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Who Am I? One Tough Customer.
I'm either Your No. 1 fan or -- your worst nightmare.
How you treat me will decide which.

By Christine Corelli
The "Sales-Service Excellence" Expert

Who am I? Permit me, please, to describe myself. . .

I want service now!

I'm better educated, more individualistic, and more discriminating than my predecessors. I expect a lot more than they ever did, too. For example, if I call you on the phone to make any type of inquiry whatsoever, I expect you to be able to give me an answer in ten seconds. I expect you to be easily available for me at any time, and I want a speedy-response and efficiency.

Bend over backwards!

I expect you and everyone who works in your company to be friendly—remarkably more friendly and caring than your competitors, highly competent, and knowledgeable. And, I expect all of you to stand on your heads for me when necessary. I even expect you to anticipate my needs even before even I become aware of any I may desire. If you know how, you'll be in a better position to keep me.

Read my mind!

I expect you to not only know what I want, but I expect you to know what I’m willing to pay for it. And, if you cannot deliver what I want, when I want it, how I want it, and at the price I'm willing to pay for it, I'll go to your competitor who calls me regularly and is working hard to entice me to choose him for my needs. Or, I'll find another source on the Internet. Or, I’ll ask one of my colleagues to refer another source.

Are you scammin’ me?

Selling to me is more difficult than ever. That's because I’m more cynical and skeptical than ever. You might say it’s a fact that I’ve become highly suspicious as to whether you are giving me a really fair price, and whether you're going to deliver what you say you're going to deliver, when you say you're going to deliver it, and not give me some excuse when you call to disappoint me. Besides, I thought your advertising promises "Superior Service Guaranteed."

I often wonder if there’s any truth in advertising. Sometimes a company has great systems and procedures in place, but when it comes to service, it depends on who you get to serve you! So if you boast of superior service, make sure you and everyone in your company demonstrates it in every aspect of my experience with you.

I didn’t hear it through the grapevine!

Let’s talk about my experience. It starts with your reputation. I’ve been told that numerous studies have proven that “Word-of Mouth” advertising is the strongest factor in developing your reputation. Lucky for you, I didn’t hear anything negative through the grape vine, otherwise I would not give you the time of day. When I call for the very first time, I will then form an impression on your company’s level of from the person who answers the phone.

Customer satisfaction? Who cares! Tell me about your loyal customers!

Your salesman boasted, “We have very high levels of customers satisfaction and are known for it.” Who cares?! Show me your numbers for customer retention, customer loyalty and customer advocacy! If you can boast high numbers there, then, I'll be impressed! Business is tough. Real tough. If you have an abundance of loyal customers, you can talk about, then, I’ll see that you must be doing something right.

It’s always about me, me, me!

I gave your sales person a tough time, but he asked me all the right questions, provided all the right answers and showed me he cared about my needs, more than getting my business. So, here I am. But keep this in mind: He was lucky enough to have won me over, but you and everyone in your company needs to remember that I'm very demanding. I demand courtesy and respect. I want to be treated like a Stradivarius violin—precious, valuable, and irreplaceable.

I’m always right!

If I’m wrong or mistaken about something, (how could I be, I'm always right, remember?) you'd be wise to simply say, “perhaps there’s been a misunderstanding.”

Treat me right!

By the way, if my origin is from a country other than this great USA, I expect you to be able to communicate with me and understand that although my culture may be different than yours, my hard-earned money is still green, and I wanted to be treated with the same importance as others.

Don’t #@* me off!

When I do business with you. I never want to have to worry about anything. I have enough worries already. I'm impatient, too. Fair warning…as much as you want and need me, I can be dangerous to you. If my buying experience and every interaction with you isn’t positive, I can become your strongest critic. I think of myself as your judge and the jury. And remember—I can be your executioner too. If my experience with you is not positive in every aspect of the buying experience, I'll tell others about you.

The good word about you will spread.

On the positive side, if you do well by me, I can be your ambassador; I'll tell other buyers about you. See, I want a flawless customer experience." That requires you to have what I call, a "Sales-Service Excellence Culture" throughout your entire operation, where everyone recognizes that they, too impact your bottom line. Speaking of ambassadors, everyone in your company should think and act as your ambassadors, and do all they can to support your, and your sales team. Creating a Sales-Service Excellence Culture is not an option, it is critical to your success.

I’m tough. Get over it!

Am I being too hard on you? I don’t think so. I believe I’m doing you a favor by being blunt with you. Why? It’s because I'm the customer! I rule. So get serious about the level of service you provide to me. In fact, if I call you to complain about something, you should welcome my complaint. Not only do I have a right to do so if the complaint is viable, but how else will you know where improvement is needed? If your company is smart, you will document all complaints, so you can be proactive in preventing them from occurring in the first place.

