New customers to your business may not be familiar with the products or services you are offering. This can cause great confusion and even indecision when they are reviewing your offerings.

To be successful in selling to customers, you need to transport the customer from their current state of mind to an understanding of what you are selling. You need to speak the same language as the customer.

My wife and I recently ventured into a local Mexican restaurant, Tio Dan’s Puffy Tacos. We’d never been to this restaurant before and aside from the name of the place, which clearly told us what their specialty was, we didn’t know anything about it.

Tio Dan’s menu was a full color, laminated, self-proclaimed “food book” that had pictures of every single entree they serve. These weren’t fake marketing pictures; they were real pictures of actual food they had prepared.

By looking at the menu, you got a good sense of what you’d be eating. You didn’t have to guess what a particular dish was based on an unfamiliar name because what you saw is what you’d get.

Tio Dan understands that not every customer that comes through his door knows what he sells or what the items on his menu are. He helps overcome that hurdle by showing customers what they can buy in terms they can understand.

How can you help your customers better understand your product or service? Perhaps you can show them the end result (a picture of food in our example). Or use an mental anchor that connects what you offer to something the customer already understands.

We got a very sneaky direct mail postcard the other day. It was from a services company we had used for some plumbing a few years ago.

The postcard read:

Your home may be due for its annual plumbing inspection and water heater clean and check as recommended by the consumer product safety commission and your manufacturer.

Your home’s $30 credit can be used for any plumbing, heating, air conditioning, electrical or appliance service or repair.

The postcard said we had a credit with them that would expire on an approaching date.

A “credit” implies we overpaid in the past or were overcharged and that we have some money due back to us.

The truth is we don’t have a credit with the company. The truth is that this is just a gimmick to get us to use the credit towards a more expensive work order.

Tricking customers is never a good long-term strategy.

A better strategy here would have been to continue down the path of their first paragraph: educate the customer. Perhaps, “We’ll inspect your air conditioning system for free. If we find a problem, we’ll show you what it is, explain your options, and give you our price. If you choose us to service your A/C, that would be great. If not, that is OK too.”

Be completely transparent and honest. The hardest part is getting the customer to invite you to their home. Once you are there, you can educate some more, give them options for repairs, and will probably close the sale.

Be careful that when you piece together your customer service scripts, they don’t contradict each other.

I recently used Turbotax to file my taxes. I signed up for the Audit Defense because I fell for their fear marketing.

Everything was working smoothly until I was forced to pay twice before I could submit my taxes for filing.

I emailed Intuit’s customer service requesting a refund for the second payment.

The response was:

I understand that you need a refund for the Turbo Tax Audit Defense for 2008 since you have been double charged. Please do not worry; I will help you to resolve your issue.

I would like to inform you that we are unable to process the refund for the Audit Defense since it is a separate department. I will go ahead and provide you the contact number of the Audit defense customer service so that they will assist you better in this regard.

This email starts out good, since she accurately confirmed my problem. She even promised to help me resolve my issue. Unfortunately, she fails to do so just one sentence later. Ouch.

I guess that, technically, she did help resolve my issue by getting me another step closer to resolution. However, this email didn’t solve my problem nor was it worth the 2 business day wait.

Your first response to a customer should get them as close to resolution as possible. Hand off the email in-house to other departments before responding to the customer if necessary.

If you cut and paste a response to a customer, always read it through before hitting “send”. Does it make sense all together? Does it flow nicely?

Fear in the marketplace influences your customers and how they do business with you.

Economic challenges and failing companies have been been in the headlines recently. This news can play mind games with your customers. They will rethink their past decisions and wonder if you will be around in the future to support them.

I’ve talked before about how to reassure customers when there are tough times at your company.

Today’s environment necessitates that you reassure customers even if you are doing great.

Communication is Key

The saying “no news is good news” isn’t enough to maintain your customers’ confidence in you.

Financial and insurance company, USAA recently sent out a message to proactively ease their customers’ minds.

The recent turmoil in the markets and news about many of the largest banking, investing, and insurance firms in the nation can make even the most seasoned investor anxious. Even in the midst of this turmoil, USAA remains strong and stands ready to serve your financial needs.

