Here is what Jeffrey Gitomer says about Customer Reality

• I don’t want to wait on the phone
• I especially don’t want to listen to your self-serving messages as I wait.
• I don’t want to wait on line.
• I don’t want to be told no.
• I don’t want your excuses about why you can’t.
• I don’t want to hear about your policy….

I suggest that after reading the above, have a friend call your office or number posing as a client (not you, your voice will be recognized), pretend to have a problem and see how it is handled.  Is the person answering friendly?  Helpful?  Reassuring?  Did they get the right person to return a call?  And so on and so on.  Any glitches?  Time for a meeting with office and management staff.  Time to FIXIT!

Jeffrey Gitomer is my idol.  The author of all the "Little Books" for Business and Sales, he has a web site, (gitomer.com), is on Face Book, a blog, and all the other of today’s ways to communicate.  Plus, after seeing him for a day of his seminar i person, I can report he is the real deal.  In his most recent Ezine called Sales Caffeine, he talks about Service.  Quote, "Service leads to Sales if you know how to act and how to ask". 

"Every time a customer calls it’s an oppurtunity.  The only question is, ‘How are you taking advantage of it?’  Answer HELLO!   Not a thank you for the call, telling me how important it is while you put me on hold for the next available agent, or to "serve me better" ask me to select from the next eight options.  Here’s how to serve. 

1.  Start Friendly NO MATTER HOW THEY ACT OT TALK.
2. Get off your high(pc) horse.
3. Don’t worry about how you feel-worry about how they feel.
4. Ask them how you can help them the most.
5. Help them with whatever they need.
6. Don’t tell them what you can’t do, tell what you can do.
7. Get them to agree that the solution you offer, or answer they need, is the one they are expecting and the one they are pleased with (not "satisfied" with).
8. Engage them personally during the conversation.
9. Make CERTAIN clients are happy as a result of the call.
10. Follow through on your promises with action and communication.

Bottom line?  Keep it short but get the info you need to help them.  Email thanks.  Tell them how much you appreciated talking to them and how much you appreciate their business.   Email them back your solution, or promise to repair.  Follow up after resoultion to see if they are happy.  If they are ask for a testimonial.  Might as well "get it in writing".

Now go out there Tigers! 

Go to any sales gurus web site and you will find a wealth of how-to-get-sales info.  And as for books on the subject?  Zillions.  So what advice do you follow?  How long do you pursue what has worked for others in other types of businesses before you realize these tactics are not for you?

Ah, there’s the rub.  What works for a retailer( say coupons for dollars off) absolutely will not work for an interioplantscaper.  Advertising in local papers works for the Tire discount store, but for you?  Nada. 

That is why it is imperative that you look at each strategy, evaluate its appropriateness, and talk to industry experts.  Too many ’scapers waste valuable time going after dead ends.  Quality and Potential is what you want.  Plus, you need a Plan, a map of who to call, what to say and how to get an appointment.  For that info check the Sales Books.  I recommend Jeffrey Gitomer’s work.  Go to the book store and read the Table of Contents in his many works and choose what will help you NOW!

For us specifically, the first places I’d look are for "lists".  Every local Business Newspaper  or Chamber of Commerce has what is called Books of Lists.  A wealth of information IF you know what to look for.  Example:  Who are the TOP 50 companies that lease corporate space.  This is usually given in square footage.  The higher the number of square feet, the larger potential for you.  Just make sure you qualify the square footage.  Warehouse space doe not count.  Next, the TOP 25 Hotel Properties.  Again, qualify.  Forget the lower end, look for the 3-5 Stars.  And so on.

The above is where to start.  Now, get going Tigers.