Don’t Take Me for Granted!

Take a good hard look at how I've come to you and where we are today. Your captured my attention with smart marketing and creative advertising. Then, your sales rep earned my trust through professionalism, consultative selling and relationship building. He worked very hard to earn my trust. I placed a big order and you landed a big fish! Now, you need to keep me. I hope everyone in your company realizes that without me, no one gets a paycheck. Not to be redundant, but they'd better think and act as your brand ambassadors and treat me exceptionally well. If they do, I’ll not only be your loyal customer, but your greatest advocate.

Look at the big picture from the outside in and transform your culture.

Look at your products and make sure they are the highest quality. Examine your systems and procedures, and look at every person in your company from my position. Then, get serious about customer service!

If you are ready to get serious, below is a twelve-step process to help you to transform your company culture.

• Look at your mission statement and brand promise. Determine how well you do you deliver on your brand promise and whether there is truth in your advertising.
• Brand your service. Make it catchy so that it resonates with your company name. For example, say your business is “Construction Rental Plus.” Your service brand could be– Service Plus Guaranteed. Then, of course, you’d better demonstrate that “plus” with value-added offerings and expertise that is far superior to your competition.
• Make sure everyone in your company displays the core values of honesty, integrity, professionalism, accountability, respect, safety, and the other values you should have established when you first started your company. (If you haven’t, do it now). Then, hold a meeting. That’s right, a meeting! Have everyone state how, specifically, each person should display those values in their day-to-day activities and interactions with me, and every existing and potential customer. Equally important, have them address how to treat their coworkers. Don’t be generic. Be specific. Choose the best examples, put them into writing.
• Involve your entire team in creating “guiding-principles” on how you will treat customers and each other. For example, “We will have a sense of urgency to service the customer.” “We will make sure our equipment is spotlessly clean, maintained, and ready for operation.” Record these value demonstration promises, guiding principles, and consistently add to these. You may even want to follow the example of many smart companies who have every employee sign statements that they will adhere to these. I
• Instruct your team to help you to uncover and eliminate any service flaws that might exist and seek ways to make it easier for me to do business with you. And if you really want to impress me, ask them to figure out ways to put the “WOW” into my experience with you. Then, I’ll really send customers to you.
• Appoint (not hire, appoint) a Director of Sales-Service Excellence or CEO (Chief Experience Officer) to head up the transformation of your culture to make sure I (and every customer) have a consistently great experience. You can have one person in charge, and after a few months, they can pass the title onto someone else if you wish.
• Train your management team on leadership skills. Adopt a “Zero-Tolerance” for Bad Bosses policy in your company. If your management team doesn’t treat your people well, how do you expect them to treat me well? Studies have proven that if your employees are happy with you, their boss and your culture, then, I’ll be happy for the long run. If you have a large organization, form a “rising leaders club” and train potential leaders to groom people for management positions.
• Train your employees on how to speak to me. I am impressed when people communicate in a manner that is more professional, caring, and remarkably friendlier than your competition. Make me feel you have my best interest at heart, and be sure to call me by name. Ask me how I’m doing too. Provide more knowledge, more information, and more expertise than your competitors. Do everything you can possibly do to make me feel connected to you. Make me feel like family!
• Conduct an employee satisfaction survey. In the survey, ask if your employees would recommend working at your company to others. Ask if there’s a spirit of teamwork in your company team and whether territorialism exists across departments. If any of these barriers exist, break them down. If you need assistance in this area, consider engaging the services of a culture transformation expert.
• Conduct an employee satisfaction survey every year, and strive for higher scores each year. Work with your leadership team to identify three key areas to improve the level of job satisfaction. (By the way, when’s the last time you told one of your employees how much you appreciate their hard work?) Enable your employees through training. Then empower them to make decisions to keep me happy without having to go to management for permission.
• Find ways to put the “WOW” into the level of service you provide. Remember, that often, little things make a big difference.
• Develop an obsession to deliver your best performance with every customer every day. Instill that obsession into your entire company. Delivering “World Class” service involves a great deal more, but take these steps, and you just might keep me. Better yet, your business will be in a better position to grow and prosper. This is how you will differentiate yourself from your competitors.
• Get serious about customer service! Take a look at the level of service you are providing today, and ask yourself this pressing question:

Would you do buy from YOU?

©Copyright 2008 - Christine Corelli & Associates, Inc.- www.christinespeaks.com Christine Corelli is a professional speaker and author of the popular books, Wake Up and Smell the Competition and The ART of Influencing Customers to BUY from YOU." Need a culture transformation expert? Contact: 847 581-9968.