I was sold to the other day, and it was good!
When I go shopping for anything, I go with the mentality of “I don’t pay retail”. I find that going into a purchasing situation with this mind set is great for negotiating because I find that I become really hard nosed about price.
Knowing what I know about sales, if someone can build enough value in a product during a sale, price is rarely the deciding factor. But it’s rare that someone has the skills to build the kind of value that convinces me to buy without a discount.
Some weeks ago, I remember getting home from work, sitting on the side of my bed and taking my shoes off. As I took them off I realised that they had been worn to pieces almost. The heel was worn down, the toes were turned up and creased, the tongue was falling out. Apart from being embarrassed with myself I made my mind up that it was time for a new pair.
The next day was a Saturday and I set off in the morning to look for a new pair. The first shop I went into was the shoe emporium on Pitt Street mall in Sydney CBD. The great thing about this store is that they have a whole floor designated for men and they have a great range.
When I walked downstairs to the men’s floor I noticed a very pretty girl serving customers, another mind set I like to go in with is “never buy off a pretty girl” because sometimes I can be easily influenced by pretty girls and end up buying something I didn’t want.
I saw a pair of shoes that looked identical to my damaged shoes but were significantly less expensive than the shoes I had previously purchased. I asked the girl to get my size, and she did. They fit really well and looked great on the foot, probably better than my old shoes. I had already decided that I was going to buy them so I turned on my “I don’t pay retail” mindset and started negotiating.
The conversation went like this:
Me: Hmmmmm, I do like them but I’m not 100% sure.
Seller: Really, what aren’t you sure about?
Me: They’re a little outside my price range. (now I’m throwing a line out for the standard 10% off that retailers usually offer, which I would have taken because these shoes were already cheaper than my last pair)
Seller: Right, Can I ask what you’ll be using them for?
Me: I’d use them for business.
Seller: Do you have any other business shoes?
Me: I do have some others, I’m just looking for a spare pair. (which wasn’t true, they would be my only pair)
Seller: Do you have any others in this particular style?
Me: I used to but not any more.
Seller: Did you wear those shoes often?
Me: I wore them all the time actually.
Seller: So if you bought these shoes, is it likely that you would wear them as often. (Now she’s got me, I’m cornered)
Me: I guess I probably would.
Seller: So, do you think you would get value for your money?
Me: Yeah, I probably would.
Seller: Well, that works out well for you, how did you want to pay? Cash or Credit?
Me: Cash please.
Hook line and sinker. I threw out a line to see if I was going to catch a fish and as it turns out the fish caught me. I payed retail and I bought from a pretty girl.
The girl who sold me the shoes was very skilled at getting me to self evaluate the value of buying those shoes. She didn’t try to convince me why they would suit me, or tell me that I looked great in them, that I could dress them up or dress them down, that they were of great quality. The sales person got me to think about scenarios in my head, I begun thinking in pictures of what did I previously have and how often I would have worn them and where I would wear the shoes in the future (if I bought them).
Her tactic was well worked and sharply executed, I walked away happy for two reasons; 1) I got a pair of shoes to replace my old ones in tatters. 2) I was sold to in a silky smooth style that I can only applaud.
Monday, July 28, 2008
Thursday, July 24, 2008
Are you a Courageous Leader?
Where do you lead your people from?
I worked for a large corporate for almost 20 years, and when I became a Manager in my mid twenties, I had a very blinkered view in regards to how to manage people. My basic philosophy was that I simply had to tell people what to do and they would do it. If they did not do what I asked, then all I had to do was get really angry with them and this would basically fix the problems I was experiencing. I really had a problem understanding why this approach would not work, as my instructions were clear and I was being very upfront in relation to what I wanted.
The fact that I could not get my people to perform in a way that I deemed to be satisfactory really perplexed me, especially because my managers had always treated me the same way and I had followed their directions because I was scared of the consequences if I didn’t. Come to think of it, this fear meant I would basically do anything that they said. If they could manage like this, why didn’t it work for me? After all I weighed about 140kg and made a pretty good stand over man. I suppose looking back, people did follow my orders, but because I was always a perfectionist, their efforts would never be good enough.
