"Being prepared to make positive changes in your business, that’s the difference between survival and significance”

Consistency is the key to building a great business that lasts the test of time. This consistency comes from the systems that let you reproduce the same results over and over again. I would like to explore the key elements you need to have in place to make customer loyalty work in your business.

A service selling system is where selling becomes the result of the service experience that is given consistently to your customers. This selling system is where you can have the greatest impact in your business when building customer loyalty.

Don’t lose sight of this goal by focusing so much on the process that you forget about the customer. This can be one of the downfalls of having a totally automated business.

When you create your service selling system there are three benefits that will have the most impact:

1. Your business becomes easier to walk away from if you want to devote more time to other interests;

2. Your business becomes easier to up-skill your team members to operate it, and

3. It makes your business more saleable when it comes time to move on to something else.

Look at it this way- If you were looking at two businesses to purchase which one would you choose? One of them has little or no systems in place, no customer database and none of the processes are documented to show how the business has worked in the past. The second scenario for business #2. It has a well-organised customer database with the purchasing habits recorded. Every process of the business has been recorded and there are systems in place that make sense and are giving the customer a great level of service.

Which one would you buy? Where would you invest your time and money?

Remember if someone has a great product it is only a matter of time before someone else will duplicate it or improve upon it. So we must ask ourselves, “What can we do to differentiate ourselves in the service selling experience?” Your people and your processes help create this experience. The service selling experience is made up of four parts.

The actions we take before the sale is made

The actions we take during the selling process

The actions we take after the sale is made

The actions we take long after the sale was made.

Before the sale is made

In any sales service process, giving the customer the reason to enter is critical. We often overlook the things we can do to prepare ourselves and our people for the pending customer interaction and possible sales transaction.

Have you given your customers enough reasons to enter your business?

Whether they physically have to walk through a shop door or pick up a phone to contact you, have you given them enough reasons to make the effort to buy from you?

How many times have you seen an advertisement or special offer that has caught your attention, then when you visited the store or called up to inquire, the service was ordinary and the staff were not aware of the offer.

So the end result was a very poor service experience. Why go and spend your money there in the first place?

Let’s look at all the aspects to consider before your business opens for trading today:

• Are you using the right marketing tools to draw people to your business?

• Have you developed the customer service and selling skills of your people?

• Does everyone know the customer service standards you follow?

• Have you spent time developing everyone’s product knowledge?

• Is your product displayed in the most appealing manner?

• Have you documented all the processes that make up your service selling experience?

• Have you given your existing customers a real reason to return?

• Have you streamlined your business so that it is easy to do business with you from the customer’s point of view?

• Does each department know what the other departments do in your business?

• Do departments and people within those departments work together or against one another?

• Are your people well presented and do they project the right image for your business?

• Have you put a loyalty gaining system in place for your business?

• Have you got a continuous flow of referrals flowing into your business?

• Does everyone know your business goals?

• Do they have their own professional and personal goals for the week or month ahead?

• Have you empowered your people so that they can make decisions?

• Have your people been trained with the proper telephone skills?

I like that quote ’Prior planning prevents poor performance’. To do that you need to lay a strong foundation to build your service selling experience on. You will give your customers a reason to enter into a business relationship with you.

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Keith Abraham

Keith Abraham is the Australian best selling author of the highly practical business book “Creating Loyal Profitable Customers”. He is also one of Australia’s most in-demand professional conference speakers, speaking at over 100 conferences each year.

Phone: (07) 3367 3455

Email: keith@keithabraham.com.au