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10 Steps to Happier Clients

I believe you should be doing everything you can to encourage your clients to complain. Now, you must think I’m nuts. Let me explain. Clients who take the time to complain usually end up happier and happier clients are more likely to give you referrals.

Some clients will complain to you about anything and everything. Some will only complain about the big things. Most clients will not complain about the little stuff. They prefer to let things slide. The problem with this is that it usually leads to resentment towards you, and you losing their business. However, if they complain and you take good care of them, then you are likely to create a happy and satisfied client, who may give you a lot of referrals during the time they work with you.

A client with an unexpressed complaint is not going to give you referrals, and they’re probably a candidate to move their business somewhere else – sooner or later. You have to create an environment of doing business with you that fosters your clients’ candid communication.
How You Receive Complaints is Critical

When a client is registering a complaint with you, the first few words out of your mouth and first few actions you take can make all the difference for them and for you. Start off on the wrong foot and it gets worse. Start off on the right foot and it usually gets much easier.

When receiving complaints:

1. Say, “I’m sorry.” (Be genuine!) Saying “I’m sorry” is not admitting fault. You’re sorry they’re upset, frustrated, or just not happy with something you or someone in your company did. Saying “I’m sorry” is an _expression of empathy that begins to diffuse any negativity they may be holding.

2. Honor their perspective (whatever it is). Their perspective on the situation may be way off base. That doesn’t matter, at first. First, you have to treat their position with honor. As you learn more about it, and they feel heard, you can begin to work on changing their perspective (if appropriate).

3. Don’t get defensive. I think there is a natural tendency for most people to want to protect themselves when someone complains. Resist this at all costs. Demonstrate you’re there for them with statements such as “Tell me more.”

4. Don’t make excuses or argue. First, you never win an argument with a client. Even if you win the battle, you’ll probably lose the war (the client will walk). After you’ve completely heard the client’s position and after you have a solution that pleases the client, you may tell them some of the reasons that contributed to the problem, but doing this too soon in the process will appear as if you are making excuses and not taking responsibility.

5. Fully understand the problem. To demonstrate that you fully understand their complaint, repeat back to them what you think you heard.

6. Tell them what you’re going to do next and when you’ll be done – if appropriate to the situation. Some complaints have no resolution; your client just needs to be heard.

7. Tell them when you’ll call them back. Make and honor a commitment. If you can’t honor the commitment, call them and let them know you’re still working on it.

8. Thank them for bringing the issue to your attention. Especially for the little stuff, you want to thank your clients for not holding back. You want to let them know that you desire communication that is as candid as possible.

9. Resolve the issue as quickly as possible. The quicker the resolution, the less it will affect the overall relationship.

10. Follow through and follow up until the problem has been resolved and all residual emotions have been cleaned up.

TEACHING POINT: A relationship (any relationship) that’s had a problem – that’s been handled well – is a stronger relationship than one that’s never had a problem. Get good at encouraging candid communication from your clients so you can stop a small problem from becoming a bigger one. And when clients do complain, learn to be “comfortable” in the complaint. Your clients can tell the difference.

PS: Teach all your staff how to deal with complaints. Role play so they get skilled.

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For more business-building ideas, go to: http://www.referralcoach.com/tools.asp

Fresh starts and restarts

This past week has been a successful week of helping clients and potential clients. Why? (It is always good to ask that 3 letter question) Meeting new people, re-kindling relationships, the right attitude, gratitude, honesty, focus, being yourself, learning new things, putting into practice the habits that will get you where you want to go, and of course, know where you want to go.

There will be a few more articles from others added this weekend, and my challenge to you is to stop dwelling in the past, and believe that you can achieve. If you don’t, then nothing else matters.

Remember what made you GREAT

Think for a moment about the most significant accomplishments you’ve attained professionally or personally, your own personal best. Perhaps it was the record month, the heroic turnaround of a failing business, winning a major contest, spearheading a successful fundraiser, coaching a winning team, climbing a mountain or running a marathon. Don’t go any farther until you’ve determined what you consider as your personal best accomplishment, or even your 2-3 top accomplishments.