The other thing that I could not understand was that my people were never really happy. I never saw them joking around and having fun, at least not in my presence. I tried to inspire them to have fun, but they did not seem to react to my efforts. The other management trait that I displayed was to take my people’s lack of performance personally, which made me even angrier and only provided me with the ability to yell even louder.
A few years later as I approached the age of 30, I was told by a colleague that had previously worked with me that they were fascinated by the way that I was able to instill fear in people, even a whole team. This came as a total shock to me, because I was only doing what I had previously experienced. The problem was that I was following the example set by the managers that I never enjoyed working for. About the same time I had a couple of fantastic managers come into my life, who also turned out to be great mentors. They were concerned about my personal development and helping me to plan and achieve my career aspirations. I enjoyed working for these people more than ever was because they were “Leaders” not just managers. I can now clearly identify them as leaders because they paid attention to the development of their people. It’s interesting that they all worked in the same division, which was well known for its outstanding performance.
It was then that I clearly identified that I was a manager concerned with the day to day grind, rather than a Leader who was interested in developing my people. It was also at this time that one of my mentors told me that I should always lead from the middle, which at the time was very confronting for me. At that time, my perception of leadership was that I should walk in front of my team and make them come on the journey with me, skull dragging them if necessary. I also thought that it was necessary to move behind them at times to give them a hurry up, so you can see why the notion of Leading from the middle seemed quite daunting.
Once I worked out that I could lead from the middle and take the journey with my people, I became very successful and well respected for the authentic connections that I developed with my teams.
This small piece of advice was one of the most powerful pieces of information that I have ever received in relation to achieving outperformance, and I get a lot of pleasure out of sharing this with other people today.
So I pose a couple of questions to you:
· Do you see yourself as a Manager managing, or a Leader developing your people?
· What position are you Leading your people from?
As a final point, I must acknowledge that to move from the identity of a Manager to the identity of a Leader takes real courage.
To talk more about Leading from the middle and Courageous Leadership, please call me on P: (03)9555 7955 or E: scott@neuralnetworks.com.au or visit our website at http://www.neuralnetworks.com.au/
I worked for a large corporate for almost 20 years, and when I became a Manager in my mid twenties, I had a very blinkered view in regards to how to manage people. My basic philosophy was that I simply had to tell people what to do and they would do it. If they did not do what I asked, then all I had to do was get really angry with them and this would basically fix the problems I was experiencing. I really had a problem understanding why this approach would not work, as my instructions were clear and I was being very upfront in relation to what I wanted.
The fact that I could not get my people to perform in a way that I deemed to be satisfactory really perplexed me, especially because my managers had always treated me the same way and I had followed their directions because I was scared of the consequences if I didn’t. Come to think of it, this fear meant I would basically do anything that they said. If they could manage like this, why didn’t it work for me? After all I weighed about 140kg and made a pretty good stand over man. I suppose looking back, people did follow my orders, but because I was always a perfectionist, their efforts would never be good enough.
The other thing that I could not understand was that my people were never really happy. I never saw them joking around and having fun, at least not in my presence. I tried to inspire them to have fun, but they did not seem to react to my efforts. The other management trait that I displayed was to take my people’s lack of performance personally, which made me even angrier and only provided me with the ability to yell even louder.
A few years later as I approached the age of 30, I was told by a colleague that had previously worked with me that they were fascinated by the way that I was able to instill fear in people, even a whole team. This came as a total shock to me, because I was only doing what I had previously experienced. The problem was that I was following the example set by the managers that I never enjoyed working for. About the same time I had a couple of fantastic managers come into my life, who also turned out to be great mentors. They were concerned about my personal development and helping me to plan and achieve my career aspirations. I enjoyed working for these people more than ever was because they were “Leaders” not just managers. I can now clearly identify them as leaders because they paid attention to the development of their people. It’s interesting that they all worked in the same division, which was well known for its outstanding performance.
