[powerpress]
Time for some tough love. I don’t think you are as helpful as you think you are. I think most people are only superficially customer-centric and this is the thing that is killing their business. I know, I’ve offended you. Or, you are thinking, “yeah, that other person really isn’t…” but you don’t realize I am still talking about you. And now you are offended. I’m ok with that, because I know I’m customer-centric, most of the time at least, when I’m not being lazy under the guise of just helping them with what they want.
Let me tell you a story about mold, and you will get this. A while back, I got really. I mean, really sick. All of the best medicines in the world (my dad is a doctor) and all the “natural meds” did nothing to help. I was getting worried. I went to visit my mommy Saturday because mommies make everything better. And I felt a lot better and even helped her clean out the garage. I got home, got ready for bed, and had another major coughing attack and my head went from 0 to congested in 45.6 seconds. I was convinced, “this is only happening in my bedroom, I must have mold.” I slept in the bonus room pretty well and this only solidified my theory. My contractor contacts didn’t know of a mold inspection person, and recommended the mold kit for $10 at Home Depot. My next move was to start calling companies reviewed well on Yelp. Let me tell you how my first two calls went.
Call #1:
Him: X company, how can I help you?
Me: I’m calling to see how much an inspection is, and how long it takes for you to get results.
Him: It’s $250 for the visit and depending on how many air samples you need, it’s $65 per test but I don’t know how many tests you need. The tests would come back after 48 hours.”
Me: Um, ok thanks. Let me run this by my husband.
He answered my question directly, clearly, and concisely. He didn’t “waste” my time or his. So does that make him customer-centric? On a scale of 1-10, rate in your mind how customer centric he was.
Call #2
Him: Y company, how can I help you?
Me: I’m calling to see how much an inspection is, and how long it takes for you to get results.
Him: Ok, so catch me up on what’s going on in your house and why you think you need a mold inspection.
Me: I’ve been really sick, and it gets way worse in my bedroom. I slept in a different room and felt way better. My symptoms have been unable to be addressed by any medication and they also are the same ones that are associated with hazardous mold. Also, the people we bought the house from put carpet in the bathroom, and so the kids are always wet and that could be a contributor to mold. The homes out here aren’t the best construction so I wouldn’t be surprised if something were wrong.
Him: Ok got it. Let me explain how the whole process works. I’d come out, and do a full inspection of your property. I will look everywhere for anywhere water might be collecting and for visible mold. Usually I can find it visually. If I can’t find it visually and there seems to be moisture in the air I can order air samples. But you might not even need it. It will really depend on what I find when I’m there. But I won’t take any samples you don’t absolutely need them, unless of course you insist.
Me: Hmm, ok and how much is it?
Him: $210 plus samples. You heard about us on Yelp? We will honor the deal there but you don’t need to pay through them because they take forever. What other questions do you have?
Me: Oh! Um… will you be able to tell me right away if I need to get out of the house? I’m really worried about my health.
Him: If I find some that’s visible right away we will know. But I can also tell you if there is moisture in the air and the likelihood you have it. Then we will verify with samples. So yeah, you will have a good idea.
Me: Ok, great. This is a dumb question and I don’t mean to be insulting, but what’s the difference between you and that $10 kit at Home Depot other than of course your expertise and your time.
Him: Here is how those work… You can absolutely do those but without the inspection they won’t help you. If you test positive, you need to call me out to find out where the problem is, and how to solve the problem by doing an inspection. If it’s negative, you are going to need to call me to figure out why you are still having air quality issues. And you might not even need air samples so that’s also just wasting time.
Me: Oh, I get it. Ok. Let me run this by my husband.
What do you think happened? Did I call either back? Did I go with the test from Home Depot?
I definitely went with call #2. He came over this morning. He did a full inspection, it’s not mold. It’s dust. That makes sense because the window in that room is a total piece of junk and doesn’t close all the way. There has been construction in the area so the dust must be blowing in and settling into that room, which faces the street. His recommendation: no air sample tests, he didn’t feel moisture in the air. Get a new window, get the carpets cleaned and you are good to go. And we gladly handed over the money for his help in determining the problem. I wouldn’t have been able to figure it out from the Home Depot test. The guy from Company #2 was truly customer-centric and now you can see the first person was just plain lazy and gives the excuse that he was just giving the customer what she wanted and it’s up to her. Was it? Was it just up to me? Or did what he do matter more than anyone understands?
