|
Resources:
>
The One-to-one Future: Building Business Relationships One Customer at a Time
>
One Size Fits One : Building Relationships One Customer and One Employee at a Time
Marketing
Maven Test:
Q:
Where did the following statement originate?
"It
costs a company six times more to sell a product to a
new customer that it does to sell to an existing
customer."
A:
Click here
for the answer
|
Why
the Golden Rule Won't Make Your Business Shine
by
Paul Schwartz
Many
of us learned the golden rule early on life, perhaps
in grade school or from our parents. "To do
unto others as you would have others do unto you,”
or for the business world "to treat others
(customers) the way you want to be treated.” That’s
a pretty good rule and it has stood the test of time.
Many businesses train customer-facing staff to
refer to this rule when dealing with prospective and
current customers.
It’s a good business philosophy and many
businesses could probably improve customer
relationships just by following this rule.
However, this rule will only get you so far as
it is based on two false assumptions when it comes to
dealing with customers:
That
all your customers are the same.
and
That
all your customers are just like you.
To
help you stand out above the crowd and differentiate
your business or organization, I’d like to introduce
CONGRUITY's Platinum Rule for building lasting
customer relationships:
“Treat
your customers the way they want to be
treated.”
This
involves a deep understanding of your customer and it's
critical to building the trust and loyalty that
sustainable businesses rely upon (see our past issue
on building T
R U S T for more info).
It starts at the very beginning of the sales
or buying process. It puts the customer first, makes them feel
special and unique, and strengthens the relationship
with them over time.
Reaching this level of customer insight
requires some real direct dialogue and in-depth
research with customers.
If
you are not ready to engage customers at that level,
let me offer you some guidelines from Grokdotcom
that allow you to account for the differences in the
way different types of customers make buying decisions
and how best to approach them:
| Personality |
Attitude |
Question
Asked |
Best
Approach |
| AMIABLE |
Personal,
activity oriented |
Why
is your solution best to solve the problem? |
Address
values and provide assurances, credible
opinions rather than options |
| ANALYTICAL |
Businesslike,
detail oriented |
How
can your solution solve the problem? |
Provide
hard evidence and superior service |
| EXPRESSIVE |
Personal,
relationship oriented |
Who
has used your solution to solve my problem? |
Offer
testimonials and incentives |
| ASSERTIVE |
Businesslike,
power oriented |
What
can your solution do for me? |
Provide
options, probabilities and challenges |
If
you are ready to engage your customers at a deeper
level, please
contact
us for
an introductory discussion to see how CONGRUITY can
help strengthen the relationship you have with
customers. Please
visit us on the web at www.congruity.biz
Copyright © 2004 CONGRUITY.
You received this
newsletter because you've requested information from us in
the past, we met at a local networking event (AeA, HTMA, RTA, UCSD CONNECT, etc.), we've worked together, you gave us a business card or sent an email. If
you don't want to continue receiving this newsletter, we
apologize for any inconvenience, and please click
here to send us an email and we will remove you from our
email list.
|