Retail Observer

RETAILOBSERVER.COM DECEMBER 2017 64 H ow would you answer that question? Before we go any further, there could be a lot of different answers to that question, and they could all be right. There is one answer, however, that really covers all the bases and that's the most important ingredient of all, HONESTY. Sometimes that is hard to do when the rest of your competitors can take the easy way out of some difficult business situations by what as been called overpromising—telling the customer what they want to hear and dealing with the consequences later. Unfortunately, this practice still goes on in many businesses today. The opposite philosophy should prevail: to underpromise and overperform. If you want a piece of business and can't meet the customer's exact requirements, then either take the measures necessary to meet their requirements and price accordingly, or simply tell them the truth and deal with handling the potential issue up front. If it takes more time to do the job for a specific reason, then describe up front what extra effort is needed so the customer understands. Many have the approach of getting the job and then worrying about cleaning up the mess later. That's always a bad formula for maintaining an excellent customer image in your marketplace. In my area, we recently had one of our all too-frequent power outages and the power company told us that we might have to wait 2 hours for the lines to be repaired. Needless to say, they took a lot of heat about their answer up front, however, the actual repair time was only 45 minutes. Initial anger was then followed by a more lasting impression of customer satisfaction because they substantially improved on their promise. A top-rated local appliance and electronics store in my area is not the fastest when it comes to delivery, but when they say three days, you can count on that being the worst-case delivery time. The key is that you can bank on them meeting that delivery date each and every time that you deal with them. Many years ago, when I started in sales with zero experience, I asked my manager what he felt was the secret to success in sales and his answer was simply to listen, take care of your customer and your employer, and always let honesty govern all of your business decisions. I remember asking him if you could really take care of both your customer and your employer and he answered by stating that the definition of a great sale is a win/ win for both the buyer and the seller. Find out the customer's expectations and make sure that you can meet, or better yet, exceed them. If not, check with your company to see if these expectations can be met without causing them financial harm. Never stretch the truth or ignore the facts of any sale up front and try to deal with the known problems later if you want to keep a long-term customer relationship. Always strive to underpromise and overperform, and make those words the guiding factor in all your business dealings. WHAT IS THE BASIC INGREDIENT IN CUSTOMER CARE? S E R V I C E D E P A R T M E N T Don Pierson, Certified Service Center (CSC) www.certifiedservicecenter.org RO

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