Potential Clients
Are you truly listening?
13/07/09 10:40
Are you truly listening?
There was a post on the Forbes.com - Entrepreneurs section titled Learning the Art of Listening. It was written by Dr. Steven Berglas, and it covers the topic of knowing how to truly listen. Where this comes into play is that our business is about not only uncovering the truth of your product or service from your customers and target markets perspective, it is about knowing how to truly listen to them to uncover the opportunities that exist. Until you know how to actively listen, you may be missing out on some great opportunities to grow your business.
There was a post on the Forbes.com - Entrepreneurs section titled Learning the Art of Listening. It was written by Dr. Steven Berglas, and it covers the topic of knowing how to truly listen. Where this comes into play is that our business is about not only uncovering the truth of your product or service from your customers and target markets perspective, it is about knowing how to truly listen to them to uncover the opportunities that exist. Until you know how to actively listen, you may be missing out on some great opportunities to grow your business.
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It is all about the experience
05/06/09 08:53
Just to set the stage for you....my contact has phoned in to inquire about potentially signing on for this companies service. He tells me of the painful process of even getting signed up in the beginning as they had to do a credit check, they had to verify his home network setup, etc. When he was done this initial call he felt that everything was now in order and all he had to do was to wait for the software required for the ability to run the VOIP service on his laptop to show up.
A couple of days later, the door bell rings and sure enough there is the new VOIP system. He went and started to install the system onto his laptop and that is when the problems began. To make a long story short, after several calls to the support organization they then decided to tell him that their VOIP software would not work on his machine because of the version of the operating system he was using. Now well beyond frustrated he then got passed back to the original customer service department he had dealt with in the beginning and they confirmed that the operating system he was using was not supported. Rightfully so, he then asked to speak with the manager due to the fact that they should have asked him in the beginning what operating system he was using which would have saved a great deal of frustration and valuable time. When the manager came on the line, my contact explained to him the sequence of events along with the frustration he was feeling....and the response from the manager of the customer service team was - “Yes, that OS is not supported, so what would you like me to do about it?”
So, here are some of the things that I would like you to think about regarding this story:
1. Do you think that this company spoke with many real life customers before they made a decision to build a solution that does not support one of the most used operating systems in the world?
2. Do you think that this company ever spoke to a real-life customer to better understand how they would like to have the solution delivered to them? (Lets face it...it is software which could be downloadable and does not require a physical shipment which requires the customer to wait days in order to receive)
3. Do you think that this company was concerned about creating a positive experience with their customers or do you think that they are more focused on getting their money?
4. Do you think that this company has ever done an audit or “mystery shopper” type of activity to truly put themselves in their customers shoes in order to experience the buying process their customers go through when buying their solution?
5. Do you think that the company really wants to have a customer support organization that states “....what would you like me to do about it?”
6. Do you think that either myself or any of the other people that my contact has told about this experience will ever voluntarily buy from this company again?
7. Would you buy from this company?
Finally....when was the last time you did an “audit” to truly understand the experience your customers are getting from you, your company, and the process they have to go through to either buy your solution or to get support when they run into issues? You only have one chance to make a positive impression....and there are big consequences for not providing the right experience for your customers.