How did this make you feel about that person when the agenda finally became known to you? __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ What did it do to the trust you had in that person or persons? __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ How can you make sure that your customers don’t think you have a hidden agenda with them? __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________

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12 Keep Internal Problems from the Customer Sometimes there may be internal problems within an organization that are of concern to no one else but the people working for the organization. From time to time, every company experiences these things. There are issues that the organization must resolve that may or may not directly affect its customers. Sometimes there may be a legitimate reason to tell customers about these problems to assure them that they won’t be adversely affected, particularly if these problems become publicized. But many other times, there is no reason or need to involve the customer—the problems will not be apparent to them and are none of their concern. If this is the case, then why make it their concern? It may only serve to worry the customer unnecessarily about the organization’s ability to continue to supply their needs. What is an example of an internal problem that would serve no purpose to tell customers about? __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ 101 Ways to Build Better Relationships with Your Customers

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13 Value Your Relationship with the Customer When you consider something to be of great value, you do things to preserve and protect it. If you see little or no value in it, you may quickly discard it or may not nurture it. How do you feel about your relationships with your customers? Do you value their relationships or not? Assuming that you do value these relationships, do you treat your customers as if you do? Do you do things to protect or even enhance the value of these relationships? Or do you act like it is little or no value to you? In what ways can you show your customers that you value your working relationship with them? __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ How can you enhance the value of these relationships in the future? __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ How can protecting the value of these relationships help you continue doing business together in the future? __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________

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14 Don’t Cry “Wolf” to the Customer Remember the story about the little shepherd boy who kept deceivingly crying that a wolf was approaching his flock and unnecessarily summoned all the townspeople? Then one day, a wolf did really show up, but no one would come to the boy’s aid because they believed he was trying to fool them again. The moral of the story is that you should not cry for help unless you really need it. There is also an important lesson here concerning your relationships with your customers. Don’t say that you are in trouble and need help when you really don’t. Just like the boy in the story, you will only get away with this so many times. Even worse, in the event that you really must go to the customer for help, their patience might be exhausted. They may no longer have any interest in helping you deal with your problems and leave you to the “wolves.” What might be an example of “crying wolf” to your customers? __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ What are the dangers of doing this? __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________


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15 Give the Customer Reasons to Brag About You Okay, maybe your customers won’t carry around your picture in their wallet and brag about how wonderful you are to anyone who will listen! But you do want your customers saying positive things about you to other people in the business world. This is the best advertisement you can ever get—one that even money can’t buy. The only way that this will happen is by giving your customers reason to brag about you. Sometimes it is your extra efforts that are the most appreciated by the customer. Whatever the case, you must find ways to differentiate yourself from your competition. This is what keeps the customer coming back as well as telling others about how good you are!

Bragging Rights What are some things that your customers might brag about you to others? __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ 24


16 Expect Less from the Customer Your job is to be of service to the customer. You should make life easier for them, not more complicated. You must look for ways to make doing business with you as simple and easy as possible for the customer. The less you expect the customer to do, the better. This might involve reducing the paperwork, forms, number of people to contact, turnaround time, etc., which is part of the process of doing business with your organization that a customer experiences. What are some ways that you can simplify for your customers the process of buying from you? __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________


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17 Don’t Expect the Customer to Do Your Homework Don’t expect the customer to do your homework for you. They probably don’t have the time, interest, education, or training to do your job. Therefore, you must be prepared and knowledgeable about what you are selling before contacting the customer. Learn everything you can—not only about your product or service, but also the customer’s. If anything, you should be the one educating the customer about your product or service and its application, not the other way around. Have you done all your homework concerning both your product or service and that of each of your customers? If not, what sources can you use to become better educated about both? __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________

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18 Be Accessible to the Customer Good relationships are based on personal contact. Building a relationship or even maintaining one is extremely difficult without this contact. Your accessibility to the customer can have a great impact on your relationship. If you become no more than a greeting on a telephone answering machine or an out-of-office e-mail message, the customer may get frustrated with trying to communicate with you. These new electronic communications tools are great, but they can’t replace good old-fashioned, live, and direct contact with other people. Don’t over rely on electronic or other impersonal means to communicate with your customers. Make yourself accessible to the customer. Find the time if necessary to meet personally with the customer. Think of this as one of the best investments you can make in your relationship with the customer. (continued)


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18. Be Accessible to the Customer (concluded) Accessibility Questionnaire A. If a customer was trying to get in touch with you, how long would it take before they could actually talk “live” with you on the telephone? Less than 1 hour More than 1 day

4 hours or more At least a week

1 day

Is this too long? Why or why not? _______________________________________________ _______________________________________________ _______________________________________________ _______________________________________________ B. How often do you meet in person with your customers? Daily Quarterly

Weekly Annually

Monthly Never

Is this frequently enough? Why or why not? _______________________________________________ _______________________________________________ _______________________________________________ _______________________________________________ C. How can you become more accessible to your customers? _______________________________________________ _______________________________________________ _______________________________________________ _______________________________________________ 28


19 Be Responsive Being responsive to the customer’s needs requires timeliness. Timeliness in this case means immediately! When a customer calls you with a request or a problem, they want you to respond as quickly as possible. If any delays occur on your part, it is like saying to the customer, “I’ve got something more important than you that I am doing right now. I will get to your problem as soon as I don’t have anything more important to do!” Instead, the message you should be sending the customer must be something more like this: “Your problem is my top priority, and I am committed to doing everything I can to provide you the service you want and deserve as quickly as possible.” Which message do you believe you are currently sending your customers when they call you with a request for service of some kind? Why? __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ How could you improve your responsiveness to the customer? __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________


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20 Be Responsible Being responsible means many things. It can mean ensuring that customers receive the service they expect and deserve. It can also mean accepting the credit or the blame for how well customers’ requirements are met. Responsibility, particularly when there is a problem, can become very difficult to assign to anyone, particularly when things don’t go well with a customer. There can be a great deal of finger pointing and blame placing, none of which helps in your relationship with the customer. If you are responsible for something that happened that negatively affected the customer, then you need to acknowledge it. This allows the corrective action process to begin without further delay. Think of an example when you may not have claimed responsibility for something that occurred that negatively affected a customer. How did this affect the relationship with this customer? __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ How could this situation have been better resolved if you had taken responsibility earlier? __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ 30


21 Exercise Flexibility Exercising flexibility with the customer means just what it sounds like—that you can bend in many ways if necessary. Customers like to have as many options as possible. No one likes to have a set of rigid rules or procedures imposed on them. They like to be able to go in different directions as the situation dictates. Sometimes we get so set in our own practices and procedures in business that we lose this important flexibility that is necessary to build and maintain a better relationship with the customer. What are some of your current practices or procedures that may have become rigid over the years and are in need of flexibility? __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ How can you exercise more flexibility in these areas? __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ Now get ready and exercise flexibility with your customers by bending and stretching! 101 Ways to Build Better Relationships with Your Customers

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22 Be Reliable When a customer perceives you as being reliable, it can be one of the most important factors in building a stronger working relationship with them. What might seem to be a “given” by the customer may in reality require a great deal of effort on your part. However, this reliability can be very important to the customer—they may even learn to depend on it. In time, the customer will come to think of you as “old faithful”! Although there may be many other roles in your life that you wouldn’t care to be thought of in this way, this can be a very positive way for the customer to think of you. This keeps the customer coming back to do business with you over and over again. In what ways are you already perceived as reliable by your customers? __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ In what ways would you like your customers to rely on you more? __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ What would be the advantages to you of being perceived in this way by your customers? __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________

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23 Lose Graciously Nobody likes to lose. But unfortunately, losing sometimes is part of life and business. However, there are many ways to lose. For instance, you could lose destructively, in which case you “burn your bridges” behind you. In terms of dealing with a customer whose business you just lost, this might mean destroying what’s left of your working relationship in the process. You may say or do things in anger about losing their business that will ensure that they never consider buying from you ever again in the future. You could become uncooperative about providing any assistance to the customer in the transition from your company to the new supplier. There are many other ways in which you could be less than helpful as your customer takes their business elsewhere. What advantage is there to losing graciously, or in other words, doing everything you possibly can to make the customer’s transition to their new supplier go as smoothly as possible? List below the possible advantages to losing graciously as opposed to losing destructively. (continued)


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23. Lose Graciously (concluded) Losing Graciously Advantages __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________

Losing Destructively Disadvantages __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________

Based on this analysis, which do you think would be the better approach to losing? __________________________________________________

