BIZBUZZ: Cy Charney: The Salesperson’s Handbook

Hi, I’m Gary Brown, a FocalPoint business coach.

Welcome to episode 16 of BIZBUZZ.

I stimulate conversations in order to help business owners imagine a future state of affairs that is different from their present state.

The following video highlights some content from The Salesperson’s Handbook, written by Cy Charney.  The focus is recognizing what constitutes excellent customer service.

I am going to comment on the basic customer needs that are identified by Charney.

He suggests that customers have a handful of basic needs. Customers want to feel safe; they want to be treated as special; they have a need to feel successful; they want things done right the first time and customers want to get things done efficiently.

This raises a question in my mind. If basic needs are being met, how focused on price do we need to be?

Charney also introduces an appropriate quotation from Aristotle. He stated that “we are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit”. I wonder how many of us realize that habits are acquired through practice?  Sometimes, I can’t help but think that some more practice is needed!

Well, that’s it for The Saleperson’s Handbook.
Thanks for watching.

Your comments are always welcome.
Stay tuned for more BIZ BUZZ.

BIZBUZZ: H. Thompson: Who Stole My Customer

This is episode 10 of BIZBUZZ.

I stimulate conversations in order to challenge business owners to Be Different and to Act Boldly.  The following video highlights several observations from Harvey Thompson’s book Who Stole My Customer that I found interesting.

Hi, I’m Gary Brown a FocalPoint business coach.

Welcome to BIZBUZZ.

I’ve chosen to comment on Who Stole My Customer, a book written by Harvey Thompson that deals with the subject of customer touchpoints.

I’d like to highlight three observations from the book that I feel are noteworthy.

Thompson first posits that at every touchpoint intersection, the customer’s processes are interacting with the company’s processes.  His customer touchpoints are:

– they gather information & shop

– they make a purchase

– they receive the purchased item

– they pay for the purchase

– they use the product/service

– they experience post purchase customer service

– they buy again or discontinue the relationship

So, have your internal processes for these touchpoints been designed with your customers in mind?

A logical extension of this first point is that customer touchpoints represent both an opportunity and a risk.  As obvious as this statement is, how well are we seizing the opportunity to make our customers happy, in order to minimize our risk?  [for more on differentiation, read To Be Different or Not (at Your Peril)]

My final observation is Thompson’s definition as to why customers defect.  He claims that first among the major reasons is lack of courtesy.  This is followed by competence.  Does everyone in your organization know what courtesy looks like?

Well, that’s it for Who Stole My Customer.

Thanks for watching.

Your comments are always welcome.

Stay tuned for more BIZBUZZ.

To Be Different or Not (at Your Peril)

It’s easy to talk about being different.

We can all sagely nod our heads and claim that we fully understand the importance of differentiation. We all get the notion that we need to be different in our offering, in some meaningful way, if we are going to successfully attract and retain customers.

The next question is the one that seems to cause us some issue.

Do we actually implement some type of differentiation in our business?

My informal, non-scientific observations suggest that our understanding of differentiation frequently gets parked at the door. We seem to be so immersed in the day-to-day minutiae of running our businesses, that we overlook what it takes to stand out from our competitors. Prospects can buy from us; buy from our competitors or not buy at all. If we don’t focus on maintaining some type of compelling differentiation within our business, why should anyone care?

In Harvey Thompson’s book Who Stole My Customer, he claims that the top two major reasons for losing prospects or customers is lack of courtesy followed by lack of competence. These are both staff related issues. Both speak to skills that can be learned. Both suggest areas where a differentiation strategy could pay significant dividends to the business.  [learn more about Who Stole My Customer in episode 10 of BIZBUZZ]

Phil Kotler (of marketing fame) states that the company that stops getting better gets worse.

Getting better is a conscious decision taken by the business owner. It involves a focus on differentiation.  Better must, by definition, indicate a better experience for our customers.

Are you engaging in a periodic review of your differentiation strategy, in this very crowded space that we occupy?  If you’re not, beware!