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Introduction of the Host
N. Rajesh Kumar, a graduate in Commerce, has over 20 years of field experience including 5 years of handling a Profit Centre and a couple of years of International Selling experience. He started his career as a Sales Executive and in a short span of time, was given the responsibility of handling the entire Country. Having started his sales career at a very early age he has had opportunities of working for different companies in
various industries like - Telecom, Office Automation and Computer Networking.
He has been conducting Training Programmes on Professional Selling Skills (PSS) for over 8 years now, based on his vast practical experience.
About the Class - Monthly
Lesson 7 -CUSTOMER CARE
Why customers are unhappy with suppliers?
In competitive markets customers have a choice. If we cannot give them what they are looking for, they can always get it somewhere else. These are some of the factors that customers find irritating when making contact for service.
- Products not delivered when agreed
- Parts missing when delivered
- Parts not in stock
- Too long to get service or parts
- Product inadequate for intended use
Service
- Response time too slow
- Service not given when promised
- Lack of urgency or understanding by service department
- No follow-up by salespeople or company
Faults when phoning the supplier
- Phone not answered promptly
- Company not properly identified
- The standard "Who's calling?'
- Uninterested, bored or impatient voice
- A 'little girl' voice
- Every question responded to with 'Just a moment, please'
- Unexplained interruptions
- Long periods of silence
- Abrupt or aimless transfers
- Requests for message to be repeated
- Ignorance of whereabouts of company personnel and their movements
- The 'He's in a meeting at the moment' lie
- The 'He will phone you back in five minutes' lie
- Hanging up before the customer does
- Carrying on two conversation at the same time
Your company's reputation is in the hands of the first person to pick up the telephone.
Phrases to avoid
'Can I help you'?
The most predictable of all greetings and used by practically everybody involved in customer contact. This statement puts pressure on prospective buyers to make a decision the moment they walk in the door. The usual response is, 'No thank you, I am just looking around'. 'How can I help you'? takes the pressure off the buyer and will create a better atmosphere.
'With all due respects..
This is normally used in response to some critical remark made by the customer. 'With all due respect' really means 'thinking very little of you, as I do' and is usually associated with some body language that confirms the salesperson's irritation. Next time you hear or use the statement, observe the subsequent remarks and body language of both people and I believe you will see at least 'polite aggression'.
- I hope this doesn't go over your head.
- Without getting too technical..
- To put this in simple terms.
The buyer's interpretation could be: 'As you haven't got the intelligence to understand this, I shall explain it in such a way that even an imbecile like you will find it hard to miss the point'!
- 'I hope I am not boring you'
- 'Without boring you any further'
If somebody says, 'Don't think of a white horse', what do you think of? A white horse of course. When we say to a customer, 'I hope I'm not boring you, we are suggesting to the customer that he is bored - and if he is not, he should be!
- 'You've got me wrong'
- 'That is not what I said'
- 'You have misinterpreted me'
It is not a good idea to blame the customers for our inability to put ourselves across. It is more diplomatic to accept responsibility for the communication breakdown with: 'I'm sorry, I'm not explaining myself properly'.
- 'I am not knocking them but.
- 'I am not complaining but.
- 'I am not interrupting but.
Every time somebody says 'this is not a criticism' they proceed to tear the other person to pieces. When we say, 'don't take offence' we proceed to offend. People try to defend this statement by suggesting that criticisms are helpful if they are 'constructive'.
Class Schedule:
Tuesday, August 27, 2002 Lessons 08 - Customer Care Cont.d
Queries on this lesson?
Mail us at onlinesellingskills@sitagita.com
or write
to us Onlinesellingskills, Sitagita Com Ltd.,
47, Chamiers Road, Chennai - 600 028.
Courtesy: Institute of PSS, No.14-A, Natesan Nagar,
Alapakkam Main Road, Chennai - 600 116. Tel: 044-476 7299 Mobile: 98400-40444