USAA’s financial strength is built on a history of prudent lending and investing practices, even in the toughest stock markets and catastrophe years. Our association is profitable, and our net worth continues to grow.

We believe having a long-term, diversified financial strategy will help you weather this crisis. Our advisors remain ready to help you reach your goals and secure your family’s future.

This message gives clarity to how USAA is different from the failing companies headlining the news.

Reassure Customers

Your customers may be worried about you right now. How can you ease their minds?

If you are truly prepared for trouble and are built on solid foundation, you have nothing to fear by honestly communicating to your customers what they can expect from you.

I saw a billboard on the way home from work the other day that made me think. It was for a custom home builder and had a slogan like: “Homes designed as thoughtfully as they are built.”

At first glance this looks like a warm-fuzzy statement. However, it is actually a fragile house of cards.

Comparisons are Tricky

Let’s take a look at this slogan and see why it could lead to trouble. There are two pieces to the puzzle: the house design and the house construction.

The slogan tries to convince us that the new homes are designed and constructed thoughtfully. After all, our homes are very personal to us and we’d hope that great thought was put into their building.

Unfortunately, where the slogan takes a misstep is that the thoughtfulness of the design relies on how they are built. This seems a little backwards.

What does the customer see?

Customers may never know, care, or think about how a home is designed. The process an architect goes through in designing a house is probably completely foreign to most people.

However, many of us have seen a house being built. We’ve probably driven down a street with some construction going on.

Beware of Visual Imagery

Typically, home construction sites are a mess. Debris and trash, raw materials, and dusty workers are scattered all over a site. “Thoughtfully” isn’t the first word that comes to mind when I see a construction site.

This custom home builder has hinged their quality statement on an image that doesn’t quite resonate with customers. “Thoughtfully” does not equal the chaos of a construction site.

Use with Caution

Are you trying to communicate the quality of your product or service by comparing it to something else? If so, try to ensure that the object of comparison has positive feelings and emotions in the hearts of your customers.

Your customers may arrive at the point of sale without knowing they could be getting a better deal. This can pose a dilemma. Do you tell them they can get it cheaper, or do you remain silent and pocket the difference?

This is a tough question to answer. It challenges your ideals and moral compass as you balance doing the right thing with making a profit.

Inform the Customer

Every few weeks we’ll pick up a pizza at Papa Murphy’s. One time when I called to place my order, the employee listened patiently and then told me they a had a sale for a larger pizza for a lower price than the one I’d ordered.

I was pleasantly surprised. I could very well have ordered the smaller pizza at the higher price and been none the wiser. However, this employee shared “the secret” with me.

Secret Deals

When you let the customer in on “the secret” (in this case an unknown sale price), it strengthens the relationship with the customer. This open communication builds trust and goodwill between your customers and your business. Interactions like these give customers the perception that your business is a trusted friend that is always looking out for them.

This relationship of trust is foundational to driving repeat business. Although on the surface, proactively offering a discount may not make business sense, the long-term benefits of customer loyalty it fosters will prove a strong return on investment.

My wife and I recently celebrated our anniversary with a getaway to the Lost Pines resort and spa. We scheduled a massage at the spa weeks ahead of our visit. We’d never been to a full-service spa before and so arrived ignorant of the whole process.

When we got to the spa, we realized that we should have planned to spend the whole day there. The simple act of paying for a massage entitled us to use the spa for many other services. We, being ignorant to that fact, had not scheduled enough time to enjoy the entire experience. Although we enjoyed our time there, we felt a little frustrated that we didn’t get the most out of our trip.

Your customers may be likewise frustrated if you don’t fully explain the situation to them. Fortunately, you can take a few steps to make sure your customers derive all the expected benefits from your product.

Pre-Sale

Part of your marketing is to sell the experience of using your product. Don’t forget to include the extra benefits your customers will receive because they purchased your product.

At the point of sale

Once your customers buy your product or service, empower them with knowledge. Give them instructions, how-to guides, tutorials, guidelines, etc. This will dispel any ignorance and enable your customers to enjoy their purchase.

Reminders

If your customers pay for something in advance, as the date approaches, be sure to remind them what their experience will be like. This not only builds excitement but helps the customer arrive with the proper expectations.

