Last week I was doing the first of four revenue growth kick-off workshops for a large client, and we did a striking exercise.
On a slide, I put the words of my client’s customers, whom I interviewed in the months leading up to the session. These included: wonderful; very fast; involved; easily our top supplier; great people to work with; friends; like family.
On the next slide, I put up the words of the staff, who I also interviewed. Here are some words from this slide: it all boils down to pricing for our customers; we don’t have the stock; it takes forever; we need to work harder; we are living with the sins of the past.
Now, I ask you: who likes this large company more, the customers, or the staff?
Who sells this company better, the salespeople — whose job it is — or the customers?
The answers are obvious, of course.
Here’s the thing: it’s like this at your company, too. And pretty much every company.
Your customers speak more positively about you than you think and speak about yourself. It’s because they are benefiting from your value daily, while you are walking through the muck of fixing problems all day long. You are firefighting.
After the workshop, quite a few of the 70 customer-facing staff came up to me and made use of this word: refreshing.
It was refreshing to hear from happy customers because we don’t hear from them. Only the unhappy ones call, with problems and urgencies.
It was refreshing to be told about what we do well, instead of what we’re doing wrong.
It was refreshing to hear from customers that the competition isn’t all that great. They said so. And they know.
Want to be refreshed and energized also?
Talk to your happy customers.
We spend 100% of our time talking to the 10% of customers who are unhappy or have urgent needs.
We need to get insight from the other 90%. The happy customers. We must seek them out. They don’t call.
Listen to your happy customers.
And believe them.
Buy what they are telling you.
Be refreshed.
And then use this energy to behave accordingly with your customers and prospects:
Behave boldly, confidently, optimistically. Use the phone instead of email. Ask for the business. Offer additional products and services.
And watch sales grow.
To bring this kind of systematic energy, confidence, and boldness into your organization, call me directly at 847-459-6322, or simply reply to this email.