I saved money for years to replace my old 1991 Plymouth Acclaim with a new vehicle. Last fall, the savings were in place and the time was right to make a purchase. I decided (with my wife’s support, of course!) on an SUV to accommodate our frequent trips to Lowe’s and Home Depot and also to allow us to haul some kids around.

I had read about a great way to buy a car via fax on the Fool.com that helped eliminate the hassle of negotiations. I decided to try this route with the Kia dealerships in central Texas.

I faxed 9 dealerships from Kileen, Austin, and San Antonio. I told them I was ready to buy, gave them the specifications I sought, and requested their best offer on a new Sorento. I only got one response.

What? I tell 9 dealerships I want to give them $20,000+ and I only hear back from one dealership! Amazing.

Some Customers are Ready

You’ll have customers contact your company that are ready to buy today. What will you do? Close the sale, or kick them out?

When customers come ready to buy, you don’t have to convince them to buy, you just have to meet their needs and close the sale. Don’t waste their time (or yours) with unnecessary preliminaries.

Inbound Leads are Gold

When a customer phones, emails, faxes or drives to your store, the odds are pretty good that they are in the market to buy what you are selling. The customer has identified their need and is seeking a solution. Your company is on their list of places they think they can meet that need.

The customer on your doorstep may have seen a commercial, looked you up in the yellow pages, or been referred by a friend. Irregardless of how they got to you, you need to treat them like gold. Since customers that come to you have prequalified themselves to do business with your company, they will have a higher sale ratio than other prospects.

Handle with Care

Once you have the golden prospect in your hand, don’t blow it! Going back to my Kia example, I responded to the one dealership to see what we could agree upon. We “discussed” the price and vehicle but the negotiations ended there. The salesman proceeded to talk down to me and undermine my confidence in his dealership. Obviously, he felt that a power struggle was more important than tucking a sale under his belt. With a bad taste in my mouth, I walked away and bought a Mazda somewhere else.

Just because a potential customer falls in your lap doesn’t mean everything will continue smoothly. Be courteous, ask questions, and meet the customer’s needs. If the salesman at the Kia dealership had met me halfway or had wanted to sell me the vehicle, I’m sure we could have come to agreeable terms. A basic customer service attitude would have gone a long way here!

On my last trip to the US Post Office I was surprised that the line wasn’t as long as it usually is. I took my number and waited patiently as the “Now Serving” numbers slowly approached mine.

At last, I was one number away. I saw a customer ahead of me finish and walk away. The counter and clerk were available and I knew it was my turn.

Nevertheless, the clerk didn’t call my number. She turned to her coworker and started chatting about non-work related stuff. I waited a few more minutes until they had finished their little conversation and my number was called.

Prioritize

When you’re open for business, your customers always come first. Train your employees on the proper behavior they should demonstrate around customers. Remind your staff that the customer is their priority.

Downtime

There is always downtime at work and those are the moments when you can talk about whatever you want. When customers are waiting, your personal business can wait.

Busy?

Pay attention to the amount of time your customers are waiting. If you are frequently finding yourself too busy for your customers, get more help. Your business may be growing and you need to meet that demand.

Best Use of Customer Time

Help your customers get on with their day by serving them as quickly and professionally as possible. You may consider some of these options:

• show customers the shortcuts
• schedule your employees so that you have more on staff during busy times
• be alert to slow downs in customer throughput and rapidly adjust to meet that demand
• inform customers of wait times and delays
• give customers alternatives that would give them faster service
• make appointments with customers so they are guaranteed dedicated service

Respect

Respect customers’ time by focusing your undivided attention on them. This will show your customers that you really do care about them and will lead to repeat business.

I mentioned a few weeks ago how Dell had delayed my PDA shipment a few weeks later than I had originally been told. Three days before my new ship date, Dell emails me that they had shipped my PDA. In the end, I received it the day before my revised delivery date. I was pleasantly surprised.

How can I be pleased when I still received my PDA later than I had originally hoped? Simple: after Dell’s original delay, they underpromised and overdelivered.

Set the Expectation

When Dell emailed me about the delay, they did do one thing right: they put a new date on my calendar. All my hopes and excitement were thereafter hinged upon receiving my new toy on that new date.

When you set the customer’s expectations on when your product will be available, they internalize it and lower their expectations until that time. As the the date approaches, their expectations grow. Make sure you met that date!

Room to Maneuver

When you set a delivery date in the future, give yourself wiggle room. As you are most familiar with your business, you can foresee certain delays that may strike and impede you meeting this date. Always give yourself a little buffer to account for problems.

Be careful however when playing this maneuver game. If you give too much of a lead time up front, your potential purchaser may go elsewhere. They need the product sooner, rather than later, and will find another company who will meet their time constraints.

In addition, if your expected delivery date is consistently later than reality, your customer will no longer trust your estimates. They will always expect faster service than you promise. This could backfire when you do a have a legitimate delay in your process.

Be On Time

Although underpromising and overdelivering may work some times, the best practice is to deliver your product when expected. The customer will be happy because you delivered what you promised, when you promised.