It was then that I clearly identified that I was a manager concerned with the day to day grind, rather than a Leader who was interested in developing my people. It was also at this time that one of my mentors told me that I should always lead from the middle, which at the time was very confronting for me. At that time, my perception of leadership was that I should walk in front of my team and make them come on the journey with me, skull dragging them if necessary. I also thought that it was necessary to move behind them at times to give them a hurry up, so you can see why the notion of Leading from the middle seemed quite daunting.
Once I worked out that I could lead from the middle and take the journey with my people, I became very successful and well respected for the authentic connections that I developed with my teams.
This small piece of advice was one of the most powerful pieces of information that I have ever received in relation to achieving outperformance, and I get a lot of pleasure out of sharing this with other people today.
So I pose a couple of questions to you:
· Do you see yourself as a Manager managing, or a Leader developing your people?
· What position are you Leading your people from?
As a final point, I must acknowledge that to move from the identity of a Manager to the identity of a Leader takes real courage.
To talk more about Leading from the middle and Courageous Leadership, please call me on P: (03)9555 7955 or E: scott@neuralnetworks.com.au or visit our website at http://www.neuralnetworks.com.au/
Thursday, July 10, 2008
Emotional Intelligence – just a fad?
As an accredited facilitator of the Baron Emotional Intelligence Inventory, I have often been told at dinner parties and the like that Emotional Intelligence (EQ) or at least the application of it to work life, is just a fad and will be replaced by something else shortly.
I have thought on this as I have been accredited in the use of many different tools and attended a plethora of professional and business development courses during my career. I have come to the conclusion that Emotional Intelligence is just a label for something that we have all seen in action over and over again. We all have worked for organisations where there is a manager that all the staff love, a cricket club president that just seems to be able to keep everyone happy, even those who have missed out on being selected for the “firsts” for the third week in a row. I have come to recognise that these people have natural emotional intelligence and are likely to score particularly high on the interpersonal subscale. The wonderful thing about the recent activity in EQ is that anyone can learn the skills associated with its major components. Now that we have a definition for what it is that is required to manage our own emotional state, help others’ to manage theirs and also to develop fantastic relationships and cope with an ever changing work environment, we can focus on those key actions that are required to develop strategies to manage all these things.
So even though there might be people with natural talents in relation to managing their own and other’s emotional states, we can all implement strategies to help improve our skills in these areas.
Now would you like to hear why that would be worthwhile? For starters, you might well increase the productivity of your staff, enjoy your work-life so much more and be able to foster better relationships in all parts of your life.
If you would like to chat more about your own EQ profile or perhaps a program for your leadership team contact me at roz@neuralnetworks.com.au or call 03 9555 7955. Maybe you will get something out of this “fad” – something remarkable.
Rosalinda Batson
I have thought on this as I have been accredited in the use of many different tools and attended a plethora of professional and business development courses during my career. I have come to the conclusion that Emotional Intelligence is just a label for something that we have all seen in action over and over again. We all have worked for organisations where there is a manager that all the staff love, a cricket club president that just seems to be able to keep everyone happy, even those who have missed out on being selected for the “firsts” for the third week in a row. I have come to recognise that these people have natural emotional intelligence and are likely to score particularly high on the interpersonal subscale. The wonderful thing about the recent activity in EQ is that anyone can learn the skills associated with its major components. Now that we have a definition for what it is that is required to manage our own emotional state, help others’ to manage theirs and also to develop fantastic relationships and cope with an ever changing work environment, we can focus on those key actions that are required to develop strategies to manage all these things.
So even though there might be people with natural talents in relation to managing their own and other’s emotional states, we can all implement strategies to help improve our skills in these areas.
Now would you like to hear why that would be worthwhile? For starters, you might well increase the productivity of your staff, enjoy your work-life so much more and be able to foster better relationships in all parts of your life.
If you would like to chat more about your own EQ profile or perhaps a program for your leadership team contact me at roz@neuralnetworks.com.au or call 03 9555 7955. Maybe you will get something out of this “fad” – something remarkable.
