Every month I receive a variety of questions from salespeople and their managers. These come from a variety of sources - my live seminars, the monthly phone seminars, questions that are sent into my newsletter, and issues that arise in the course of my consulting work. Out of all of these, I select those that I think have the most universal application, and respond to them here.
If you dropped the ball with a customer, how can you redeem their trust again?
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By "dropped the ball" you can be referring to two different situations. First, it was your company who messed up. Your company didn't fulfill the promises you made. Or, second, it was you. You didn't do what you said you would do, or you somehow personally violated the customer's expectations for you. Regardless, the remedy is similar.
You must make a personal, heartfelt and detailed apology, as soon as possible. And you must do that to everyone who is impacted by the problem. If the problem was your company, apologize on behalf of the company. If the problem was you, personally apologize.
You do that first, because that eases the tension in the situation and acknowledges the impact on the customer. Remember, you are building a relationship with these people, and, like in all relationships, sometimes things don't go quite right. An apology is a great way to clear the air. Most people will tend to accept your apology and not hold it against you. Everyone makes mistakes.
Now comes the hard part. While most people will accept your apology, they won't necessarily forget the infraction. It's like catching one of your teenagers smoking dope.
He may ask for your forgiveness, and you may give it, but it is prudent for you to watch him carefully for the next few years. You can forgive, but you are wise to not forget.
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If you have any comments or questions, email them to me. I do, of course, reserve the right to edit.
Here are a few articles by Dave
that you might be interested in reading:
- Strategic Planning for Salespeople... "Ready, shoot, aim." Unfortunately, that's the all too common description of the field salesperson's modus operandi. In a misguided attempt to stay busy and see as many people as possible, too many salespeople subscribe to the theory that any activity is good activity. There was a time when this was true. Customers had more time, sales was a simpler job, and any conversation with a prospect or customer was a good thing. But times have changed, and the job of the salesperson has become much more complex. The pressure on the salesperson to make good decisions about the effective use of his time has never been greater. Salespeople now must confront an overwhelming number of potential "things to do," and that requires them to make decisions about which customers in which to invest their time, to prioritize their activities every day, and to continually choose from a menu of possible activities. In other words, salespeople must now engage in strategic planning.....{Read More}
- Communicating Price Increases to Your Customers... Eek! Price increases from several of your suppliers! Your customers won't like that. How do you manage to pass on that price increase without losing business or giving away margin dollars? This is becoming a major issue for distributors. The economic pendulum has inevitably reached its apex and begun to swing back in the other direction. In many industries the pressure to reduce prices is coming to an end, being replaced by upward pressure on prices. If you are like most segments of the economy, there have been more price increases announced in your industry in the last three months than in the last three years combined. Unfortunately, many sales forces are peopled with individuals who have never lived through a time of price increases. They have no frame of reference from which to view it, and no experience on which to draw..... {Read More}
There are also many other action-packed articles for sales professionals that offer how-to solutions to every day sales problems that you can read online at www.davekahle.com/article.htm.
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