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24 Don’t Over Commit As busy as you probably are today, it can be easy to find yourself committed to do more things than you could ever possibly get done. Particularly when dealing with a customer, you might find yourself over committing yourself as you constantly try to provide better service to meet their requirements. All this is done in hopes of building a better relationship with the customer. However, if you make these commitments and then are unable to meet them, you will ultimately damage rather than strengthen this relationship. In the end, it would have been better if you had never made the commitment in the first place. At least under this circumstance, there wouldn’t have been any unfulfilled expectations on the customer’s part. Saying “no” when you should or need to say “no” can be a very important ability to possess. It can help you maintain your credibility and relationship with the customer. What was an example of when you over committed to what you could do with a customer? __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ (continued)


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24. Don’t Over Commit (concluded) What was the ultimate consequence of your over commitment? __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ How could you have handled this situation differently? __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ Would saying “no” have been a better overall strategy for dealing with this situation? Why or why not? __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ How can saying “no” be a better way for you to maintain your relationship with your customers? __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________

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25 Do What You Say You Will Do Your relationship with the customer must be based on trust. A customer is placing a great deal of trust by giving you their business. Don’t forsake this trust. A big part of this trust is honoring your commitments to the customer. If you said you were going to do something, then do it! These commitments should be kept at any cost—even if at your company’s expense. In the long run, investing in building this trust with your customers will pay dividends. What are some recent commitments that you have made to a customer or customers? __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ What did you have to do to meet these commitments? __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ What might have been the consequences for not meeting these commitments? __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ What were the “paybacks” for doing what you said you would do? __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________


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26 Don’t Oversell Like so many things in life, you can get too much of even a “good thing.” This applies to selling. Obviously, selling is essential to making sales. Not selling can be disastrous because the customer is not educated about what they are missing by not buying your product or service. The goal needs to be to find just the right balance between these two extremes. Selling can be like medicine. Given in the proper dose and measure, it can have a very beneficial effect. Overdosing on a medicine will not only take away its beneficial aspects, it could also endanger the well-being of the patient. Overselling can make the customer suspicious, irritated, and begin to question the true value of what you want them to buy. Sometimes “less is better” when selling, and it helps you build a better relationship with the customer. When would “less be better” when dealing with your customers? __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ (continued)

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26. Don’t Oversell (concluded) What could be the consequence of overselling to your customers? __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ How do you know when you might be overselling to your customers? __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ How can you avoid overselling in the future? __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________


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Part 2 Problem Solving Together

27 Put Things into Perspective for the Customer There is an old saying, “Sometimes you can’t see the forest for the trees.” Often, the clearest perspective is seen from someone on the outside looking in. You can be so close to a problem that you can’t objectively evaluate it. As someone who is not officially part of the organization and its reporting structure, you may have a unique perspective of your customer’s operations. You probably are very knowledgeable about the customer’s company and its people and processes, and can provide valuable insights that no one else has. You may be able to put things into perspective for the customer better than anyone else. This can provide an added and unexpected benefit to your customer. However, you need to take care to share this with the customer in such a way that it will be most positively received and not be detrimental to your relationship, particularly if addressing sensitive topics to the customer. What unique perspectives might you be able to provide for your customers that they may not be able to see for themselves? __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ What would be the best way to share this perspective with the customer? __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ 101 Ways to Build Better Relationships with Your Customers

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28 Reduce Paperwork for the Customer There is always a great deal of information you would like to have from your customers. This information not only helps you better serve the customer’s needs today, but also in the future. Unfortunately, getting this information usually results in more paperwork for the customer. For the sake of your relationship with the customer, you must try to keep this paperwork to a minimum. Think about how you feel when you are asked to fill out form after form when you make certain purchases. How happy does this make you? Undoubtedly, your customers feel the same way about filling out paperwork to do business with you! How much paperwork do your customers have to complete to do business with you? __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ How can you reduce this paperwork for your customers? __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ 44


29 Be a Contingency Thinker Being a contingency thinker means always having a back-up plan. You learn to think in terms of “what if?” For example, say you have to send a large order to a customer by a certain deadline. What are some contingencies you would need to think about? You might think about alternative ways of shipping the order to the customer’s location. What if the normal way you send orders is not available or can’t deliver on time? What contingency plans do you have that could prevent this situation from becoming a problem for the customer? What are some contingencies that you should be thinking about to ensure that you continue to provide the quality of service to your customer that they require? __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ What are your contingency plans to deal with these situations? __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ 101 Ways to Build Better Relationships with Your Customers

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30 Be Creative Sometimes it may seem like there is little opportunity to be creative in business, particularly when it comes to building a better relationship with customers. So often, the standard and conventional methods or procedures are expected. To deviate from these traditions would be paramount to blasphemy! Hogwash! Why not try something new or different when dealing with your customers? Maybe this is just what everyone needs to “wake up” and start getting excited about their work again. Try a different approach and break with conventional thinking. Do something that’s never been done before. In other words, be creative. You never know, you might just start a new trend that will become a tradition as hard to break away from as what is currently the norm! What are some ways in which you could be more creative in your job and the way you provide service or products to your customers? __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________

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31 Don’t Follow the 80/20 Rule with the Customer According to the classic 80/20 rule, you probably spend 80 percent of your time with 20 percent of your customers. Presumably, the 20 percent of your customers who take up this majority of your time are those who require the most attention. But is this the most appropriate way for you to allocate your time? If this is true for you, do these 20 percent of your customers represent 80 percent of your business? If not, is this really fair to the other 80 percent of your customers who give you the most of your business? Just because these 80 percent of your customers don’t demand more attention or require more service, are they less important than those who do? Actually, they deserve to get the most of your attention, not the least. Does the 80/20 rule apply to you concerning the amount of time and attention you spend with your customers? If so, who are some of the customers you spend this disproportionate amount of time with? __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ (continued) 101 Ways to Build Better Relationships with Your Customers

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31. Don’t Follow the 80/20 Rule with the Customer (concluded) What about the other 80 percent of your customers? Are you focusing enough of your time with them? If not, how can you better distribute the time and attention you pay to your customers and avoid the 80/20 rule if it is not the best strategy for you to follow? __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________

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32 Be Proactive Being proactive means that you do things before they have to be done. By being proactive, you stay on top of matters and don’t let them get out of control. Customers generally prefer doing business with a supplier who is proactive rather than one who is constantly in a reactive mode. When you find yourself reacting to a problem or situation with your customer, you can do little more than “damage control.” Usually in a reactive mode, you can expend a great deal of energy and not do anything but avoid some catastrophe from occurring. Being proactive usually requires much less time and effort than waiting until you have to react to an emergency situation. Being proactive also creates less anxiety and tension for everyone, most importantly the customer. Think of a situation you have experienced when dealing with a customer in which you found yourself in a reactive mode. What did you have to do to deal with this situation? __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ (continued)


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32. Be Proactive (concluded) How could being proactive have prevented this situation from becoming the problem it developed into? __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ How much less time and energy would being proactive involve versus waiting until you found yourself reacting? __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ Which would your customer(s) rather you be—reactive or proactive? ________________________________________ How can you be more proactive with your customers in the future? __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________

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33 Prevent Problems Before They Occur Which would your customers prefer? A. The best service that could possibly be provided when a problem occurs with a product or service they purchased. B. That the problem never occurred in the first place. Obviously, the answer is B. Your customers would much rather not have problems occur in the first place. This is the best customer service that they could ever experience. This is why, as the quality process teaches, prevention must be our system for achieving quality. How can you prevent future problems for your customers before they occur? __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ How could practicing this philosophy help build better relationships with your customers? __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________


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34 Do Things Right the First Time Another fundamental lesson from the quality process teaches us the importance of “Doing things right the first time.” Think about what this really means to your customers. How much does it cost not only your customers but also your organization when things are not done right the first time? Besides the financial expense of having to do something over again, what about the costs to your relationship with the customer? Perhaps this is the greatest cost of all. What are the customer relationship costs to you when things are not done right the first time? List as many as you can think of in the spaces below. __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ How could doing things right in the first place prevent some or all of these problems and the resulting expenses? __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ 52


35 Help Reduce Cycle Time for the Customer Cycle time is how long it takes to complete a process. Reducing cycle time increases productivity and efficiency. Any time you can reduce cycle time, you help the customer save money. Too often, suppliers to customers are focused only on their own cycle time, not their customers’. They may worry more about how the customer can improve their cycle time rather than the other way around. For instance, you might look for ways to reduce the cycle time it takes customers to place their order or pay their bill within the billing cycle. While these will always be important things to focus on, what the customer is most interested in is how you can help reduce the cycle times for their business. What part do you play in your customers’ cycle times? __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ How can you reduce your customers’ cycle times? __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ 101 Ways to Build Better Relationships with Your Customers