Rosalinda Batson
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
Our Limitations
I went to a primary school parent teacher meeting last night for my daughter. I was interested in particularly in the rating my daughter received for her behaviour in class. Every school report until now she received an ‘Excellent’ rating. This term she received a ‘Good’. Curious, I enquired about this ‘drop’ in rating. The teacher responded that she never likes to give out excellent on anything half way through the year. Do you get the logic behind this? If you do would you mind explaining it to me?
I was immediately reminded of an experiment conducted in 1974 by a school district in Chicago Illinois. You know the type of study, the type that couldn’t be replicated these days because of ethical reasons. One school divided a group of twelve year olds into three different classes. The class was full of high performing students and the teacher assigned to that class was told that ‘great things’ can be expected of the students. The second class was full of ‘average’ students and the teacher assigned was told that some of the students may do well, most will probably be average. The third class was full of the ‘lowest’ performers and the teacher assigned was told ‘just do the best you can!’
True to form at the end of the school year the high performer class achieved the highest results. The average class achieved average results and the low performing class achieved the worst results. The only hitch was all three classes were actually filled with a combination of high, average and low performing students. The conclusion; students can blossom or be stifled by expectations and limiting beliefs of their teachers.
It got me wondering about the impact our limiting thoughts and beliefs can have on the people we interact with every day. What is the impact of expecting less of people based on past behaviour? What could the possibilities be if we expect more from them? Interesting food for thought...
I was immediately reminded of an experiment conducted in 1974 by a school district in Chicago Illinois. You know the type of study, the type that couldn’t be replicated these days because of ethical reasons. One school divided a group of twelve year olds into three different classes. The class was full of high performing students and the teacher assigned to that class was told that ‘great things’ can be expected of the students. The second class was full of ‘average’ students and the teacher assigned was told that some of the students may do well, most will probably be average. The third class was full of the ‘lowest’ performers and the teacher assigned was told ‘just do the best you can!’
True to form at the end of the school year the high performer class achieved the highest results. The average class achieved average results and the low performing class achieved the worst results. The only hitch was all three classes were actually filled with a combination of high, average and low performing students. The conclusion; students can blossom or be stifled by expectations and limiting beliefs of their teachers.
It got me wondering about the impact our limiting thoughts and beliefs can have on the people we interact with every day. What is the impact of expecting less of people based on past behaviour? What could the possibilities be if we expect more from them? Interesting food for thought...
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
The Devil Inside – Toward or Away?
At NNC we often discuss some of NLP’s Motivational Thinking Styles and how our patterns of thinking translate into our attitudes, behaviours and ways of communicating. The one that has had the biggest impact on understanding myself and how I interact with others is called Motivation: Toward & Away. This Thinking Style relates to how we are motivated and in which direction we will move – either toward achieving an objective or goal; or away from potential problems or consequences. There is a questionnaire we often give clients to complete which helps them to identify their Thinking Style preferences, but even without this I instantly knew that I was more Away from.
What’s interesting is the conflicts your Toward and Away motivations can cause in life. Being more Away in my thinking has not just been positive in inspiring me to challenge myself and work harder, but has also often held me back from doing many things. Thinking about the things I value most in life, I have a strong desire for success, achievement and personal growth (my Toward values). On the other hand, I’ll do anything to move away from feeling fear, failure, inadequacy or disappointment (my Away values). I can think of hundreds of times when my fear of failure and looking stupid or inadequate has stopped me from trying something new – literally stopped me from having the success, achievement and personal growth that I’ve wanted. Anthony Robbins talks about Toward & Away in terms of Pleasure and Pain…and when the Divinyls sang about it ‘being a fine line’ they certainly knew what they were talking about! Risking the option of pain, humiliation or failure didn’t seem worth the potential enjoyment and accomplishment I might have been rewarded with…….or was it??