Last year I purchased some credits with iStockphoto for their royalty-free photography. I made the purchase because I needed a particular picture for a client’s website I was creating.

Since then, a year has passed and I haven’t used any more of my credits. In fact, I hadn’t even visited their site in months. I may have forgotten them, but did they forget me? No!

The credits I purchased came with the caveat that they would expire after one year. At least 60 days from my credits’ expiration date, I started getting reminder emails stating:

This message is a friendly reminder to you that iStockphoto credits expire within 1 year of the date of purchase. You have credits in your account that will expire in the next 60 days if not used.

Communicate Expiration Policy

If your business chooses to follow a similar policy to iStockphoto and expire credits or products you must clearly communicate this, as they did, to the customer before the purchase. Indicate how long the credits are valid and any other restrictions that apply.

Reminders

When customers visit your website or receive communication from you, remind them of the expiration date. iStockphoto did a great job of reminding me to use my credits. I received emails at 60, 30, 15, and 3 days before my credits were to expire. Follow their example in contacting customers more frequently as the deadline approaches. The last thing you want is a customer’s credits to expire without them knowing it would happen.

Respect the Customer

Customers have made the choice to spend their money on your product or service. Don’t just take the money and run. Remember to fulfill your end of the deal and help the customer get the most out of their purchase. Ensure they get to use every penny’s worth.

Through good communication and expiration reminders, your customers will be more likely to use up the product they purchased. Once their initial credits are used, they’ll be so impressed with your customer service that they’ll return for more business in the future.

My last trip to the dentist was over 6 months ago. Nine, to be exact. Some of you may be thinking that would be just fine with you! However, if you were a dentist, you’d probably want to know when I’d be coming in for my routine cleaning and check-up.

At the end of my last dental exam, the receptionist told me I’d receive a call to schedule my next appointment when it was closer. I was a little surprised because it had always been a standard practice to set up my next appointment before I left the office. My dentist never called me, and later this month I’ll be headed to a new dentist.

Following Up is Essential

Your existing customers are your best prospects for future revenues. If you don’t nurture them by following up at the appropriate time, you could be missing a lifetime of recurring income, referrals, and customer feedback.

Plan to Follow Up

Make following up with your customers part of your routine. Unless this is part of your formal customer interaction process, you’ll be more prone to forget and people will slip through the cracks. Try to schedule your contacts to coincide with the time when the customer will be ready to buy again. For example, with my dental example, I should be contacted every six months.

Set Customers’ Expectations

When you are finished with your current transaction, communicate to your customers when you’ll be contacting them next. If you offer a service or product that requires scheduled maintenance or updates, make that appointment before the customer leaves. My dentist should never have let me leave without my next appointment on the calendar.

Indicate to the customer how you’ll be contacting them. Will it be by phone, mail, or email? Allow them to choose how they’d like to be reached. Respect their wishes and only use that channel for your communications unless you both agree otherwise.

The Follow Up

When the time comes to follow up with your customers, you need to tread carefully. If some significant time has elapsed, will they even remember you? When you send that email or give them a call, remember to communicate the following:

• Your name and the business name
• Why you are calling (to schedule an appointment or to remind, etc.)
• When they need to see you or when your visit will be
• Where they need to go
• What they need to do (Do they need to bring anything special, like an insurance card or the product they purchased?)
• Why they need to do business with you again
• That you appreciate their time and look forward to seeing them

Oh, I forgot…

Many times when you contact a customer, they will have forgotten that they were scheduled for an appointment or that they were due for service. Nevertheless, they are more than willing to reengage and do business with you. What if you had never called? That is money left on the table.

Don’t forget to follow up with customers and clients! It may just be the easiest money you’ve ever made.

I got the great news this week that ReturnCustomer.com has been invited to join the 9rules network. This network consists of a large collection of top quality sites on numerous different topics. It is an honor to be a member! If you aren’t familiar with the 9rules network, I invite you to head on over and take a look.

The Rules

Every business needs to have a set of guiding principles to keep them on track and focused. The good folks over at 9rules naturally have nine governing ideals:

1. Love what you do.
2. Never stop learning.
3. Form works with function.
4. Simple is beautiful.
5. Work hard, play hard.
6. You get what you pay for.
7. When you talk, we listen.
8. Must constantly improve.
9. Respect your inspiration.

These are wonderful values that any business would be wise to adopt.

Whenever my boss wants to have a “working lunch” we’ll drive up the street to a little restaurant/bar called Sam’s Boat. At night this place is hopping but at lunch it is pretty quiet and they serve a decent hamburger. We’ve been there quite a few times and have amassed stamps on our frequent lunch card. After so many lunches, you get one free.

After our last visit, I pulled out my card to get a stamp and our server tells us they don’t use those any more. We’d have to sign up for a new program but can’t transfer any of our credits. Ouch!

Don’t End It!

If you’re considering dropping your customer loyalty incentive program, think again. Why would you do such a thing? At a minimum you should be upgrading your loyalty program. Offer your customers more benefits and thus encourage them to do more business with you.

