How good is your customer care?
If you think it could do with a little brushing up then read on….
Here are some suggestions on providing team members with guidelines on how to better care for (and retain) their clients, that I recently gave to a client who is in the computer hardware business. Feel free to tailor this to suit your own business.
Rather than introduce “more ideas” or higher level stuff, I feel strongly that the members would be best served by your developing a simple, 5 point “Customer Care Commitment” after-sales process, and backing it up with clear instructions and a little stationery.
Perhaps something along the lines of:
1. A “Thank You” card completed by the sales person immediately the sale is complete (or at least before they go home that day). The card could be mass produced, as a fold-over “tent card” DL or smaller, with lines on the inside face for a hand-written note, and space at the bottom for overprinting with member’s contact details. You could even use the old Joe Girard* line of “We Like You” across the front of the card.
The general rule would be that the sales person must complete the card, with a friendly note that says something like, “Thanks for the opportunity of providing you with a new computer earlier this week, etc”. They must put it in an envelope with a stamp immediately (after all, it’s then that they remember their client’s name, their dog’s name, their kid’s school – the lot), and post it one or two days after the sale.
*Joe Girard is regarded as the world’s most successful salesperson selling six cars a day to his prospects (Joe is an individual salesperson, not a dealership!).
How can anyone maintain an average like that?
Simple, he has 25,000 prospects and customers in his database and sends each of them a single postcard each month with a different photograph of a pleasant nature scene on each, the words “I Like You” scrawled (printed) across the front and his signature (printed) on the back.
If his typical prospect spends 4 years “in the bucket” before he or she buys another car, they have been told 48 times by Joe that “I Like You” – and people buy off their friends.
Maybe it should be harder than that to find sufficient prospects to whom to sell six cars every day – but apparently it isn’t!
2. Schedule a scripted phone call one week after the sale to assess the customer’s level of satisfaction with their purchase (script questions that lead the customer to reiterate their satisfaction so that they feel good about their purchase all over again). Probe for areas of less-than-perfect satisfaction and have scripted processes to address emerging issues, some of which could reveal an opportunity to provide paid training to the client in their use of the item, or opportunities for on-sells. The purpose of the call is to develop the seller’s relationship with their customer, because they are going back to them with an offer in the near future, and they want to be selling to their friends when they do. There is no direct sales pitch at this stage but it’s OK to sell them anything that satisfies an as-yet-unmet need volunteered by the customer.
You could print up a simple “Call Sheet” onto which seller’s record the name, sales date, item and value, and phone number of their clients for the day. They would then use this sheet in 7 days time to guide their call.
3. Develop an electronic Newsletter similar to the one we issue to clients every. Members can have their own copy of the newsletter (sales people could have their own, if you wish!) so that it is one-on-one contact with clients. The newsletter should contain genuine “information of interest and value” with only a subtle push for product. The purpose of the newsletter is to keep the relationship percolating during the various points of “sale opportunity” with this client, that will be managed and created by the after sales process. Ensure that the member or sales person’s photo is on the newsletter to enable the customer to “put a face to the name” when they are contacted.
4. 4-6 weeks after the initial purchase, the original sales person is to contact their client with a “selected offer” of an item valued around 25% of the original purchase price. The approach could be, “I was going through next months specials and came across a brilliant games console/program/peripheral, and thought of you straight away! I can put one aside for you and, if you would like to drop in over the next couple of days, I can set it up for you to have a play with it. It would go brilliantly with your new computer (or whatever). When would be best for you? Tuesday morning or Thursday afternoon?”
5. 3 months out, seek referrals by offering the customer “Special Value Vouchers” or some such device that they can give to their friends that will introduce them to the company and give them access to special service by you (these don’t need to be tied to discounts, but would be better tied to service advantages) Have a process for rewarding customers who contribute referrals, backed up by extra recognition if referrals buy. Keep the money value low, as customers don’t like selling their friends for money, but are more open to a thank you gift from you.
6. Keep the newsletter rolling, and perhaps schedule an anniversary call, with another at 23 months – just in time to talk about rolling their asset rental into a brand new whatever-it-was that they bought nearly two years ago.
Controls
a. Control sheet for each client with vital stats, and provision to record the date of execution for each of the above steps.
b. Pre-printed “Thank You” cards with “We Like You” across the front, and your details on the back. Definitely to be neatly hand written.
c. Script for the first follow up phone call. Purpose to advance the relationship, discover any issues, tease out areas of further purchase potential. Latter to be noted on the card for future reference if not suitable for immediate sale.
d. Electronic newsletter.
e. Script for 4-6 week call. Guidance on how to select and make the offer.
f. Script for 3 month call seeking referrals and/or testimonials
g. Script for anniversary call.
h. Script for roll over call just short of product roll over cycle.
Some suggestions for tweaking
If you’re not in a position to make a follow up phone call, why not send out a little brochure explaining how the customer can get the most out of their recent purchase, suggest some specific techniques or ‘tricks of the trade’.