Upon Arrival

Don’t assume your customers know what they are doing. When they come to pick up your product or use your service, offer them assistance, describe the process, and help them through it. Some customers are too proud to ask for help but will gladly take it if offered. Those that already know won’t be offended by your straightforward explanations.

Customers fear the unknown. Their minds swirl with doubt as they go through the buying process and if they aren’t able to collect enough good information in the process, they may even have “buyer’s remorse” after the fact. They are assailed by questions such as: Are you cheating them? Giving them a faulty product? Will your repair hold up over time?

We recently needed to get some plumbing repairs done around our home. We went with same company, ARS, that served us well before. Why did they get the repeat business? Three reasons:

• Pricing was clear and fixed up front. No surprises!
• They did a good job and fixed everything they promised.
• They explained everything along the way.

Your company’s performance on the last sale will dictate if there is another sale in the future. Consistency and reliability are key to fostering return customers.

With our latest plumbing repair, Ted the plumber explained what he was doing, showed me his work, answered my questions, and was patient. One of the things he fixed was a leaky faucet. To verify his repair, we sat and waited several minutes watching the faucet for signs of a leak. He took his time to validate his work, before assuming it was done.

Are you patient with your customers? Or do you rush on to the next task or customer? Ted the plumber was so good at what he did that his efficiency created the time he needed for good customer service and to verify his work was done properly.

The more transparent you can be with customers, the more they will trust you and be confident in your work or product. Be patient and take your time when necessary to not only verify quality but to tell the customer that you care enough to spend the extra time with them.

People are typically more vocal about what they don’t want than what they do want. Your business needs to be sensitive to what customers are trying to communicate when they state their preferences.

Make a Choice

Imagine you had to choose one of the following:

• Being forced to do something you hate
• Not being able to do something you love

Which would you prefer?

Odds are you’d elect to not do something you love. Sure you’d be disappointed, but at least you would avoid doing that one thing you despise.

Listening to Customers

Your customers will express their likes and dislikes to you in various ways. They speak with their actions, buying habits, or product selection. They may even tell you “I like this” or “I don’t want that.”

Are you listening?

You should listen very carefully. Why? Because people are more adamant about what they don’t want.

If you turn around and deliver something they told you they didn’t want, they are prone to be very unhappy about it.

This summer we hired a contractor to deliver a logo for us. During the process we explicitly told them that we didn’t want or like certain items. Imagine our surprise when they returned with logos that incorporated the very things we didn’t want!

When Not to Listen

There is, however, a flip side to handling customer preferences. You have to temper your customer’s desires with your expertise. Often times your customers may be saying one thing, but they don’t really know what they want. You, as the expert, will need to explain why the best solution may contradict their preferences.

The key to using your expertise is to do so before you deliver the product to the customer. You need to share your rationale and logic up-front so that the customer agrees with what the final product will or will not include.

You’ll need to tread carefully with customer’s preferences. If you mess up, they will surely dislike you and be all the more likely to share that bad experience with their friends and family.

Your customers aren’t numbers. They are people. A simple greeting is all it may take to personalize your service and start a great relationship.

On her blog Customers Are Always, Maria Palma brought up some excellent points about treating customers. In her post, she quoted the Trainer’s Blog on how to deal with waiting customers:

Acknowledge the customer who is waiting. We all want to be noticed. A smile and a sincere greeting, or “I’ll be with you in just a moment” to the person who has just joined the line goes a long way. Explain to your employees that as long as they don’t engage the second customer at the expense of the person in front of them, they have the opportunity to make both customers feel valued. And, if there was a wait, employees should acknowledge it by saying something like, “thanks for your patience.”

Our family loves to eat at a nearby burrito restaurant Freebirds. Every time we go in and progress towards the front of the line, an employee will greet us and say “we’ll be right with you.” They do all this while they are assembling the burrito for the person ahead of us. No productivity is lost. No other customers lose out because of this greeting. It is efficient, personal, and welcoming.

It is a powerful reminder of what a simple acknowledgment can do for your customers. Customers know they are there, but do they know that you know they are there? Don’t leave it to guessing, say hello and welcome your customers!