Imagine a life where you’re so afraid of what MIGHT happen, that you create that world for yourself before it’s even a reality. And despite never really being able to have a guarantee that you won’t fall on your arse a few times, what’s worse….always wondering ‘what if’, or suffering a few minor setbacks on your way to glory (wow, there can actually be more pain in not doing it, then giving it a try!) So although that little ‘devil’ Away voice is still useful at times - when I want to think practically about how to avoid potential problems or pitfalls - my ‘angel’ Toward voice often spurs me on to look at the solutions to overcome these bumps in the road and summon the courage to at least give it a shot. Let’s face it, for many people public speaking is a fate worse then death and ten years ago I would have joined them in that club. Now I stand up in front of groups delivering training programs as part of my job – still nervous and a little insecure at times, but willing to slap that fear in the face and do it anyway. Who would have thought it? At times I still have to battle with some of my Away thinking, but having some self awareness and focusing on being the ‘Little Engine That Could’ (“I think I can….I think I can…”), then I can continue to look forward rather then backwards and score goals that I never thought possible.
For more about NLP Thinking Styles or completing a profile, contact me on T: (03) 9555 7955 E: gina@neuralnetworks.com.au
What’s interesting is the conflicts your Toward and Away motivations can cause in life. Being more Away in my thinking has not just been positive in inspiring me to challenge myself and work harder, but has also often held me back from doing many things. Thinking about the things I value most in life, I have a strong desire for success, achievement and personal growth (my Toward values). On the other hand, I’ll do anything to move away from feeling fear, failure, inadequacy or disappointment (my Away values). I can think of hundreds of times when my fear of failure and looking stupid or inadequate has stopped me from trying something new – literally stopped me from having the success, achievement and personal growth that I’ve wanted. Anthony Robbins talks about Toward & Away in terms of Pleasure and Pain…and when the Divinyls sang about it ‘being a fine line’ they certainly knew what they were talking about! Risking the option of pain, humiliation or failure didn’t seem worth the potential enjoyment and accomplishment I might have been rewarded with…….or was it??
Imagine a life where you’re so afraid of what MIGHT happen, that you create that world for yourself before it’s even a reality. And despite never really being able to have a guarantee that you won’t fall on your arse a few times, what’s worse….always wondering ‘what if’, or suffering a few minor setbacks on your way to glory (wow, there can actually be more pain in not doing it, then giving it a try!) So although that little ‘devil’ Away voice is still useful at times - when I want to think practically about how to avoid potential problems or pitfalls - my ‘angel’ Toward voice often spurs me on to look at the solutions to overcome these bumps in the road and summon the courage to at least give it a shot. Let’s face it, for many people public speaking is a fate worse then death and ten years ago I would have joined them in that club. Now I stand up in front of groups delivering training programs as part of my job – still nervous and a little insecure at times, but willing to slap that fear in the face and do it anyway. Who would have thought it? At times I still have to battle with some of my Away thinking, but having some self awareness and focusing on being the ‘Little Engine That Could’ (“I think I can….I think I can…”), then I can continue to look forward rather then backwards and score goals that I never thought possible.
For more about NLP Thinking Styles or completing a profile, contact me on T: (03) 9555 7955 E: gina@neuralnetworks.com.au
Thursday, June 12, 2008
Influence
It was 10am on a Saturday morning and I was walking home from a friend’s apartment in Sydney when a man in construction style clothes, covered in dirt and white paint, came up to me in the street and asked if I would please give him some assistance. As he was so polite, I followed him to see how I could help.
He lead me to his Holden Commodore (probably 5 years old) and began to show me where thieves had scratched the door panel and broken the lock to the drivers side door. He continued to tell me how his mobile phone, wallet and sunglasses were all stolen. He also showed me that the thieves had attempted to start the car by jamming something into the ignition because it too was scratched.
Still unsure of what the man wanted, I asked “so what can I do to help?” He responded by telling me that the car only had about 5 Kilometres of petrol left and that he needed to get to a petrol station to fill up. He then asked me for directions to the nearest petrol station. I gave him directions and he thanked me kindly for assisting him. Just before he let me go, he also asked if I could possibly give him $50 for petrol because he would also need to pay for it and get home. He promised to take my details and pay me back.