Let’s break down what guy #2 did, let’s call him Gary, in order to be truly customer-centric.
1. He learned the background on my situation.
This is important because he can’t help me solve my problem if he doesn’t know what it is. It kept the conversation from being a transactional conversation about cost and changed the conversation to be about solving problems and value. In addition, I started to feel more comfortable sharing with him because I felt that he cared. I didn’t think the first guy didn’t care, but the atmosphere was different. I started to connect with Gary and I started to trust him because he wanted to know what was happening. Due to my occupation, I knew I was done for when he asked that because I knew he was the real deal. And I loved every minute of it. Since he asked this question, I felt more comfortable later on in the conversation to share my true concerns, which were around wasting money, not spending money. Truth be told, I will spend any amount of money it takes to fix my allergy problem but I’m not interested in just throwing money away. There is a difference.
2. He listened to me without judgement and validated my concerns.
When I was a little nervous about comparing his business to a $10 kit, he could tell. He encouraged me to just ask. When I did ask, he laughed a little, told me that was a great question, and gave a very well thought out answer that made perfect sense to me. He knew it was a money thing, and he explained how that approach was not as likely as I thought to save me any money or time on solving my problem.
3. He gave me truly everything I needed to have a conversation with my husband.
Notice the end of the two calls were identical. The difference in the second call, is that I knew everything I needed to know, instead of just what I wanted to know. Customers don’t even know what questions to ask. If they knew everything you would have no job. Thankfully he took the position of the expert and gave me everything I needed. After the first guy, Charlie and I had agreed not to have an inspector come first. After speaking with Gary, we reconsidered and scheduled the appointment.
Gary solved my problem, as far as he could. Thanks Gary. He is the epitome of a customer-centric professional.
There is one thing that really matters- did you solve the customer’s problem and give them the best value? If you did, you helped the customer. If you didn’t, you didn’t help the customer. It doesn’t matter if you answered their questions if they don’t solve their problem. If customers knew how to solve their own problems, you wouldn’t get paid to talk to them.
Now let me give you a direct sales example. One of my clients called me the other day with a customer that said, “I need to get the product for my son. What can I get for $100, that’s my budget?” This is over FB messenger. My client gives her two options that were at that price point, and the customer gets a little frazzled, and says, “just tell me what to get.” So my client calls me. “Tasha, what do I say?” I asked about the health goals, which she knew. I told her that it sounds like her client truly needed the kit that was priced at $150 and if she explained why to the customer, the customer would buy it. My client countered that the customer said $100, and I argued that the customer didn’t know anything about anything and just threw out a random number. I went on a customer-centric rant (sorry!) on how the customer-centric thing to to is to offer her the best product, which has the best value, explain why it will solve all the problems and potential future problems, while acknowledging that it’s a little more and that it’s the customers decision. My client didn’t want to appear she wasn’t listening. You can do both. You can acknowledge the budget and then give your true recommendation while saying if they don’t want the true recommendation you will gladly help with the $100 order. And what happened? My client nailed it perfectly and her customer got the kit, but more importantly she will be much happier with her purchase. She got the best value for each dollar and the best way to solve a range of issues instead of just the one. My client had done a lot right there, by knowing the background and the goals. Ultimately, the customer won due to my client’s decision not to worry about what the customer might think, but instead to focus on the best solution.
I often get questions about closing. Like, “What do I say at the end when they don’t buy because of…. “ and my answer is always the same. What do you know about their goals and their problems? Did you prove that you care about customers by learning their story? If you didn’t, you aren’t truly customer-centric and what you said at the end doesn’t matter!
Your take-aways:
1. Learn the background. I don’t care if they are busy. They aren’t too busy to talk about themselves. No one is. Do not get caught answering questions at first. You will end up in a rapid fire round and you both will lose in the friendly fire.
2. Be sure to recommend the product line that will give them the most value, solve their problems the best, and why it makes sense to make the investment. It really does help.
3. Don’t let your fear of “what will they think if I say this?” keep you from telling the truth to your customers. Say what you want to say and stop worrying of what they will think about you if you ask that question or say the true thing. This is the opposite of being customer-centric. Just make sure to always be kind.
Friends, take Gary’s example. Take your time. Ask questions that matter. Listen. Share value. Change a life.
Tasha