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36 Synergize with the Customer Synergy results in the whole being greater than the sum of the parts. In other words, synergy means that when working with others, 5 + 5 = 11 or more. In this example, 10 people working together can produce a result greater than what they could accomplish working independently. Synergy unleashes the talents, experiences, innovation, creativity, and resourcefulness of everyone working together. Synergy is the key to teamwork and achieving group goals. Synergy can be one of the most powerful forces in your working relationship with your customer. Through synergy, you can achieve what neither you nor the customer could ever accomplish working alone. What are some opportunities to synergize with your customer(s) that you may not be taking advantage of today? In other words, what can you accomplish together that you can’t independently? __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ 54


37 Reduce Your Company’s Bureaucracy You may call it by many different names such as policies, procedures, practices, processes, requirements, etc., but it all means the same thing to the customer—a big hassle! Think about how you feel when you must go through a number of procedural steps or fill out countless forms to get something accomplished. You need to try to find ways to reduce the levels of bureaucracy and “red tape” that a customer must contend with to do business with you. What unnecessary bureaucracy do your customers have to put up with to do business with you? __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ How might these be eliminated? __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ If these hassles can’t be eliminated, what can you do to make them less of a burden to the customer? __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________


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38 Bend the Rules for the Customer There is an old saying, which is particularly popular among young people: “Rules are meant to be broken.” Although this would not be a very good philosophy of life to follow consistently, it may be prudent at times when dealing with your customers, particularly if it pertains to rules that customers have to follow to do business with you. Are there rules that your organization may have that make it more difficult to serve your customers? Does following these rules to the letter of the law actually cause you problems in your relationships with the customers? Are there rules that you could either get an exception to or even ignore without negative consequences? If so, then this might be a good example of when “rules should be broken.” You may need to explain the circumstances and reason that you are bending the rules just for them. Undoubtedly, your customers will appreciate this extra service you are providing. Everyone needs to get a break once in awhile! What are some rules in your organization that you could or even should bend a little to provide better service to your customers? __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________

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39 Be a Problem Solver One way to be of service to the customer is to help them solve their problems. In doing this, it is important that you be part of the solution to the problem, not part of the cause. Sometimes because you are not part of the customer’s organization, you are in a better position to find these solutions and get them implemented. In order for problem solving to occur, it is helpful to use some kind of model that leads you step-by-step to the solution. The following model is designed to help you accomplish this goal: Step 1. Work together with the customer to identify the problem. Often, this can be the most difficult step. Unless you correctly identify what the problem really is, it will be virtually impossible to find its solution. Sometimes, as an outsider, you may be able to identify problems better than the customer. Step 2. Find the root cause of the problem. This may not always be what you or the customer first assume is the cause. Often you need to dig deeper into the problem to find the real root cause. (continued)


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39. Be a Problem Solver (concluded) Step 3. Search for possible solutions to the problem. Get as many opinions as you can. Tap into the experience and knowledge of the customer’s employees, other suppliers, even their customers. Step 4. Select the most appropriate solution or course of action to take. Once again, the more people you involve in this step of the process, the better the results you can achieve. Step 5. Follow up with the customer to ensure that you have taken the best possible actions to eliminate this problem and prevent it from reoccurring in the future.

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40 Refer the Customer to Other Sources Your most important goal needs to be to provide the best possible service to your customer. You need to achieve this goal regardless of who provides this service—even if it is someone else. Perhaps the best way to build a stronger relationship with your customer is to refer them to other sources that may be better able to meet their needs. Ultimately, the customer’s requirements will be best met in this way. This needs to be your first and foremost priority. Ultimately, your relationship with the customer will be strengthened rather than weakened. Have there been times when you should have referred the customer to another supplier who could have offered more appropriate service that would have met the customer’s needs better than you could have? __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ (continued)


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40. Refer the Customer to Other Sources (concluded) What do you think would be the consequences of doing this? __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ How do you think referring a customer to someone else who could better serve their needs could help your relationship with them? __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ Which do you think would ultimately be best for both you and the customer? __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________

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41 Look for Other Possibilities Sometimes to provide the best service to a customer, you need to look for alternative solutions than are typically available. In other words, you need to be a “possibilities thinker.” A possibilities thinker always looks for other alternatives. If one door becomes closed or locked, then he/she searches for another possibility. Possibility thinkers don’t give up easily. Nor are they ever truly defeated. There is always some other new possibility to explore—something else that might work better. What might be some example of other possibilities that you could suggest to your customers that you might not have normally considered? __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ How might these other possibilities help you continue to provide the quality of products/service your customers expect from you? __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________


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42 Roll with the Punches There is an old saying, “You’ve got to roll with the punches.” What this means to you in business is that there are always going to be challenges and problems, and you can’t let these get you down. Instead, you need to be flexible enough to do your best to adapt to these events. If not, you will be defeated by them. In dealing with a customer, there are always going to be problems that you will have to face. You must deal with these problems and keep trying to meet your objective of providing the highest quality service or product to the customer that you possibly can. What are some of the “punches” you might have to deal with as you work with your customers? List these in the left-hand column. In the right-hand column, list how you can “roll” with each of these problems. Punches _______________________

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Part 3 Communicating with the Customer

43 Learn the Customer’s Language Every organization has their own language, so to speak. They have many acronyms, abbreviations, or short-hand ways of describing that which is part of their unique company culture. For example, try to translate the following message that is expressed in a particular customer’s company language. A VMX and e-mail was sent from HQ to all N. A. R & D, field, production, distribution, and satellite sites about 1st -quarter P & L report. CEO and Board want costs down, ROI & ROC up, and to be back on track on plan by 4th quarter. Translation: A message was sent from the company’s headquarters via the voice mail telephone system and electronic mail to all research and development facilities, manufacturing locations, distribution centers, and smaller facilities supported by other company facilities throughout North America. The Chief Executive Officer and the corporation’s Board of Directors are requesting that a cost reduction program be begun to increase both the return on investment and return on capital financial performance measures to meet the year-end goals established in the company’s strategic business plan. (continued)


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43. Learn the Customer’s Language (concluded) What are some of the words, acronyms, symbols, slang, abbreviations, etc., that you must learn in order to speak your customer’s language? __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________

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44 Keep the Customer in Your Company’s Communications Loop As quickly as things change in an organization, it is easy to be “out of touch” with what is going on. Your customers have an interest in what is happening in your company, particularly as it might directly or indirectly affect them. They appreciate hearing information about changes in your company and organization. Part of maintaining a good relationship with your customers is keeping them in your “communications loop” about what is happening in your company on a regular basis. What are some ways you can keep your customers in your company’s communications loop? __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________


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45 Have the Top Executives in Your Company Meet the Customer There is nothing like going straight to the top to make the greatest impression on someone. People appreciate meeting important and accomplished individuals, particularly the top executives of your company. It is an honor and a privilege to meet this caliber of person and doing so can often have a long-lasting impact on a person. Having your top executives or owners meet your customers is a way of saying how important they are to your company. It also gives the top people in your company a greater awareness and appreciation of who your customers are and how their needs can be better served. How can you arrange for the top executives or owners of your company to meet with your customers? __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ What would you hope to accomplish by this meeting? __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ How could this help your relationship with your customers? __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________

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46 Don’t Fill the Customer’s Voice Mail–Box with Messages “Hello, it’s me again. Sorry to keep leaving messages on your answering machine, but I just thought of something else I needed to tell you.” Does this sound like the telephone messages that your customers receive from you? If you have ever experienced multiple messages from the same person on your answering machine or voice mail–box, you know how irritating this can be. This causes the customer receiving these messages a number of difficulties. First, because the messages are heard by the receiver one at a time, usually in the order in which they are received, it can be like investigating clues in a cheap paperback murder mystery! You get important information in bits and pieces and have to put them together into some kind of logical manner. Second, there is a limited amount of storage space available on their voice mail–box or answering machine. If you fill it with all of your messages, there won’t be any room for anyone else’s. This probably won’t make the customer very happy. An third, it can be very tedious to listen to long messages that don’t seem to ever make their point. To avoid having to leave multiple or lengthy messages on your customer’s voice mail–box or answering machine, use the following message organizer: (continued)


