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Training your
customers
Have you ever noticed that so much attention is given to training employees, but
so little to training customers?
You are, at this very moment, training your customers. Every time you
interact with your customer, you are communicating something about yourself and
your business. In every interaction, no matter how small, your customers are
logging information about you and answering questions they don’t even know they
have. Such questions are always on the table, no matter how long your client
has known you or done business with you.
Questions such as: Is he honest? Can I count on her when something goes
wrong? Does what he’s saying to get my business hold true after the ink is dry?
Is this business reliable?
Recently needing to put gas in my car, I intentionally drove past the gas
station closest to my house. I didn’t pass the station because its prices were
too high. They seemed to be comparable to others in the area. Nor did I pass it
because of the name brand, or because there is another station I prefer or
because of the location.
I passed the gas station because I had been trained to do so. For the past
several months, when I pulled into the gas station/convenience store, all the
pumps wore signs stating they were out of gas. At least a half dozen other
times I pulled in only to learn the station was once again out of the product I
needed. I finally learned the lesson the proprietors were teaching me: “You
cannot count on us.” Now, I don’t even check because I believe the chances are
better than even that I will be disappointed and will have wasted my time.
What are you teaching your customers? Take, for example, just one area of
your business like your telephone system. What is your customer’s experience
with you on the phone? Are you hard to reach? Do your customers get a busy
signal when they call you? Are they left on hold? Are they lost in
automated-answering purgatory? Is your phone ever answered rudely?
There are just too many of your competitors lined up behind you waiting for
you to blow it. Is it fair that you were judged based on one phone call? No. Do
your creditors care whether or not it’s fair? No.
When your customers shake your hand, when they hear your voice on the
phone, when they see your Web site, when they inspect your product, what are you
teaching them about yourself? The frustrating thing is that they will never
check with you to see whether their impression was correct. They will just make
a mental note and, if disappointed, keep looking for a business that will give
then the answers they want.
© 2004 Charles Marshall.
Charles Marshall is a
motivational speaker, motivational author and president of M Power Resources,
LLC. Visit his Web site at www.MPowerResources.com or contact him via e-mail at
charles@MPowerResources.com.