I reached into my pocket and I had $20 which I gave to him because he obviously needed the help, of course I did not ask for him to return the money because he clearly needed it and it was no great burden on me.
This was a great lesson for me on the power of influence! As I reflected on the situation, I wonder if the man had simply walked up to me and asked for $50 because his car had been broken into and he needed to get home and didn’t have his wallet or phone… would I have obliged? I seriously doubt it.
The man completely involved me in his story. He gave me a background of what had happened, showed me how it impacted him and the result of what the thieves had done. Because I felt so involved, I felt obliged to help him out of his situation. Walking away at that time would have created a major values conflict for me. How could I walk away and not help this man?
It’s not how you make your request that makes the difference in life; it’s what you do before you make your request that ultimately decides the outcome.
He lead me to his Holden Commodore (probably 5 years old) and began to show me where thieves had scratched the door panel and broken the lock to the drivers side door. He continued to tell me how his mobile phone, wallet and sunglasses were all stolen. He also showed me that the thieves had attempted to start the car by jamming something into the ignition because it too was scratched.
Still unsure of what the man wanted, I asked “so what can I do to help?” He responded by telling me that the car only had about 5 Kilometres of petrol left and that he needed to get to a petrol station to fill up. He then asked me for directions to the nearest petrol station. I gave him directions and he thanked me kindly for assisting him. Just before he let me go, he also asked if I could possibly give him $50 for petrol because he would also need to pay for it and get home. He promised to take my details and pay me back.
I reached into my pocket and I had $20 which I gave to him because he obviously needed the help, of course I did not ask for him to return the money because he clearly needed it and it was no great burden on me.
This was a great lesson for me on the power of influence! As I reflected on the situation, I wonder if the man had simply walked up to me and asked for $50 because his car had been broken into and he needed to get home and didn’t have his wallet or phone… would I have obliged? I seriously doubt it.
The man completely involved me in his story. He gave me a background of what had happened, showed me how it impacted him and the result of what the thieves had done. Because I felt so involved, I felt obliged to help him out of his situation. Walking away at that time would have created a major values conflict for me. How could I walk away and not help this man?
It’s not how you make your request that makes the difference in life; it’s what you do before you make your request that ultimately decides the outcome.
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
Retention Matters
It’s great to be able to acquire new clients. Imagine how much better you would feel if you could also keep the ones you already have?
A large number of the organisations that I visit as part of my travels with Neural Networks, place massive focus on growing their client base through sales activities. What is wrong with placing all your focus on sales activities? Simply put, while they are focusing heavily on getting people through the front door, they may not be noticing the ones leaving via the back door.
A lack of focus on retention activities can also directly relate to the financial performance of organisations. Every year organisations traditionally spend large amounts of money on improving overall sales capabilities and usually align this to their strategic objectives and sales targets to increase revenue generation. Often this turns out to be a wasted investment if they fail to minimise leakage, particularly in relation to existing customers.
One of the things that we heavily focus on at Neural Networks is building value around the products and services that organisations provide to new and existing customers. This is integral in not only ensuring that they meet the customers criteria, but also assists with creating a strong and lasting relationship with the customer based on experience. Further to this, if organisations are not identifying and meeting the true criteria of their new and existing customers every time they have contact with them, they may not be leaving a good impression. Organisations can make it harder for their customers to leave by providing excellent service to them at every opportunity. This way the thought of leaving will not have any reason to enter their mind. People will often pay a higher price and stay where they get good service that always meets their criteria.
There is a real opportunity for many organisations to increase the level of focus that they place on customer service and ultimately retention activities. The idea would be for organisations to place the same level of focus on these areas that they do on sales. This will assist with ensuring that their people are not losing revenue at the same time as generating it. Sales people tend to focus solely on sales activities, because that is their job, and that is what they get rewarded for. It is also easy to identify the rewards that sales people receive for achieving or exceeding target, because this usually takes the form of cold hard cash. A question that I always ask when working in service environments is how do you reward your service representatives for providing great service? The scary part is that I rarely get an answer!