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46. Don’t Fill the Customer’s Voice Mail– Mail–Box with Messages (concluded) Telephone Message Organizer Before leaving a message or messages on a customer’s telephone voice mail–box or answering machine, answer the following questions to help you more effectively and efficiently communicate this information. A. What are the most important points you want to make in your message? 1) _____________________________________________ 2) _____________________________________________ 3) _____________________________________________ B. Is there any related information that you need to communicate to the customer that you should include or reference in this message? _______________________________________________ _______________________________________________ _______________________________________________ C. Practice the 2-Minute Challenge: Practice sending this message to yourself in 2 minutes or less. If you can’t say everything in less than 2 minutes, go back to steps A and B and make your message more concise and to the point. If this is not possible, consider sending the message via some other means such as a “live” telephone conversation, face-to-face meeting, conference call, video conference, letter, e-mail, etc. 70


47 Don’t Call the Customer on Their First Day Back from Vacation No matter how important it is for you to talk to the customer, avoid the temptation of calling him/her on their first day back at work from vacation. Even if you have listened to the customer’s message on their answering machine every day for two weeks telling you that they will be back in the office on the 22nd, wait at least until the 23rd or 24th to call. Why? Think about what it is like the first day back at work from vacation: Does the word chaos come to mind? There is probably no way that you are really going to be able to get the customer’s full attention that day—so don’t even try. Ultimately, no matter how urgent it is to talk to the customer, you will be better off waiting just a few more days to call. The customer will appreciate the extra time to get caught up and be more responsive to your call. The only reason to call a customer on their first day back from vacation is if you were specifically instructed to do so by them, which is highly unlikely! Have you ever called a customer or someone else on their first day back from vacation? If so, how receptive was this person to your call? ________________________ Were you able to accomplish as much with this call as you had hoped? ___________________________________ (continued)


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47. Don’t Call the Customer on Their First Day Back from Vacation (concluded) How much more productive might this call have been if you had waited a day or two? __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________

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48 Don’t Put the Customer On Hold How does it make you feel when someone keeps putting you on hold during a telephone conversation? Does it make you feel that there is someone or something more important than you that the other person is more concerned about? Is this the impression or message you really want to send to your customers? You can put the customer on hold in other ways as well. You can allow delays or interruptions to virtually put service to your customer on hold. In either case, the customer will become impatient waiting for you to get back to them instead of giving them your undivided attention, which they want and deserve. In what ways might you be putting your customers on hold? __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ How can you avoid putting customers on hold in these ways in the future? __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________


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49 Get on the Customer’s Mailing List It is always good to know what is going on within your customer’s organization. Personnel changes, moves, reorganizations, changes in strategic focus, and the like frequently occur, which could impact your relationship with the customer. An excellent way to keep abreast of these changes is to receive the publications and mailings that the customer sends to their employees and customers. Typically this includes the company’s newsletter, product literature, annual reports, and other public documents intended to be shared outside the organization. These are usually obtained simply by asking for them. By receiving this information, not only will you be better able to keep informed about what is going on within their organization, but will demonstrate to the customer your interest in their company. What are some of the types of information that your customers may publish that would be useful for you to receive? __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ (continued)

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49. Get on the Customer’s Mailing List (concluded) How can you get on your customer’s mailing list to regularly receive this information? __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ How can this information be used to help you build a stronger working relationship with your customers? __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________


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50 Keep Confidential Information Confidential It has been said that “if more than one person knows something, then it is no longer confidential!” What this implies is that the person who hears the confidential information will inevitably tell someone else, who will in turn tell someone else, and so on. Everyone seems to have at least someone else they trust enough to tell even the most confidential information. This process will be repeated until the confidential information becomes common knowledge and is no secret anymore. Sometimes it seems that the more confidential the information, the more tempting it is for someone to tell it to someone else. Perhaps the most likely way to ensure that information will be quickly spread throughout the organization is to say that it is highly confidential! However, in the course of doing business with your customer, you may often become aware of highly confidential information. Perhaps you may become aware of things that not even the customer’s own employees don’t know. You need to honor even the strictest of confidentiality requirements requested from the customer. There may also be legal implications to this confidentiality requirement, and you may be required to sign an agreement stating that you will not divulge (continued)

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50. Keep Confidential Information Confidential (concluded) any information you learn about the customer to anyone else, particularly their competitors. This can be particularly important in those situations when you may also do business with the customer’s competitors. How can you assure your customer that you will honor any confidential information that they may entrust in you? __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ How can your customers’ confidence and trust in you to keep information confidential help strengthen your business relationship? __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________


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51 Really Listen to the Customer Listening to what someone has to say can be one of the most difficult and challenging aspects of communications. There are just so many things that can interfere with really hearing what the customer is trying to say. One of these obstacles might be our own expectations of what we want the customer to say. In other words, you hear what you expect to hear, not necessarily what the customer really meant. This can cause serious relationship problems between you and your customers. There can be huge differences between what your customers said, what they meant, and what you heard. The following is an example of the Said-Meant-Heard phenomenon that often occurs when communicating with customers:

What the customer said: We don’t have the money in our budget to buy from you at this time.

What the customer meant: Your price is too high. You need to find a way to provide your product/service at a lower price or some other creative way to meet our price objectives.

What was heard: There is nothing that can be done to change this situation once the customer’s budget has been set. The sale is lost. (continued) 78


51. Really Listen to the Customer Customer (concluded) What are some examples you may have experienced with your customers concerning Said-Meant-Heard? What the customer said: __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ What the customer meant: __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ What was heard: __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________


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52 Always Be a Page Away With the availability and popularity of electronic pagers or other similar devices today, there really is no reason for you to ever be out of touch with the customer. For a relatively inexpensive price, you can make yourself completely accessible to the customer, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, virtually anyplace in the world. Although this may not be necessary in every customer situation or relationship, it may be very important in other circumstances. Pagers today come in a wide variety of sizes, shapes, and functions to meet whatever communications needs you may have with your customers. Being able to respond immediately to your customer’s needs via your pager or cell phone, personal digital assistant (PDA), etc., could be one of the most important services you can provide. How accessible are you presently to your customers? __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ How could being more accessible to your customers help your business relationship and allow you to provide better service to them? __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________

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53 Be Computer Compatible When communicating with your customers, you need to speak the same language—the same computer language that is. You need to be able to readily transfer information to and from the customer via your computer system. To do this, you need to make sure that your computers can “talk” to one another through e-mail or other means, and that information can quickly and easily be transmitted between your systems. The Internet today offers potentially unlimited possibilities for communications and data transfer. You need to take full advantage of these new capabilities when dealing with customers. However, with technology, software, and computer equipment rapidly changing today, this is not always an easy thing to do. No sooner do you install the most current and sophisticated equipment available then something else more powerful hits the market. Although you may never be able to always keep up with the latest technology, you do need to stay up-todate with your customer’s current computer capability. How compatible are you with your customer’s system? __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ (continued)


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53. Be Computer Compatible (concluded) Do you experience any problems sending or receiving information via your computer with your customers? __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ If so, how can you become more computer compatible with your customers? __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________

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54 Provide a “Safe Ear” for the Customer Everyone needs someone they can talk to and share their problems and concerns with. Finding a “safe ear” to talk to isn’t always easy. A safe ear is someone you can trust to tell things to, and you know that it will not go any farther and that this trust won’t be broken. Sometimes because you are not part of their organization and reporting structure, the customer might feel most comfortable talking to you about certain things or problems. Playing this role for your customer can be one of the most important things you can do to support your working relationship. Have you ever been a safe ear for one of your customers in this way? How did this affect your relationship with your customer? __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ How can you be a safe ear for your customers in the future? __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________


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55 Give Feedback to the Customer Feedback is information that helps you perform better in the future. Unfortunately, you don’t always get feedback when you need it. The right people need to give you feedback—those who are most knowledgeable about your performance. You may be in an excellent position to be able to give your customers knowledgeable feedback about their performance. As a supplier to your customers, you may see a perspective in their performance and organization that no one else sees. However, for feedback to be useful, those receiving it must be receptive to hearing this information. How feedback is presented can have a great effect on how it is received. What type of feedback could you give the customer that could help them better serve their customers? __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ (continued) 84


55. Give Feedback to the Customer (concluded) How receptive do you think your customers will be to receiving this feedback? __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ How could you help the customer be more receptive to this feedback? __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________


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56 Don’t Spread Rumors About the Customer Why is it that everyone loves a rumor so much? In any organization, there are typically more rumors floating around than anyone could ever even begin to chase down. Who starts these rumors is anyone’s guess and how accurate they are greatly varies. However, like the old saying, “there’s a little truth in every rumor,” you may find that some of these rumors being spread around turn out to be true. But just how true are they? How accurate are rumors? Just how little truth is there really in the latest rumor you heard about your customer? The answer is probably very little. This is why you shouldn’t totally believe every rumor you hear or spread rumors around about your customers. Do you really want to be associated with spreading inaccurate and even sometimes malicious information about your customers? What effect do you think that would have on your relationships with your customers? What is an example of a rumor about a customer that if attributed to you spreading it around could negatively affect your business relationship? __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ 86