Transition

When you change your loyalty program, offer a smooth transition from the old to the new. Give your customers plenty of time to make the transition. Make the process easy.

Subway restaurants updated their incentive program a while ago and taught three great lessons:

1. Communicate the Change – Whenever I went for a sandwich I saw signs on the door and at the checkout telling me the loyalty program was changing.
2. Communicate the Date – There was a clear date when the old program would no longer be supported. I first noticed these signs months ahead of that actual date.
3. Account for existing loyalty credits – A little chart showed how you could cash in your existing credits for discounts on purchases.

Proceed with Caution

When changing your customer loyalty program you are messing with your best customers. Don’t screw this up! You need to make sure they don’t get lost in the transition and that all their previous purchases are still credited with the new program. Give them plenty of time to make the switch.

If, from a customer’s perspective, your new program isn’t any better than the old one: stay where you are!

When you proceed with the changes, remember the loyal customers you are affecting every step of the way.

I needed to rent a post office box for my business. Try as I may, I couldn’t get any information on pricing or availability through the United States Postal Service website or phone numbers. So I headed off to the post office to rent my mailbox.

I rearranged my schedule, drove to the station, and waited in line just to be told there were no mailboxes available. The USPS handles inventory shortages by forcing customers to visit them in person to get the bad news. Don’t follow their example in your business!

Inventory Runs Out

Post Office boxes, like other products in your inventory have finite supplies. The day will come when you just don’t have the product a customer wants. If your products are popular or you have supply chain problems, this may happen more than you’d like. Be prepared to communicate the situation to your customers.

Website

Your product offerings online should indicate their inventory status. Amazon.com does this well by telling you when only a few items are left and how long until an item will ship.

Phone

Your automated phone tree can provide details on inventory shortages. This will allow your customers to find out the information they need without you needing extra personnel to handle the calls. When your customer service representatives speak with customers, they need to be empowered with the latest product and inventory information. Customers call you for facts and data, not to be redirected elsewhere.

Store

We’ve talked before about only marketing what you have in stock. Take this a step further and show people what is available and when missing items will be available in your store. I asked the Post Office clerk if any boxes were coming up for renewal. She didn’t have any information about that. A large automated sign that shows available mailboxes could be prominently displayed at the station. One glance would have told me to turn around and leave instead of having to wait in line for the bad news.

When your inventory dwindles, communication with your customers can make the difference between persuading them to return or losing them forever.

Let’s assume your company sells widgets. Can you describe to a customer your widgets and all their benefits? How about your employees? Do they know your product as well as you?

This past weekend my wife and I went to a Chinese restaurant to order some take-out. We weren’t familiar with some items on the menu so we asked the girl taking our order for an explanation.

Aside from what she had personally eaten, all she could do was read the menu’s descriptions back to us.

If your employees don’t even know your products, how do you expect your customers to understand them?

Your Employees

Quiz your employees on your products and services. Can they really describe them to your customers? Even if certain employees aren’t involved directly in sales or customer facing tasks, they need to know the basics of your company. They become the default marketers when others ask them about where they work. Don’t let them answer “I’m not really sure what my company does.”

Your Website

Your website should describe your products better than you do. This is an electronic forum where you can include pictures, virtual tours, testimonials, and product specs in great detail. Don’t overlook your website and its potential to communicate the details of your products.

Your Advertising

Have you ever seen a really entertaining commercial on TV that you told your friends about? One of your friends asks “so what were they selling?” You don’t remember.

One thing that drives me crazy is an advertisement that doesn’t tell me about the product. If your advertising doesn’t show your prospects why and what they should be buying or even how to contact you, is it really effective? No.

What does your product do?

Take a moment to evaluate your company. Can customers effectively find out about your product through your employees, website, and advertisements? If not, you’ve got some work to do.

My wife and I like to eat out at restaurants to escape the drudgery of the everyday. However the birth of our now 4 month old son has put a pinch on our social outings. The other day we were craving a restaurant meal but not some deplorable fast food when we discovered the beauty of “curb side to go.”

The Johnny Carino’s by our house offers a “curb side to go” format of take out. You call in your order, pull up in your car, and they bring your food out to you. Although not a new invention or unique to this restaurant, it is a beautiful thing!

Conventional Interactions with Customers

You may have been doing business a certain way for years. Customers always arrive a certain way and purchase your product in another predictable pattern.

Think for a minute how you could break these conventions to allow even more customers to come to your door. How could you make a “curb side to go” feature for your business?

Do Business Differently

There are several facets of business that can be varied to gain and retain more customers:

Time

• Extend your hours
• Open your business on the weekend
• Allow your customers to shop online anytime they want
• Provide an “express” service for those on the go or frequent customers

Location

• Open branch offices or stores closer to your customer base
• Provide a delivery service or house call option
• Maintain your website so potential customers can access you from anywhere

Focus on other ways you can improve these aspects of your business:

• Who?
• Where?
• When?
• Why?
• How?

Make it Convenient

Your customers are often in a hurry and may not stop at your business unless you make it easy for them do to so.

How can you make your product or service more convenient in terms of time, cost, and overall experience?