Tag Archives: Customer Service

A Complaint is a Gift

In their book, A Complaint is a Gift: Recovering Customer Loyalty When Things Go Wrong, authors Janelle Barlow and Claus Moller discuss the inadequacies of customer service and the customer service departments at most companies. The book begins with a … Continue reading

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Sales Fun Facts

This month, I thought to share some sales “fun facts” to get us all thinking of what we can do better to drive sales growth and success and move our companies forward.   Having the right people on your sales … Continue reading

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Don’t Upsell…Right Sell

“Would you like to supersize your order?” As I wrote previously (“Do You Want Fries With That?” – An Opportunity for Profitable Growth), upselling can bring additional value to our customers, create additional sales and profits, and cement our relationships … Continue reading

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Coaching and Developing Great Salespeople

Wanted: Great Salespeople! All of us are looking for great salespeople to close business, grow revenue, and help drive our companies to success. What are some of the qualities of great salespeople? Professional and personable Responsive and lives up to … Continue reading

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5 Steps to Improving Customer Service

Excellent customer service is a fundamental for success in our businesses. Unfortunately, it is all too often lacking. So, how can we improve customer service in our companies? Hire and Develop Employees that Actually Like People: Customer service starts and … Continue reading

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Prepare Questions…Not Presentations

The sales meeting begins. The salesperson starts talking through a PowerPoint presentation slide deck (which took him several hours to complete) telling the customer how great the salesperson’s company and products are. 30 minutes later the presentation is complete. And … Continue reading

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Ten Ways to Grow Sales Now

Despite the improving unemployment rate and positive economic indicators, many B2B companies are stuck in slow and no growth modes. How can these companies re-kindle growth and increase sales?

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Simple: Conquering the Crisis of Complexity

Simple: Conquering the Crisis of Complexity, written by Alan Siegel and Irene Etzkorn, is an excellent reminder to all of us to rail against complexity and keep things simple. Even though I summarize some of the key points below, I … Continue reading

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Go Where the Growth Is

In today’s low growth world, B2B companies need to be looking for those market segments and niches that are growing faster than the overall economy. ‘Going where the growth is’ offers our companies the promise of increasing sales to growing … Continue reading

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Recap – One Key to Help Move Your Company Forward

A customer interaction and a meeting are not truly finished until we take a moment to review and sum up what has just happened.   How do we recap? 1. In a customer interaction, we need to go over the … Continue reading

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Empathy – A Crucial Leadership Skill

Henry Ford said it well: If there is any one secret of success, it lies in the ability to get the other person’s point of view and see things from that person’s angle as well as from your own. This … Continue reading

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Be Easy to Do Business With

In a previous blog, Lessons from a Customer, I related my experience in dealing with 106 companies while I moved from Arizona to California. My conclusion was that most companies provide inadequate customer service and make it too difficult to … Continue reading

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Five Questions to Ensure a Successful Sales Call

In his book, Spin Selling, Neil Rackham defines the four outcomes of any sales call: Win – the customer makes a firm commitment to buy Advance – the sales process moves forward towards a decision Continuation – the sales process … Continue reading

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To Sell More, Sell Less

Today’s customer is overwhelmed with too much information and not enough time and attention span to digest it all. As such, the best salespeople have evolved and simplified their sales approach to be more responsive to over-burdened and over-saturated customers. … Continue reading

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3 Fundamentals of a Customer Service Culture

Having a true customer service culture depends on each individual employee. Each employee is focused on solving the customer’s problems Each employee strives to help the customer succeed in their business Each employee supports and helps their fellow employees

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We’ve Gotten the Sale…Now What?

The customer has said yes. He or she will buy our product and service. Now what do we do? 1.  Shut Up and Get Out As Michael Bloomberg, the billionaire Mayor of New York City, puts it so well: First, … Continue reading

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Sales and Marketing in a Time and Attention Starved World

In today’s over-saturated world of twenty four hour media, advertisement, and promotion, we are drowning in too much data and too many messages. Our brains are full, and our attention span is depleted. Paradoxically, despite this flood of information, we … Continue reading

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High Impact Selling – Timeless Sales Advice

My re-reading of William T. Brooks’ 1988 book, High Impact Selling: Power Strategies for Successful Selling, reminded me that the keys to successful sales have been known for years. They just need to be implemented and followed. Fundamentals of High … Continue reading

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Lessons from a Customer

Over the last month, my family and I have moved from Chandler, Arizona to Newport Beach, California. We sold our house in Chandler, moved ourselves and our belongings, and bought a house in Newport Beach. As so many of you … Continue reading

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“Do You Want Fries With That?” – An Opportunity for Profitable Growth

McDonald’s employees are trained to ask all customers whether they want fries with their meal. This little question, repeated millions of times a day in thousands of McDonald’s restaurants worldwide, creates millions of dollars of profits for McDonald’s as millions … Continue reading

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