57 Don’t Let the Customer See You Sweat It may not always be good business to let the customer know everything you need to do in order to provide the quality of service or product to them that they expect. This might be contrary to what your instincts tell you. After all, wouldn’t you naturally want the customer to know all the efforts you must put forth to provide a quality service or product? However, do you really want the customer to know all the problems you might encounter along the way? Do you really want them to know all the “close calls” you might have experienced that could have interfered with your ability to supply them the level of quality they have learned to expect and receive from you? Just maybe this is a little more information than the customer really needs to know. Maybe it is better if they don’t know how close they came to not receiving your usual high quality of service or product. If all they ever see is what turned out right, do they need to know all the problems that occurred getting to this successful end? Do they really want to know? Sometimes it is better to spare the customer all the gory details and just share in their satisfaction of receiving exactly what they ordered. Ultimately, they will have more confidence in you and in continuing to do business together. (continued)


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57. Don’t Let the Customer See You Sweat (concluded) What might be some details that would be better that the customer doesn’t see you “sweat” about? __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________

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58 Admit Your Mistakes Nobody is perfect, and everyone makes mistakes at times. Certainly it is important that you do everything you can to minimize the frequency or severity of mistakes. Customers expect this of you as they should. But your actions after you do make a mistake can be as important as avoiding mistakes in the first place. Of course, trying to cover up mistakes will only make matters worse. The best thing that you can do when you do make a mistake is to admit it to the customer and immediately take action to correct the situation. The customer will respect your honesty and accept the fact that even you can make a mistake once in awhile. You also then need to reassure the customer that you have taken steps to prevent this same mistake from reoccurring in the future. What is the worst thing that could happen to you by admitting you made a mistake to the customer? __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ (continued)


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58. Admit Admit Your Mistakes (concluded) What is the best thing that could happen to you by admitting your mistake to the customer? __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ What is the benefit to both you and the customer of admitting your mistakes and committing to prevent them from reoccurring in the future? __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________

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59 Don’t Burden the Customer with Your Problems Sometimes customers can seem like old friends, and oftentimes they are. Friends share things with each other about their lives, including their problems and complaints. Even in these friendships with customers, you still must keep in mind that this is a business relationship as well. Complaining about all your problems to the customer, particularly about your employer, may not be the best way to build a better business relationship. The customer may only be sympathetic up to a certain point and tire of hearing about your problems. The customer might even decide that they no longer want to do business with an organization with so many problems. Talk about shooting yourself in the foot! Do you burden your customer with too many of your problems? What might be some indications that you might be guilty of doing this? __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________


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60 Don’t B.S. the Customer Of course B.S. stands for “blue sky.” Did you think it stood for something else? Actually the idea of blue sky and what the meaning of B.S. is typically thought of are the same thing. It is based on the perception that there are salespersons who will describe the sky as being even bluer than it actually appears. Blue sky in this case means to exaggerate the value, significance, or importance of something to the customer in order to make a sale. Although this technique may achieve some shortterm objectives, it ultimately comes back to you! It can destroy your credibility and ultimately your relationship with the customer. Don’t B.S. the customer in any way. By the way, what did you think B.S. stood for? What might be an example of B.S.ing the customer that you should always avoid? __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ 92


61 Keep Good Records Records are what are left after your business is completed. Records provide a database and historical perspective of the past. Often this information is needed to make important decisions that can significantly impact the future. Keeping good records that are accurate, verifiable, and easily retrievable can be a very valuable service you can provide for your customers. It saves them from having to duplicate these same efforts. It also allows you to provide a unique service to the customer that no one else can. By maintaining a database of all pertinent information concerning your business with the customer, you can add value and help strengthen your business relationship with the customer. What are examples of records that you have access to concerning your business with your customers that could potentially be helpful to them? __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ (continued)


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61. Keep Good Records (concluded) How can you help your customer use this information? __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ How can you ensure that this information is or continues to be available to your customers? __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ How can your customer data record keeping be improved and be of more value to both of you? __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________

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62 Don’t Become a Nuisance to the Customer When dealing with a customer, you should be responsive, informative, proactive, courteous, sharing, helpful, resourceful, professional, obliging, articulate, earnest, trustworthy, fair, competent, friendly, ambitious, sincere, realistic, correct, accurate, humble, caring, empathetic, patient, principled, polite, progressive, diligent, hard working, committed, reassuring, convincing, quality minded, detailed, innovative, tireless, caring, capable, nice, initiating, wise, open, kind, helpful, imaginative, reasonable, stable, zealous, just, precise, worthy, unique, versatile, keen, likable, optimistic, quick, sensitive, lively, extraordinary, memorable, responsible, consistent, neat, rational, organized, or valued—but never become a NUISANCE! Becoming a nuisance to a customer is probably the worst thing you can do concerning your working relationship. This means that what the customer would really like to do is get rid of you. This is similar to how you feel about a fly showing up at your picnic! Is this really how you want your customers to feel about you? Make sure that you avoid becoming a nuisance to your customers at all costs. If you think you see or hear a customer reaching for a fly swatter the next time you contact him/her, maybe it is time to back off just a little bit! Remember that different customers have different expectations and requirements concerning how you (continued)


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62. Don’t Become a Nuisance to the Customer (concluded) interact with them. Some may want to hear from you all the time and others practically not at all. You need to be able to distinguish these differences in your customers’ expectations of you. Are you in danger of becoming a nuisance to any of your customers? If so, what can you do to correct this situation and still accomplish what you need to with the customer? __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ 96


63 Understand When “No” Means “No” Part of not becoming a nuisance to the customer is understanding when “no” means “no.” This can be very difficult for many salespersons. After all, most sales training typically includes lessons on not accepting the first “no” from the customer. Instead, you may have been taught to consider a “no” as nothing more than an indication that the customer has not received enough information to make a purchase decision. Although this may indeed be an effective sales technique that can bring in sales that would have otherwise been lost, there comes a point when you need to take the customer at their word and understand that “no” really means “no.” Pursuing the sale after this point will only negatively affect your relationship with the customer. Even though you may not make the sale, there may still be something to gain by accepting the customer’s “no.” For instance, you might ask for feedback from the customer concerning his or her reasons for this decision that might help you make future sales. Or you might simply strengthen your relationship with the customer by accepting “no”—this may be something of even, or possibly more, value. (continued)


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63. Understand When “No” means “No” (concluded) List below on the appropriate lines those circumstances when you should not accept at least the first “no” from the customer and when you should accept “no” from the customer. When not to accept “no” from the customer: __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ When to accept “no” from the customer: __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ 98


64 Link Electronically to the Customer In our electronic age today, there are so many ways for you to link up with the customer. The personal computer provides virtually limitless possibilities for you to become linked electronically with your customers. This includes e-mail, the Internet, faxes, personal data assistants (PDAs), electronic calendars, and other future possibilities not even yet imagined. You must use all these new electronic communications tools to stay linked to the customer. These allow you to stay closer to the customer’s needs and to be better able to provide the quality of service your customers want and deserve.

Your Electronic Communications Inventory Check which of these electronic communications tools you are presently using to stay more closely linked with your customers: ____ E-mail

____ Fax

____ Internet

____ Intranet

____ Pager

____ PDA

____ Voice mail

____ Teleconferences

____ Web site

____ Cell phone

____ Laptop PC

____ Others? ________________________ ________________________ (continued)


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64. Link Electronically Electronically to the Customer (concluded) How could you better use these communications tools to help you meet the requirements of your customers? __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________

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Part 4 Understanding the Customer

65 Be a “Constant” During Change Changes in your customer’s organization can mean change for you as well. Therefore, it is important to stay aware of these changes as they occur and find out how they may affect you. The more you understand about these changes in customers’ organizations, the better able you will be to maintain your business relationship with those who may now be making decisions that directly affect you. Periods of change in a customer’s organization can be one of the most important times to focus on your relationship with them. In fact, you may be one of the last things that doesn’t change. You may be the only “constant” that was not eliminated or changed. In this role, you can do a great deal to help the new players in the organization move toward their own goals and objectives. These changes may also provide new opportunities to be of service to the customer. How can you be the “constant” that stays the same during changes in your organization? __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ How can your continued relationship with the customer help them adapt to changes in their own organization? __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________