I don’t know you or your circumstances, but my bet is that you did not attain your personal best while you kept things the same. My guess is you achieved your personal best when you changed something, challenged something; when you attacked the status quo, not when you nurtured it. The most significant accomplishments we rack up in our lives are when we step out and step up, not when we sit still.

Yet, oftentimes we forget what got us there: that it was the changes, the challenges, the walking into the unknown that brings our greatest accomplishments. And as a result we become more immersed in routine than risk, more comfortable with inertia than initiative.

Before you know it we’re in our “maintenance mode,” keeping things humming along, hoping nothing comes along to rock the boat or thaw out the frozen status quo. After some time in this mode we’re not as excited about what we’re doing any more, grow bored easily, lack passion and energy, and we’re not even sure why.

The status quo never holds its own; it’s just one step removed from sliding backward. “Coasting” is a dangerous state to be in since the only direction you can coast is downhill. You can tell you’re making progress and pushing hard enough when it feels like it’s a struggle, when it’s hard, when it’s an uphill climb, because the next level is always higher than where you are. Don’t forget what brought you your most significant moments of personal or organizational greatness. It wasn’t when you played it safe and tried to just “get by.” It was when you stepped up and stepped out. Remember how alert and alive you felt when you were climbing, risking, changing and making an impact? You had a cause, not a job, and it made all the difference.

You’ll never recapture that feeling or have that impact while you’re watching what happens or wondering “what happened?” You’ve got to make it happen and keep making it happen. And all the while you’re on the journey, if things ever seem too calm and under control then you’re just not going fast enough.

Source: Sales consultant Dave Anderson (LearnToLead.com — 2005)

Narrow it down to your very very absolute very best

I was reading some old e-mails from some of the sales and motivational writers that I subscribe to and noticed a reoccurring theme that was also echoed in my class this past week. Say it in ten or less. As you read today’s headline you will see I used 10 words. When talking to someone, you have 10 seconds or less, or you will lose your audience. You Must Stop Rambling, And Focus on The Very Best, or Most Important. Then and only then should you expand to longer.

Part of my job is to create advertising messages for my radio clients which I have done successfully for a dozen plus years. Last week I put the 10 words/second rule into place and it was amazing the response it got. Try it and let me know how it changed your life.

The Seinfeld Effect

The SPIN Doctor family was eating dinner at home on a recent evening when someone knocked on the door. A young man stood on the porch, smiling uncertainly. “Hi, how are you? My name’s Bob. I’m the area manager for _______ Exterminators. Today I’m visiting homes in your area…” The SPIN Doctor said “no thanks” and closed the door.

Poor Bob. He’d been given a script that just didn’t work, and he wasn’t aware of the research that shows that an unsolicited pitch has only nine seconds to catch a prospect’s interest. Bob wasted his nine seconds providing information of no importance to the customer-his name, his job title, his company name-and as soon as he paused for breath, the sales call was over.

What should Bob have done differently? One approach would be to simply say, “Exterminator. Seen any mouse droppings in your basement?” Bob must know that there are woods behind all the houses on that street, and as the weather gets colder the mice start looking for indoor accommodations.

Hmm, I haven’t SEEN any mouse droppings, but then, I haven’t LOOKED for any mouse droppings. And would I know them if I saw them? Just how tiny are mouse turds, anyway? Maybe Bob could take a look. Suddenly, Bob isn’t interrupting my dinner; he’s helping me with a problem. A single question using SPIN could have gotten Bob through the door.

Bob’s sale is worlds away from the long-cycle, high-dollar, major account selling that Huthwaite and its clients are usually concerned with. But there is a fundamental principle of selling that links the world of a door-to-door salesman with the world of a Fortune 100 super-seller. That principle is putting yourself in the buyer’s shoes. Would YOU buy from you?

