Baker Computer and Data LLC

How to Win Customers and Keep Them for Life by Michael Le Boeuf

The Basics

The secret to winning and keeping customers is to reward them.

Forget about selling. People love to buy but hate to be sold. Concentrate on helping customers buy what's best for them.

The greatest customer you'll ever win is you, because the best salesperson is the true believer.

The only things people ever buy are good feelings and solutions to problems.

Whenever you have contact with a customer, you are the company to that customer.

It's not enough to give the customer excellent service. You must subtly make him aware of the great service he is getting.

To win new customers, ask the golden question: "What's the unmet want."

To keep them for life, ask the platinum questions: "How are we doing?" and "How can we get better?"

The five best ways to keep customers coming back are:

Be Reliable
Be Credible
Be Attractive
Be Responsive
Be Empathic

"Reliable Care" keeps customers coming back.

Managing the Moments of Truth

When the Customer:	Reward Him with:
Appears, calls, or inquires	By being prompt and prepared
Is angry or defensive	With kindness and empathy
Has special requests	By customizing
Can't make up his mind	With a specific recommendation
Raises obstacles or objections to buying	By agreeing, empathizing, and building value
Giving buying signals	By reinforcing the signal, making it easy to buy, and asking for the business
Buys	By delivering more than you promise
Refuses to buy	With polite appreciation
Complains	With fast, positive action
Is going to be disappointed	With positive perks

Triple-Win Reward System

Implications form the Greatest Management Principle in the World

Companies that give excellent service reward employees for providing it.

If your quality of service is poor, ask the magic question: What's being rewarded? Chances are that your employees are being rewarded for something other than taking care of the customer.

Rewarding the customer is everybodys job. Rewarding those who reward the customer is management's job. How customers get treated is a direct reflection on how mangement is treating employees.

Focused on Rewarding the Customer

What behavior and results do I want?

How will I measure it?

How will I reward it when I get it?

How can I show them that the customer comes first?

Quality Service Action Plan

Treat your customers like lifetime partners.

Ask everyone where you work for service improvement ideas.

If you don't have a service strategy, get one.

Carefully select and heavily train your front-line service people.

Set service quality goals and rewards.

Get out of your office and find out what's happening.

Always be patient but never satisfied.

The bottom line: A satisfied customer is the best business strategy of all.

Taken from: How to Win Customers and Keep Them for Life. By Michael LeBoeuf, Ph.D. Pub: Putnam's Sons Baker Computer And Data : Customer II