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66 Read the Customer’s Annual Report A company’s annual report contains important information about who and what they are today and hope to be in the future. You can learn a great deal about your customer by reading their annual report. This wealth of information can help you not only gain a better understanding of the customer’s business and operations but also how you might position yourself to be part of their future. The company will also be impressed that you took this interest in learning more about their company. Annual reports can usually be obtained simply by requesting one or by buying stock in your customer’s company—also another good investment to make! Do you have a copy of your customer’s annual report? __________________________________________________ Now, the really tough question—have you read it? _____ How can you use the information you learned in the customer’s annual report to provide them with better service, not only today but also in the future? __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________

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67 Study the Customer’s History The past is rich with lessons that teach us how to be successful in the future. By studying history, we can learn from both the mistakes and successes of those who have lived before us. A company’s history is an important part of its tradition. Most companies are very proud of their history and are pleased to share it with others. They see their past as an important key to understanding who they are today. It is important to learn about your customer’s history to gain this perspective and understanding. By learning about their past, the customer will feel that you will be better able to serve their needs not only today, but in the future. Have you studied your customer’s history? If not, how can you learn more about it? __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ What do you see as the benefits to both you and the customer from learning more about their history? __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________


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68 Ask the Customer if it is a Good Time to Call Sometimes you might contact a customer or prospective one at a bad time. The customer may indeed be interested in talking with you, but just has other more pressing business to attend to at the time. Pursuing the contract at this particular time may only serve to irritate the customer. Instead of returning your call at a more opportune time, the customer may lose their patience and interest in talking with you. Everyone, including your customers, is very busy these days at work. When contacting a customer, it is a good idea to ask if it is a good time for them to talk or not. The customer will appreciate your consideration for their time and hopefully respect yours as well. Think of a situation when you tried to contact a customer at a time not convenient for them. What was the result? __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ How could this contact have been more productive if you had asked if it was a good time or not for the customer? __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ 106


69 Take the Customer to Lunch There truly may be no such thing as a free lunch, but this doesn’t mean you shouldn’t pick up the tab when you are dining with a customer. The lunch may be free to the customer, but pays dividends to you. Often, inviting a customer to lunch is a good way to get to know each other in a more relaxed environment. This can be important to better understanding the customer’s needs and requirements. It also helps you build a better relationship together. Find opportunities to take the customer to lunch or some other more relaxed setting to work on strengthening your relationship. What opportunities do you have to invite the customer to lunch or some other more relaxed atmosphere to get to know each other better? __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ How could this help build a better relationship with your customer? __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________


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70 Keep the Customer’s Priorities in Mind Your priorities are what are most important to you. Priorities can be unique and individualized. Obviously, priorities are important, particularly to the person who sets them. Your customer’s priorities should also be important to you. Helping your customers meet their priorities should be a top priority of yours. However, to accomplish this goal, you must first understand what your customer’s top priorities are. What are your customer’s top priorities? __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ If you don’t know your customer’s priorities, how can you find out what they are? __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________

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71 Stay “In Tune” with the Customer’s Business There are many ways for you to keep informed about your customer’s business. There are industry publications that provide current information and market trends. In addition, business magazines, newspapers, and periodicals provide general information and market conditions. The Internet can also provide a wealth of information about your customer’s business. This information can be critical to helping you provide the quality of service the customer wants and expects. By being aware of what is currently happening in their business, you can be better prepared to make any necessary changes to ensure that the requirements of your customer are still being met. The customer will be impressed by your making the effort to stay informed about what is happening in their business and have more confidence in your ability to serve them. What are some of the sources you can use to stay informed about what is going on in your customer’s business? __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ 101 Ways to Build Better Relationships with Your Customers

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72 Empathize with the Customer To have empathy means to try to understand how another person feels about something. It doesn’t mean that you necessarily agree, just that you understand. It is important to empathize with the customer on certain things that may be of great concern to him or her. This may involve something about which you do not agree with the customer. At the very least, you need to try to gain a better understanding about why the customer feels the way he or she does. Sometimes this greater level of understanding can be important in helping find solutions to problems. And the customer will appreciate that you took the time and effort to really understand their point of view. This is what builds better relationships. What is an example of an empathy opportunity you may currently have with a customer? __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ What would be some of the possible advantages or gains that might be realized by empathizing with your customer? __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________

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73 Feel the Customer’s Pain There is an old saying, “You need to feel the other person’s pain” to really understand him or her. In many ways, this is especially true when it comes to dealing with the customer. You need to be just as concerned about your customer’s problems as they are. Their problems need to be your problems. Most importantly, you need to be just as motivated as the customer to find solutions to these problems. In what ways can you “feel the customer’s pain”? __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ In what ways can you help stop your customer’s pain? __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________


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74 Understand the Customer’s Requirements The quality process has taught us the importance of meeting the customer’s requirements to keep their business. However, in order to meet the customer’s requirements, you must first understand what they are. You may think you know what the customer’s requirements are, but do you really? Misunderstanding the customer’s requirements results in more lost sales than any other reason. To find out if you really do understand what the customer’s requirements are, try this simple exercise. First write down what you believe to be the customer’s requirements. Next ask the customer what they perceive their requirements to be. Compare these two descriptions and see if there are any discrepancies between these two lists. If there are differences between your understanding and your customer’s understanding of their requirements, then these gaps must be addressed as quickly as possible. (continued)

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74. Understand the Customer’s Requirements (concluded) What do you think are the customer’s requirements? __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ What does the customer say are their requirements? __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________


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75 Consider the Customer’s Perspective Two people can see or hear something and come away with two very different experiences and perspectives. One’s perspective can have a very dramatic effect on how they feel about something. Have you ever considered what your customer’s perspective might be about buying from you? Is it possible that their perspective might be different than yours? Absolutely. It is important to consider what your customer’s perspective might be. There are a number of ways in which you can gain this better understanding using either a direct or indirect approach.

Direct Approach Ask the customer what their current perspective is concerning buying your company’s product or service. In other words, how do they presently feel about doing business with you?

Indirect Approach Project yourself into the customer’s position. In other words, “walk a mile in their shoes.” If you were the customer, how would you feel about the quality of service or the product you receive from your company? (continued)

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75. Consider the Customer’s Perspective (concluded) Which approach do you think works best for you to gain the customer’s perspective? __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ How can you get a better perspective of how the customer feels about doing business with you? __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________


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76 Anticipate the Customer’s Needs Anticipating the customer’s needs is part of providing excellent service that really builds a stronger relationship. This shows the customer that you are thinking ahead in a proactive manner in order to prevent problems. Sometimes you may be in a position to anticipate a customer’s needs before they are even aware that the needs exist. For instance, you may be aware, before the customer is, of an upcoming change that could affect the customer’s business. Or you may be able to warn the customer about a shift in markets or demand that’s coming and help them prepare for it. It might even be something that is about to happen within your own organization that you could forewarn the customer about. What might be a change that will affect your customer’s needs that you can anticipate and warn them about? __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ How can your product or service help them deal with these changes that you foresee? __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________

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Part 5 Supporting the Customer

77 Give the Customer the Benefit of the Doubt Everyone needs to get a break at least once in awhile. Nobody’s perfect or can do everything right all the time. And sometimes things aren’t always as they appear to be. Something might appear to be one thing, but in reality be very different. This is particularly true when it comes to your relationship with your customer. Give your customer the benefit of the doubt. Don’t jump to the wrong conclusion when dealing with the customer. Keep an open mind about your customer and their actions. Why not assume the positive rather than the negative about the customer? Which would be a better way to maintain a more positive relationship with your customer? Go ahead; give ’em a break—they deserve it! What is an example of when you may have had an opportunity to give your customer the benefit of the doubt? __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ How did giving the customer the benefit of the doubt result? __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________


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78 Avoid Conflicts of Interest A conflict of interest with a customer might involve you doing something that could be counter-productive to their business but advantageous to you. This could involve their competitors, other business interests of yours, or even your personal interests. Regardless, it is obviously best to avoid any conflict of interest that could exist between you and your customers. If you are not sure if something might be a possible conflict of interest, you should discuss this with the customer to understand how they may feel about it. You may even be able to prevent something from becoming a conflict of interest by finding out if it is or not beforehand with the customer. What might be some possible conflicts of interest with your customers? __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ How might these be prevented or eliminated? __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________

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79 Keep the Customer’s Logo in Your Computer A company’s logo is an important aspect of their identity. Your customers are justifiably proud of their company logo and like to see it appear in as many places as possible. With all the technology available today, it is relatively easy to have your customer’s company logo loaded into your computer so that you can easily reproduce it. There will be many occasions when this can be very useful to both you and the customer. Being able to reprint their logo will make you seem more a part of your customer’s team and committed to providing them service. One word of caution—make sure that you accurately reproduce the customer’s logo. Size, color, scale, etc., are all critically important in company logos. You need to make sure that you have the most current version of their logo, as companies sometimes have a tendency to make changes in logos from time to time. Check with your customer to make sure that you are correctly reproducing their logo and have their permission to do so. (continued)


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79. Keep the Customer’s Logo in Your Computer (concluded) If you do not already have your customer’s logo in your computer, how can you have it loaded into your computer so that it can be readily and easily reproduced? __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ How can you ensure that you have your customer’s most current approved logo? __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________

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80 Talk Nicely About the Customer Word gets around, and what you say about your customer will very likely get back to them. Keeping this in mind, it is a smart idea to say good things about your customers to others. Going around “bad mouthing” your customer may allow you to vent some of your frustrations about working with them. But it also may seriously damage your relationship with them as well. Think about how you would feel if someone who you were giving your business to went around saying nasty things about you. Would you continue doing business with them? How do you talk about your customers to others? The following quick test can immediately tell you if you are saying anything inappropriate about your customers to others.