There’s a famous episode of “Seinfeld” where Jerry gets a call from a telephone solicitor. Jerry explains that he can’t talk now, “but give me your home number and I’ll call back you back tonight.” When the seller declines, Jerry says he understands: “You probably don’t want people calling you at home… well now you know how I feel!”

We all pay lip service to “customer-centric” selling, but it doesn’t add up to anything important unless you make an effort of imagination to see the situation as the customer sees it. Call it the Seinfeld Effect: If you and the buyer switched roles, how would you see one of your typical sales calls? Are you talking about things that matter to you (your products, for example) or things that matter to the buyer (business problems)? If you’re blowing your own horn, don’t be surprised if your solo is only nine seconds long.

This really, really is Collective

The goal of this Blog was to provide input and ideas from myself and OTHERS. I subscribe to several different e-mailings that I will be posting ideas from here on a more regular basis.

My own writings come from a background that included fantastic parents, an ongoing career in radio that started when I was 16, 30 years ago and includes being on the air for a dozen plus years and another dozen years in the sales, creative, marketing and management sides. Plus I was a student of the Amway system many years ago, and worked outside the world of radio in the real world in the blue collar and skilled trades area for a few years a couple of times.

I’m a Dad of 5 including 3 by blood and 2 by getting married to my wonderful wife. I have experienced the amazing births of my son and daughters, and watched my father die of cancer. I discovered my Mom on Thanksgiving Day, dead from a heart attack, but not without a struggle as she was reaching for the phone when her life on earth ended. I’ve had a few near death experiences myself involving automobiles and illness. My other blog chronicles the personal side of SCLOHO

Currently, I live to serve with my work with my clients and potential clients. I serve on a board of directors with the Central Lions Club, serve as the education coordinator for my B.N.I. group and serve as a mentor for my newer sales associates. I am a student of Dale Carnegie and would urge you to do the same.

Two of the newer sources of wisdom that I have been reading over the past year are the Wizard of Ads and Jeff Gitomer. Excellent material.

There is a whole lot of knowledge out there, read it, use it live it.

Hello, Your Paycheck is Calling – Your Phone Skills Can Market Your Unique Brand

by Anne M. Obarski

I have to admit I really don’t like the telephone. Maybe it is because it is an interruption in an already “overscheduled” world. Even if it is someone I really want to talk to, it sometimes feels like a chore “to be nice”! With the amount of spam phone calls I still seem to receive, even after being on the “Do not call list”, I must admit I make assumptions when I pick up the phone. If there is a nano-second of a pause when I pick up the phone, I immediately assume I am on someone’s computer list just waiting to pounce if they here a real person on the other end of the phone. However, when I am initiating the call I really “want” another human on the other end of the line. I don’t want to be put in “voice mail jail” and being warned that the phone calls are taken in the order they are received and if I hang up and call back I may be waiting until doomsday to get to someone. I must admit I have “stayed on the line if you have a rotary phone for the next available agent”; not really remembering when I last SAW a rotary phone. Want to have a real laugh? Ask a teenager what a rotary phone is. It will either make you laugh or maybe cry at their response!

No matter which type of phone caller or business owner you happen to be, this communication tool, no matter how big or small is here to stay. It is important to know how to use it efficiently and effectively. With so much cell phone usage, right or wrong, that adds another dimension to the mix.

Regardless how fancy your Bluetooth, or cell phone or rotary phone with, heaven help us, a cord, is, it is important to address and put into practice, correct phone techniques.

I challenge businesses to think that every time their phone rings, it is their paycheck calling. I also challenge businesses to look at their phone with as much respect and interest as they look at their merchandise, their marketing, and their employees; it is a reflection of their “brand”. Dr. Janelle Barlow, in her book, “Branded Customer Service” says, “Reinforcing a brand through every customer touch point, therefore, can provide the repetition necessary to inspire repeat purchasing decisions”.

She also spends a great deal of time discussing being “on brand” or “off brand”. In other words, you may say in your advertising literature and in store signing that the customer is number one, but if your customer can never get someone to answer the phone when they call, then your standards for answering the phone are “off brand”.

