From Bob Janet’s book “Bad Business Assumptions That Cost You Sales and Profits”

I was doing a five-day sales training program for a company located in a very small town in South Carolina. One of those small quaint towns with a population of just over ten thousand, one road through the town with only a half dozen traffic lights. I was lodging at the In Town Hotel. The only hotel in the town. Each evening, as I had my dinner on a very lovely deck attached to the side of the hotel facing the main shopping area, I watched a dozen or so children ranging in age from six to twelve years old ride their bikes into town and go into a candy store across the street. (more…)

Guest Post
By Bob Burg and John David Mann, coauthors of The Go-Giver and Go-Givers Sell More*

“I’m no good at selling!” Have you ever heard someone say that? Or maybe said it yourself? (Now, tell the truth.)

We hear it all the time. Everyone who is not in sales thinks, “I could never sell” — and most people who are in sales secretly think the same thing.

There is a reason people feel this way: most of us look at sales backwards. Backwards how? In the most fundamental ways. (more…)

Instructions: Pass out handout for this exercise.  Allow 5 minutes for individuals to complete it.

• Say: “Studies have shown that most customers never complain about poor service…they just walk out and don’t come back!  Also, most of us will tell our stories, especially about bad service, to approximately 10 other people.”

• Break into small groups* so everyone has time to share at least one positive and one negative example (two examples of each if time permits).

• Ask participants to turn the negative example into a positive one—what could have been done differently to improve this service and the customer’s experience?

• Bring groups together and ask each group to share one example only of unique or outstanding service.  You may wish to list these on the board or flip chart.  Allow 5 minutes for sharing of examples.

• Conclude by stating in your own words: “While we’re done with these positive and negative examples, we know this is really only the beginning of how we can provide the best service to our customers.  Good service is a full-time job that we must stay alert to at all times with our verbal and non-verbal language, our facial expressions, our tone of voice and our overall attitude.”

*Note: Small group size will vary based on overall attendance, but 3-4 maximum will allow best participation.

Handout:

Recent Positive Examples of Customer Service:

We really don’t need experts to tell us about good customer service since each of us is also a customer and knows what we like and don’t like.

Instructions: List some “memorable” positive traits, behaviors, phrases and expressions of recent service encounters you’ve experienced.

1. __________________________________________________

2. __________________________________________________

3. __________________________________________________

4. __________________________________________________

5. __________________________________________________

Review and prioritize your top two examples.

Recent Negative Examples of Customer Service:

Instructions: List some “memorable” negative traits, behaviors, phrases and expressions of recent service encounters you’ve experienced.

1. __________________________________________________

2. __________________________________________________

3. __________________________________________________

4. __________________________________________________

5. __________________________________________________

Review and prioritize your top two examples.

Excerpted from the Leader’s Guide for Remember Me, 3^rd Edition.

Need help in this area? CRM Learning’s best-selling program, Remember Me?, reminds service providers that it is typically the simple things (like common courtesy and professionalism) that matter most to customers.