Studies continue to show – customers who have a problem that is resolved quickly and properly are likely to develop more loyalty to a business as opposed to a customer who never had a problem. Yet often still, many businesses operate with a complaint/problem resolution system that is so complex, not even the staff is able to quickly (let alone amicably) bring a complaint to satisfactory resolve for the customer and the company. In effect, some complaint processes are so convoluted, they seem to say to the customer, “Prove us wrong and perhaps we’ll talk about it.” … I think most of us have had that experience as a customer. You know – the one where it was less painful to just remain silent, suck it up and cut your losses rather than deal with the frustration of trying to get someone (anyone) to even listen. And dare you hope, perhaps get them to see things from your point-of-view. Even worse, some companies still operate under the premise that if no one’s complaining, business is good! - Hmmm, did you hear that?

Silence is not a good sign … If they don’t speak up, you lose! In most every industry competition is stiff, so when companies make it difficult for a customer to “tell them how they are doing”, it can impact sales and ultimately kill their business. When a customer experiences problems you never hear about, that means you never have an opportunity to make it better.  When this happens be assured, the customer never forgets the problem and most likely, they will not do business with your company again – Can you hear it now?

If you want to know what people are saying about your business you have to speak their language! Recent research has revealed that almost 75% of the “consumer population” is using social networks to help them make informed buying decisions and influence the decisions of others. In a recent Frontline Sales Forum post from the article How to Succeed With Today’s Empowered Customers, the author suggests, “…empowered customers have to be met by your empowered employees, using the same Internet technologies to keep up.”  - Go on, get beyond the brush!  

So, how should you handle a complaint? Whether your business has invested in a state-of-the-art complaint management system is less relevant to the cause than adhering to the fundamentals; here are a few tips:

1. Show appreciation!  Let the customer know that you strive to improve every day.
2. Listen Well!  You can help a lot more if you know the whole story. 
3. Be empathetic!  Make the customer feel comfortable about telling you the problem. Never take it personally.
4. Ask the customer what can be done to make them happy – their answer may surprise you! Many times they only want to be heard – which is less than you would have given.
5. Do whatever it takes! Perhaps price or some catchy marketing campaign will continue to drive that “first-time” customer to your door; but your primary goal should be to make sure that every customer will happily continue to business with you again. Almost any discount costs the company less than losing a customer for life.

Bottom-line, keep your ear to the ground – customers are falling. And if you pay close attention, you’ll save more than a few.

Lynda Fleming – Director of Learning & Development, Frontline Performance Group

The difference is night and day.  One transaction takes place where the salesperson makes an introduction by offering me their name and asking for mine and another takes place with no introduction at all and gets right to the sale.  In the first, I feel important and appreciated.  In the latter, I feel like just another schmo.  In more casual terms, “I don’t feel the love” if you don’t take the time and make the effort to build some rapport before you try to get in my wallet. 

Here’s a fundamental concept to remember about service-based sales; people like to do business with people they know, with people they like, and with people they trust.  But unfortunately in today’s “hurry up, let’s go” society, the civility in everyday exchanges has become collateral damage and the basic foundation in relationship building has been lost.  We’ve sacrificed an essential component in a customer-focused sales environment and in the process reduced our ability to maximize our revenue opportunities and maybe even more importantly, severely handicapped the potential to create a “wow” customer experience.  And the saddest part - it only takes a few seconds to accomplish.

Would you build a house on top of sand?  The answer is obvious but that is exactly what happens when salespeople don’t lay a solid foundation before beginning the sales process.  Take the few seconds it takes to let your customers know that you are a professional (by introducing yourself) and let them know you care about them and appreciate their business by asking for their name…before you do ANYTHING else.  Then use their name throughout the transaction and be sure to thank them by name at the conclusion.  Show them some love and I guarantee they will reciprocate.  The bonus is that it will make you feel good about what you do and how you do it.

Walter G. Rudd, Jr. – Performance Manager, Frontline Performance Group

When a prospect does not fully understand what you are offering or if they don’t believe what you are saying, objections can and do occur. Remember that if a person was not at all interested in what you have to offer, they would not even bother objecting. Sales in and of itself can entail changing a prospect’s perceptions about your products or services.

Here is an easy-to-use three-step process that will help you to engage your prospect and gain final commitment.

1) Validate

2) Similar situation story

3) What I’d like to do …

Validate

First of all, you never want your prospect to get the impression that you are confronting or arguing with them. This would break rapport completely and not allow you to move forward with any kind of closing attempt. So the idea is to let the prospect know that you respect their opinion and that you understand where they are coming from – even if you do not necessarily agree with them.

It sounds like this …

“Mr. Smith, I completely understand; I can certainly appreciate your concern.” This diffuses a situation that could get a bit tense if you don’t let the prospect know that you are “in their corner”. By validating their concern, you allow the prospect to lower their defenses and they will actually listen to what you have to say instead of mentally checking out. At this point you are still in the game to make the sale.

