Prospects are fed up with the BS
As you travel about your daily lives, do you ever take a moment and listen to other people’s points of view? If you have, you will find that their thoughts and opinions vary more significantly than the number of people who live on this vast planet of ours.
Yesterday I received a phone call from a company that my wife had called about getting some repairs to our home and the standard telemarketers calls I regularly receive.
I noticed that the telemarketers are more interested in getting out their sales spiel than in listing to the prospect to see if their product or service is a good fit for the prospect. And with the sales rep. I was talking about getting the house repaired, and it was as if she did not hear a single thing, I was telling her. She kept asking me the same questions no matter how detailed or Vega, I made my answers.
I have overheard people or listened to others complain about dealing with salespeople, websites, blogs, and other marketing types but always had blown it off as I didn’t see the problem.
That is until yesterday when I finally sat down and put some thought into the whole problem along with a lot of research.
That’s when I realized just how big the problem is!
In today’s world, prospects not only expect personalized service, but they also demand it! Rather we care to admit it or not, and we are living in a ME ORIENTATED SOCIETY. Therefore, prospects nowadays require certain things that companies must adhere to, whether they want to or not, especially if they’re going to stay in business.
There are four prominent things that prospects/customers require that companies change the way they do business. While they may seem like common sense to most, I think you would be surprised to find that they are not as common as they should be. For example, I could most likely give you several times when I had dealt with an employee of a company when they made me feel like dealing with me was a waste of their time.
1. They want to be heard (Listened to):
prospects are looking for customer reps who listen to them rather than letting their words go in one ear and out the other.
If your sales reps take the time to repeat what the customer has said to them, asking questions for clarity can go a long way with a prospect.
2. Personalized service:
With the internet and a virtual world becoming more prominent in today’s society, people are missing personal connections, which has affected both personal and professional aspects of their lives.
As we as humans have a heard mentally not only desiring but needing personal connections with others.
This brings me to my next point prospects are looking to work with companies they can feel good about in an attempt to gain a personal connection that they are missing in their lives. Companies that go the extra mile to ensure that their customers are happy are more likely to retain current customers and gain new ones as word gets out.
Giving your customers/prospects a smiling face and a friendly voice can go a long way to ensure that they have a pleasant experience and are more likely to return. People like to feel as if they are your only customer.
3. Transparency:
Trust in others has become limited (at the risk of sounding like a broken record) due to the lack of personal connection with others. However, there is something to be said about dealing with others in our personal and professional lives.
A little food for thought who would you trust more someone you met in person or someone you met over the internet.
It’s too easy for people to hide behind a keyboard, never exposing who they truly are. That is why transparency is such a vital part of doing business in today’s society.
Transparency not only makes good sense on so many levels. Let’s face facts no one likes feeling like a mushroom (kept in the dark and fed BS). We all want to be kept informed about our projects and the progress being made on our projects, primarily when other project parts hinge on another, which can be especially true for your marketing.
4. Respect:
Showing respect can be a fickle creature even though it really seems to be cut and dried. A lot depends upon how the person that you are dealing with was brought up.
The one way I found to show respect without stepping on someone’s toes is to use Mr. or Missis. Miss. followed by their last name as some people view Mam or Sir as an insult.
Making a prospect/customer feel like their needs are more important than your own can go a long way with making a prospect/customer feel respected and show them that you care about their project.
In closing the best advice, the best advice I can give is to always listen before you speak, and no matter what, always to true to yourself. Listening and staying true to yourself in conjunction with thinking before you speak, or act will save you a lot of trouble.
Prospects/customers like to feel like you care about them and their projects. One adage that comes to mind is that the customer always comes first and is always right even when they are wrong.