Another interesting observation that I have made recently, is that people in both sales and service environments do not hear the signals that customers provide in relation to ceasing their business relationship. I often suspect that they hear the customer providing a hint, but lack the skill and confidence to be able to retain them. In this instance, they may take the easy way out and find a way to agree with the customer, therefore proactively opening the back door and watching them drive off into the sunset. Addressing this issue is a quick win for many organisations in relation to achieving sustainable growth by plugging the leaks and gaining maximum benefit from acquisition activities. The process can start by simply educating people to listen for the signals and actively respond to the customer’s criteria relating to why they want to change the current situation.
In a nutshell, I feel it gets down to three things:
· Get the sales – but realise that this is only step one
· Provide outstanding service to your new and existing customers – do not provide them with a reason to leave
· Pay attention to the whispers before they turn into screams – look for the signals that a customer is providing and actively respond in an attempt to keep them
To talk more about customer service and retention matters, please call me (03)9555 7955 or E: scott@neuralnetworks.com.au or visit our website at http://www.neuralnetworks.com.au/
A large number of the organisations that I visit as part of my travels with Neural Networks, place massive focus on growing their client base through sales activities. What is wrong with placing all your focus on sales activities? Simply put, while they are focusing heavily on getting people through the front door, they may not be noticing the ones leaving via the back door.
A lack of focus on retention activities can also directly relate to the financial performance of organisations. Every year organisations traditionally spend large amounts of money on improving overall sales capabilities and usually align this to their strategic objectives and sales targets to increase revenue generation. Often this turns out to be a wasted investment if they fail to minimise leakage, particularly in relation to existing customers.
One of the things that we heavily focus on at Neural Networks is building value around the products and services that organisations provide to new and existing customers. This is integral in not only ensuring that they meet the customers criteria, but also assists with creating a strong and lasting relationship with the customer based on experience. Further to this, if organisations are not identifying and meeting the true criteria of their new and existing customers every time they have contact with them, they may not be leaving a good impression. Organisations can make it harder for their customers to leave by providing excellent service to them at every opportunity. This way the thought of leaving will not have any reason to enter their mind. People will often pay a higher price and stay where they get good service that always meets their criteria.
There is a real opportunity for many organisations to increase the level of focus that they place on customer service and ultimately retention activities. The idea would be for organisations to place the same level of focus on these areas that they do on sales. This will assist with ensuring that their people are not losing revenue at the same time as generating it. Sales people tend to focus solely on sales activities, because that is their job, and that is what they get rewarded for. It is also easy to identify the rewards that sales people receive for achieving or exceeding target, because this usually takes the form of cold hard cash. A question that I always ask when working in service environments is how do you reward your service representatives for providing great service? The scary part is that I rarely get an answer!
Another interesting observation that I have made recently, is that people in both sales and service environments do not hear the signals that customers provide in relation to ceasing their business relationship. I often suspect that they hear the customer providing a hint, but lack the skill and confidence to be able to retain them. In this instance, they may take the easy way out and find a way to agree with the customer, therefore proactively opening the back door and watching them drive off into the sunset. Addressing this issue is a quick win for many organisations in relation to achieving sustainable growth by plugging the leaks and gaining maximum benefit from acquisition activities. The process can start by simply educating people to listen for the signals and actively respond to the customer’s criteria relating to why they want to change the current situation.
In a nutshell, I feel it gets down to three things:
· Get the sales – but realise that this is only step one
· Provide outstanding service to your new and existing customers – do not provide them with a reason to leave
· Pay attention to the whispers before they turn into screams – look for the signals that a customer is providing and actively respond in an attempt to keep them
To talk more about customer service and retention matters, please call me (03)9555 7955 or E: scott@neuralnetworks.com.au or visit our website at http://www.neuralnetworks.com.au/
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