Similar situation story

Secondly, people like to relate to others and stories make a black and white picture into color. Remember the old saying, “Features and facts tell while benefits and stories sell.” Here’s an example, “Mr. Smith, I had a similar situation with another one of my clients. They too were concerned that there would be a lot of change fees on their financial printing order. They decided to go with us based on our reputation of excellent customer service and they’re glad they did. What they found was that, not only did they not incur exorbitant change fees to their order, they actually paid less than what they had budgeted for that line item.”

When you are using stories, the more details you can offer, the more impact they will have on your prospect. So start collecting stories of great customer service and how your company “saved the day” for a client. Record examples of how their initial concerns were proved wrong by world-class attention to detail, celebrity service, going above and beyond etc. This helps to move a prospect past their concerns to a higher level of trust with you and your company. It sets you up to close the sale.

What I’d like to do …

Any time you are making a closing attempt, remember to approach this part of the process from the paradigm that “sales is service”. You are serving your customer by helping them make the right decision for them and their company. Lead them to the natural conclusion of the process by being strong and yet still having a balance between frankness and diplomacy.

It would sound something like this coming off your similar situation story, “So, what I’d like to do is get the paperwork signed so we can start providing you with excellent value today.” This is both assumptive and seamless as you come off the positive emotion created from your similar story.

This simple process overcomes the objection, creates a positive perception in the mind of the prospect and closes the sale with a smooth transition. Start collecting real stories that you can use for your similar situations today.

Michael Stahl – Senior Performance Manager, Frontline Performance Group  

What is the definition of a frontline sales representative?

Any team member that interacts with your customers is considered to be on the frontline. This includes face-to-face interactions, phone interactions, and on-line communications.

Why is the frontline important to my business?

In this increasingly competitive market, it is more important than ever for companies to do more than the status quo of merely maintaining business relationships. Business leaders who seek to improve company profit must continually strive to differentiate themselves through the service and sales ability of their frontline.

Imagine what would happen if your frontline sales team was not only genuine, sincere and helpful, but built a good first impression and rapport with your customers, asked the questions they needed to ask to truly understand your customers’ needs, really knew your products and/or services, and built value into what they were selling. The results would be tremendous! New avenues of growth and profit would be created including additional and incremental sales revenue opportunities.

Understand and appreciate the role of your frontline as the vehicle that can transform your bottom-line and you will create the power to generate unprecedented profits!

Every time I travel to the UK for client assignments, it amazes me how comfortable British people are with standing in line and waiting for service. To the British, this pastime of “queuing” is as common as any other proper tradition.  When traveling there and reluctantly conforming to this tradition while waiting at car rental counters, hotel check-ins, train depots or any other retail experience, I always think to myself, “Thank goodness this is not a practice in the U.S.! How could we tolerate it?”  In reality though, we are becoming British in the way of developing a comfort zone for waiting and being delayed in most any sales, service or retail experience.

With the recent economic downturn, companies have been forced to slash services and labor from their operations. This has unquestionably led to longer line waits, product delays, and service cutbacks. Since the beginning of the U.S. recession, our economy has slashed over 8 million jobs.  Were they all shed from the service industry? Maybe not, but the impact is surely felt.

Whether you are a frontline manager leading a sales force on a busy day or a frontline service based sales professional looking to do a good job, the following “cues” (techniques) will help you enhance your customers’ experiences while they wait to do business with you:

Cue #1: Smile sincerely! – There are over 190 different countries on earth, nearly 3,000 languages and an estimated 5,000 different cultures and in all of these examples, a sincere smile can never be misinterpreted. A smile is one of the fastest ways to communicate warmth and professionalism. People waiting in line don’t mind as much as long as they are going to get a polite person to assist them.

Cue #2:  Acknowledge customers who are waiting in line. – During an existing customer interaction it is okay to politely excuse yourself from your customer and acknowledge those who are waiting.  Begin by saying “excuse me” to the current customer, then simply comment to your waiting customer(s); ”Thank you for being patient, we appreciate it …” As you return to your existing customer, thank them and continue with their interaction.  Please note that the acknowledgement should never happen during your primary sales presentation to your existing customer; it is most effective before or after the sales presentation has been completed.

Cue # 3: Start with the end in mind. - Customers do not wait until they are being served to form their first impression of you; they form it while they wait in line as they watch and listen to how the customers in front of them are being treated. Ending your customer experiences with a statement of C.A.R.E. (comment about relevant experiences) toward your departing customer will send the correct message to the next customer in line and form a positive impression.  For example, a client of ours, Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory-Canada, coaches their associates to end every transaction with ”Thank you, see you soon”, and a statement of C.A.R.E. So, if the customer was headed out to the Canucks game, the associate might say “good luck” or ”enjoy the game”.

When customers are stressed and wait to be served, the little things do add up.  These cues are just a few of the little details that can add up to grand customer experiences.  

Ken Stellon - Senior Vice President, Frontline Performance Group