When you think about your phone calls that way, you are more apt to answer the phone with a little more expectation in your voice rather than disgust. If you train your employees to do the same, you will start looking at your phone as a sales building tool. There are interesting statistics that show people develop a perception about you within the first 30 seconds of a phone conversation and their final opinion of you in the last 30 seconds. Let’s look at some phone tips that will boost that final opinion to one of an on-going, on brand, positive relationship!

1. Breathe! Before you pick up the phone, take a deep breath. Most of us are what they call “shallow breathers”. We take small breathes in and out and therefore, sound tired when we answer the phone. The goal is to sound like you like your job and you are glad they called.

Practice taking a very big breath and answering the phone at the top of that breathe. You will continue speaking on the exhale of that breath and the caller will hear energy in your voice! You can also practice it when you are making a call and start your breath as the phone is ringing on the other end. You’ll be surprised how you feel when you use this technique. You may try it the next time your mother-in-law calls!

2. Identify yourself. Give your full name and function and or the name of your company. Since they have taken the time to call you, you may answer the phone this way; “Thank you for calling Merchandise Concepts, this is Anne Obarski, how can I make it a great day for you?” Hokey, maybe; memorable, maybe; friendly, you bet. Since I have an unusual last name, this helps me say it first so that the caller doesn’t have to fumble with the pronunciation. One tip that I seem to always repeat, is that of slowing down when you answer the phone or when you call to leave a message. How many times have you had to re-play your answering machine to understand what the person was saying or the phone number that rattled off too fast?

3. Be Sincere. If we are honest with ourselves, we are all “problem solvers” in some way. People call us on the phone to have a problem answered. Whether it is to get driving directions, or hours of operation or questions about our merchandise, they have a question and want it answered quickly, intelligently and politely.

It is important to put the customer’s needs ahead of ours. Have you ever been in a store and you were just about ready to put your things down on the counter to pay for them and the employee says, “You’ll have to go to another register, I am going on break now”. A customer will remember how attentive you were to their needs when they are asked to make a referral!

4. Listen attentively. Put everything down when you answer the phone! Easier said than done, isn’t? How many times have you been in your office answering email, talking on the phone, listening to your ipod and sipping on a Starbucks? Me too. Shame on us. Customers don’t like to be ignored and by multitasking, we are not focused on the customer’s wants and needs.

Visualize the person, even if you don’t know them so that you remind yourself you are engaged in a two-way conversation. If you still have trouble listening, start taking notes on what they are saying. Use a headset if possible, to keep your hands free. By taking notes you can verify with them as well as yourself, the important points of the conversation and the action items that needed attention.

5. Outcome. If the phone call has been successful, the first 30 seconds established a positive perception about you through voice, and tone and focus. The last 30 seconds will be when the caller finalizes their opinion about you. You can make that a positive experience by thanking them for calling, reviewing the problem you were able to solve and then most importantly, thanking them for their continued business.

I find myself on airplanes frequently with my speaking schedule. Recently I have noticed that no matter what airlines I am flying that the pilot has “air time” with the passengers on each flight. The words are all about the same. They share the weather in the city we are headed to, the time we should be arriving, the details about the lavatories and not to congregate in the aisles, as well as the great flight attendants, and then they always say something like this, “We know you have a choice when you travel and we are happy that you have chosen to fly with us, and we appreciate that. We ask that if your future travel plans involve flying that you will think of us first. So sit back, relax and enjoy the on- time flight to wherever”.

The pilot set up the outcome in the passenger’s minds by stating it up front. He started by building a trusting relationship with the passengers that he couldn’t see, by coming across as very approachable. Then he told us the important things we should know about the flight and who would help us if we had a problem and then in conclusion, he asked for our repeat business. Trust for me is built on the sound and the sincerity of the pilot’s voice.

That isn’t that much different than when your employees talk to your customers. To build a strong business, you need to have repeat and referral business. What easier way than to ask for their continued business at the end of each and every phone call.