Test If your customer heard what you say about them to other people, would this strengthen or weaken your work relationship? __________________________________________________ (continued)


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80. Talk Nicely About the Customer (concluded) Answers Obviously if you answered “strengthen,” then there is nothing inappropriate about what you go around saying about your customer. On the other hand, if you answered “weaken,” then you need to reevaluate what you say about your customers to others. How did you do on this test? __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________

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81 Join the Customer’s Team No, this doesn’t mean you should apply for employment at your customer’s company. Rather, it means that you need to just think of yourself as part of your customer’s team. Team members support one another as they strive to reach their shared goals for success. Sometimes team members perform tasks that enable other members to be better able to do their jobs. Other times, players “carry the ball” themselves with the support of their teammates. Ultimately, what is most important is how the team performs as a whole. Even the greatest individual performance is diminished if the team itself is not successful. It is the team that is most important in sports as well as in your relationship with your customers. How can you become more a part of your customer’s team? __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ (continued)


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81. Join the Customer’s Team (concluded) What role/position can you play on your customer’s team? __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ What contributions can you make to the customer’s team effort? __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ What results can you help your customer’s team achieve? __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________

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82 Collaborate with the Customer To collaborate means to work together toward shared goals. Collaboration is the optimum business relationship. Collaboration creates opportunities for many desirable things to occur. By collaborating with your customer, you not only can reach goals that neither of you could alone, but you can also form alliances that provide many other benefits. This can lead to future collaborative efforts. You need to look for collaborative opportunities with your customer. The benefits may be more than you may immediately realize. What are some collaborative opportunities you may have with your customers that you may not be presently taking full advantage of? __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ What might be some of the advantages of collaborating with your customers? __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ 101 Ways to Build Better Relationships with Your Customers

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83 Help the Customer Accept Change As the old saying goes: “The only constant in this world is change.” Perhaps the most important skill that someone can have is the ability to accept change. You may be able to help the customer adapt to changes that are occurring in their business. There may be changes that you need to initiate that also potentially can be very upsetting to your customers. Products, services, markets, pricing, and many other aspects of your business will constantly be changing or fluctuating as you do business together. Your customers will appreciate any efforts you make that will help them adjust to the new things to come. You can help your customers accept these changes in the following ways: • Be sure to give the customer as much advanced notice of any changes that are going to occur • Share as much information about the change as you can with the customer • Explain to the customer why the change is necessary and why things could not remain as they were in the past • Let the customer know what the objectives and expected results are for these changes • Give the customer time to adjust to the change (continued)

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83. Help the Customer Accept Change (concluded) What changes do you foresee coming that you may need to help your customers deal with and accept? __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ How can you help your customers deal with these changes? __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________


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84 Play a Supportive Role for the Customer There are many roles that you can play for your customer. One of the most important is providing support to the customer. You need to support your customer in any way that they can use your assistance. Support can be provided in many different ways. You can give your customers emotional support by ensuring them that you will provide them the highest quality product or service possible, on time, every time. You can also support their efforts to meet their own customer’s requirements. You need to think of support exactly as its name implies—to help hold something up or keep it from falling. Thus providing support to your customer can’t be something that you just provide occasionally or when the mood strikes you. To truly play a supportive role to your customer, you constantly have to be there when they need you. How can you play a more supportive role for your customer? __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ (continued) 130


84. Play a Supportive Role for the Customer (concluded) How can playing this supportive role help you build a better relationship with your customers? __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ When do your customers need your support the most? __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________


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85 Treat the Customer Like a Friend Treating the customer like a friend doesn’t necessarily mean that you have to be their friend. True friendship is a special relationship that you have with only a select number of people in your life. You treat friends differently than you do other people. You show them kindness, trust, respect, patience, understanding, and many other things in this mutually supportive and nurturing relationship. Acts of kindness and genuine concern for someone else will usually be reciprocated. You don’t have to become friends with your customers, but treating them more like one can have many positive results for both of you. You will find that treating a customer as you would a friend can result in building a stronger relationship. What could possibly result if you began treating your customers as you would your friends? __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ 132


86 Don’t Take Unfair Advantage Occasionally, you might find yourself in a position with a customer in which you have the “upper hand.” In other words, the customer has no other choice but to agree to whatever you want in order for them to meet their objectives or commitments. But this situation could change, and the customer will remember how you treated them when they were most vulnerable. You have a choice to make. Choose below how you want the customer to remember how you reacted in this situation: ____ That you came through and really helped them out of a difficult situation and strengthened your business relationship by your actions. ____ That you took unfair advantage of the customer in this situation. Even though they had no other choice but to do business with you this time, they won’t allow themselves to be put in this situation again. The choice is yours!


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87 Become a Resource to the Customer Resources are those things that are of value to a business that help them reach their goals. Resources are usually something in limited supply for everyone in business, including customers. This is what makes them so valuable. The more you can become a resource for your customers, the more valuable you will be to them. The best thing for your customer is when they use you as a resource, and it doesn’t directly add cost to them. For example, many organizations today have limited resources to accomplish everything they have to do. The more you can provide certain services that could help the customer achieve their goals, the more valuable a resource you will become. These resources may cost you little or no extra expense to provide to the customer. This might include sharing information or databases, office or meeting space, advice, personnel, training, or countless other resources. One word of caution: Each customer may perceive the value of particular resources differently. What may be considered a valuable resource by one customer may be of little or no interest to another. For example, meeting space may be a scarce resource to one customer and a commodity to another. Resources, like so many other things, may indeed be in the eye of the beholder! (continued)

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87. Become a Resource to the Customer (concluded) What might be some examples of resources that you could provide that would be considered valuable to your customers? __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________


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88 Think Win/Win with the Customer Thinking win/win means that you look for ways in which both you and the customer benefit from doing business together. If either party is not satisfied as a result of doing business together, then you have something less than a win/win situation. It may be a win/lose scenario in which you benefit at the customer’s expense, or a lose/win scenario in which you don’t reach your objective, but the customer does. Or you could have a lose/ lose situation where both you and the customer lose as a result of not doing business together. Obviously, win/win is the goal that you must constantly strive to achieve with your customers. It is the only way that both of you will be completely satisfied as a result of your business relationship and interested in continuing it in the future. What are examples of the following scenarios in your business relationship with your customer? Win/Win: _______________________________________ __________________________________________________ Win/Lose:_______________________________________ __________________________________________________ (continued)

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88. Think Win Win/Win /Win with the Customer (concluded) Lose/Lose: _____________________________________ __________________________________________________ Lose/Win: ______________________________________ __________________________________________________ How can you work toward achieving win/win scenarios with your customers? __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ 101 Ways to Build Better Relationships with Your Customers

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89 Be a Team Player You constantly hear about the need for teamwork in business today. To most people, working as a member of a team means supporting others in their own company. We typically do not think of teamwork as going beyond the boundaries of our own organization. However, to truly support your customer and build a stronger relationship, you must think of yourself as a member of their team as well. You need to support the customer as they strive to reach their goals for success much the same as you would your own team. Just like in sports, where one player’s performance enables another to score points for their team, you need to help your customers win in their competitions as well. How can you become more of a team player for your customer? __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ Again, thinking of sports where one player enables another to make the “big play,” how can you provide support for your customers in this way as a team player? __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________

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90 Think Long-term Relationships When it comes to relationships with your customer, you need to think long term. Sometimes it may be difficult to look ahead that far. We easily become so focused on meeting our daily, weekly, monthly, or even quarterly sales goals that we lose sight of the long-term implications. This is particularly important when dealing with relationships with customers. Thinking long term about your customers means that you consider not only meeting today’s goals, but look at what will most likely strengthen your relationship and ensure that they continue doing business with you in the future. In business, we have to be constantly looking at both the short- and long-term impact of our actions, particularly as these affect our relationships with customers. There needs to be an appropriate balance between both aspects of doing business. If either the short term or long term is overlooked, there can become an imbalance between these two important considerations. Unfortunately, it is usually the long-term aspects of relationships with the customer that are most often sacrificed to achieve some shorter-term goal or objective. At times you might find that this is acceptable. However, if you ignore for too long the long-term aspects of your relationship with your customer, you may no longer have that customer to worry about in the future. (continued)


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90. Think LongLong-term Relationships (concluded) What is the most appropriate balance between shortterm and long-term considerations with your customers? Is this balance too heavily weighed on either short or long term? __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ Is there enough emphasis on the longer-term aspects of your business relationship with your customers? If this relationship is out of balance, what can or should be done to correct this situation? __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ Short term

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Long term


91 Don’t Waste the Customer’s Time Time is money, and today most of us have less time (as well as money) than ever before to spare. Wasting your customer’s time is the same as wasting their money. Whenever a customer has contact with you, a certain amount of their resources is being spent. Your objective in asking for a customer’s time should always be that they will ultimately feel that it was money well spent. If not, then it was a waste of time and money for both of you.

Time = Money Exercise Think about how much money your customers actually spend when you ask for their time. In the following exercise, roughly estimate what just one hour of the customer’s time might cost them. This, of course, will be nothing more than a guess on your part, but can put the dollar range that might be involved into perspective. Consider such things as salaries, rent, utilities, taxes, and other associated costs involved in doing business. You may think of your own company’s cost in projecting what your customer’s might be. Again, accuracy is not as important in this estimate as gaining a better understanding of just how valuable your customer’s time is to them. Estimated customer’s cost of giving you one hour of their time: $__________ (continued)


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91. Don’t Waste the Customer’s Time (concluded) How can you make this investment on your customer’s part yield the greatest dividends for them? __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________

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92 Act Like a Business Partner Business partners work to benefit each other. What is good for one, is also good for the other partner’s interests. They each strive to find ways to add value to their partnership. Each contributes to the partnership, making the pair stronger because of their unique offerings. Partnerships create synergy. In other words, working alone, neither of the partners would be as successful as they are together. Partners need to trust each other and share information that allows them to reach these greater goals. They also provide support for each other through good times in business as well as bad. In what ways could you act more like a business partner with your customers? __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ What are some common goals of this partnership? __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ (continued)


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92. Act Like a Business Partner (concluded) What information could you share with your customer/ partner that would be beneficial to you both? __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ How can you provide more support for your customer/ partner? __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ What opportunities are there for synergy in this partnership between you and your customers? __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________

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Part 6 Achieving Results

93 Deliver on Your Deliverables Deliverables are what you have agreed that you will provide or do for the customer. The customer associates you with your deliverables. The customer does business with you because they need your deliverables. It is what the customer wants and expects from you. Deliverables are what keeps you in business. They are what the customer pays for. Sometimes you can get so caught up in your work that you forget about the importance of your deliverables. There are just so many details that you have to deal with on a daily basis at work. However, you need to keep in mind that your deliverables are what keep you in business, and without them, there would be no other details you would have to worry about at work. What are your deliverables for your customers? __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ (continued)


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93. Deliver on Your Deliverables (concluded) Do the details of your business sometimes seem to take priority over delivering your deliverables to your customer? If so, how? __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ How can you ensure that you don’t lose sight of the importance of your deliverables to your customers? __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________

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94 Sell with Class Selling with class can mean many things. It can mean that you treat the customer like they are the most important person in the world to you. It can also mean that you display a certain degree of character and principle in all of your dealings with the customer. It might also represent a certain style that is part of the way you do business. How would you define “selling with class”? __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ What value do you think your customers place in dealing with those who sell with class? __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ How can you sell with more class? __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________


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95 Share Your Awards with the Customer Everyone enjoys receiving those small gifts or tokens that companies often give away to recognize an event or occasion. These might be a coffee cup, calculator, flashlight, T-shirt, or any number of other gifts or awards. Typically, these are presented to each employee in appreciation and recognition of their contributions toward reaching the goal the company is celebrating. It is also a good idea to ensure that you present these same gifts to your customers. After all, they too play an important role on your team. Without your customers, you wouldn’t be in business. They should be recognized for their contributions to achieving the goals as well. What customers of yours should you include in your distribution the next time you present a gift or award to your employees? __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________

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96 Don’t Depend on the Customer’s Loyalty If you are looking for unwavering loyalty, then buy yourself a dog, but don’t expect it from your customers! Although a customer may indeed feel a sense of loyalty to you as a supplier, don’t depend on it entirely. Loyalty in business, no matter how strong it may have once been, will only go so far. Ultimately, even more important than loyalty will be your customer’s business needs. If you can no longer meet the customer’s requirements, they will find someone else who can. You have to earn the customer’s loyalty each and every business day. Are you depending on your customer’s sense of loyalty to continue doing business with you? Maybe even a little bit? What percentage do you think you are depending on the customer’s sense of loyalty to continue your business relationship? _____% Is this too high of a percentage? If so, what do you think would be a reasonable percentage? _____% (continued)


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96. Don’t Depend on the Customer’s Loyalty (concluded) In what ways might you be depending too much on your customer’s loyalty? __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ What are you doing to earn rather than depend on your customer’s loyalty each and every day? __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________

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97 Help the Customer Reduce Costs Rising costs are a problem for every business today, and your customers are no exception. Any way that you may be able to help the customer reduce costs can add value not only to your services, but also to your relationship. Although this may sound self-defeating, part of your efforts to help the customer reduce costs should be in finding less expensive ways to do business with you. The costs you can save the customer in this way can pay back significant dividends to strengthening your relationship together. What are some opportunities you have to help your customers reduce costs? __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ How can you help the customer purchase your product/ services more cost effectively? __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ What might be the benefits to you in helping the customer reduce costs in either of these ways? __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ 101 Ways to Build Better Relationships with Your Customers

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98 Focus on Beating the Customer’s Competition Do you consider your customer’s competitors to be your competitors? This concept represents the ultimate in building a better relationship with your customers. You have to help them defeat their competitors. Their competitors need to become your competitors if they are not already. Common competitors can build strong bonds between people. The more focused both you and the customer are on the competition, the better you will be able to beat them. Who are your customer’s competitors? __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ How can you better help your customers beat their competition? __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ How could being more focused on your customer’s competitors help your relationship with them? __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________

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99 Focus on Getting the Customer Results Sometimes we get so involved in the process that we fail to pay attention to results. You must have a clear understanding of the results that the customer is trying to achieve and focus on these same objectives. Remember, you will ultimately be judged on how you contributed to the end result. The process of getting there is important only because it supports obtaining these results. You need to make sure that everything you do for the customer is truly supportive of their desired results. If not, you run the risk of damaging your relationship and losing their business. What are the customer’s results that you are supporting by the product or service you provide? __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ (continued)


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99. Focus on Getting the Customer Results (concluded) How well are you supporting the accomplishment of these results? __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ How could you do this better? __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ What affect could this have on your relationship with the customer? __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________

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100 Look for Ways to Add Value to the Customer The main objective of any business is to add value to their customers through their product or service. Your customers want this from you. In fact, they want the most value from their money that they can possibly obtain. The more ways that you can find to add value to your customers, the stronger you will build your working relationship. However, you need to ensure that you are focusing on the right things to try to add value. The best way to understand this is to ask the customer how you can add value and then deliver this value. What are some opportunities for you to add value to your customers? __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ If you don’t know for sure what would be value-added to the customer, how can you find out what would be? __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ 101 Ways to Build Better Relationships with Your Customers

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101 Search for Ways to Improve Your Service or Product The quality process calls this continuous improvement. What this means is that you must constantly be searching for ways to improve your product or service to the customer. It doesn’t matter how small these improvements are. Most important is that you continue to improve. Instead of trying to hit “home runs,” you should be happy with getting a “hit” as it relates to improving your service or product every time you “step up to bat.” In baseball, more runs are scored as a result of hits than from home runs. The same is true when dealing successfully with a customer. Building a stronger relationship comes not so much from one single significant event, but rather a long series of things that continuously improve your service or product for the customer. In what ways can you continuously improve your product or service to your customer? __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ What might happen to your working relationship with the customer if you should ever stop improving? __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ 158


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