The way you speak over the telephone conveys 85 percent of your message, so by focusing on the previous 5 tips you and your employees can make it a smooth flight in your business each and every time your phone rings.

Anne M. Obarski is a professional speaker and trainer. For more information, visit her web site at http://www.merchandiseconcepts.com/speaking.html or email Anne at anne@merchandiseconcepts.com. She can also be reached via telephone 724-941-4149 or fax 724-941-4304.

Ten Tips to Ignore When Starting a Business

Ten Tips to Ignore When Starting a Business
by Cathy Goodwin

1. “Career freedom means starting a business.”
Clients often assume they can reach career freedom only by starting a business. I know dozens of people who feel very free in a corporate setting. They swim easily in the corporate stream and learn to balance their lives. Some even return after successful entrepreneurial ventures.

2. “Don’t worry, be happy.”
Some advisors tell you, “You’ll be great,” even if they secretly believe you’re following a harebrained path that is doomed to fail. Do your own research and get second and third opinions.

3. “Visualize success.”
While I support visualizing and attracting, I do not believe you can attract business from a non-existent target market. Better to attract prosperity and fulfillment. You might also try to attract knowledge and discernment so you can evaluate your various advisors.

4. “If you can dream it, you can do it.”
You can dream of meeting the Queen of England at your local Wal-Mart but you may have to wait awhile. The reverse is often true — you must have a dream before you experience the reality — but some people manage to skip the journey and enjoy the arrival.

5. “If other people can have a successful business, you can too.”
Unless you strongly resemble those “other people,” they’re irrelevant.

6. “You will probably fail.”
Your advisor may be using fear to motivate you to work harder or sign up for his success course. Do your own research.

7.” If you feel energized about your goal, you will be successful.”
Feeling energized just means you enjoy some aspect of what you are doing. Figure out what you enjoy and design a life to include more of it.

8. “You can always go back to what you were doing before.”
After months or years of trying to start a business, you and your former career will be different and your former colleagues will view you differently. Better to begin with a job that you can leave if you become successful. Stay in a position of power.

9.” You have had a successful career so far and you’ll figure out how to be successful now.”
Basketball players do not always thrive on football teams and baseball is a different game altogether. Enough said.

10. “You will be fine; you just need more confidence.”
If you lack self-confidence in several areas of your life, see a clinician. Otherwise your lack of confidence in your entrepreneurial skills is probably reality-based and should be viewed as a signal to find another advisor.

Cathy Goodwin, PhD, is an author, career consultant and speaker, who combines solid expertise with humor, commonsense and intuition. Visit her at http://www.makewritingpay.com or for more info, e-mail Cathy at cathy@makewritingpay.com.

Words from The Referal Coach

Knowledge Isn’t Power

Whoever said “Knowledge is Power” missed the mark just a bit in my opinion. While I certainly believe that knowledge, of all kinds, is very important. Knowledge, in and of itself, does not create results. Only action does.

With referrals, knowing what to do isn’t enough. You can only act your way to success with referrals. You can’t wait to get good at referrals to start asking, you ask to get good.

So, what part of our referral system do you need to bring to action? Here’s a quick check list of action steps from our system that should be a part of your daily behavior if you truly want to build a thriving referral-based business.

1. Making my client-service model incrementally better (or establishing a client-service model if you don’t yet have one).
2. Talking to my clients on a regular basis about what’s working and not working in our relationship.
3. Planting referral seeds (and knowing the difference between planting seeds and actually asking for referrals).
4. Preparing for value discussions with clients.
5. Preparing for referral discussions with clients.
6. Asking for referrals with the intention of identifying real people.
7. Getting actionable referrals, meaning referrals you can contact.
8. Calling my new referral prospects in a timely manner.
9. Keeping the referral source in the loop as to my progress with the new prospect.
10. Saying thank you to the referral source in some way.
11. Getting introduced to my clients’ CPAs and attorneys to turn them into Centers of Influence.

The list can go on for a long time, but you get the point. Take action with referrals every day.