Tag Archives: customer service

Waiting is expensive

By Aaron Hoos on January 11, 2013 in Business

There are two home improvement big box stores near my house — Home Depot, which you’ve heard of, and Rona, which is basically very similar. (I’ve written about them before in which I talked about the important differences between two seemingly equal companies and how those differences lead to competitive advantages).

I was at the plumbing section in Rona, recently, and I had a list of plumbing pipes and whatnot that I needed for a minor plumbing project. But as I looked at my list and picked up the items, I realized that I had forgotten to write down the correct size of a certain part. Rona offered two different sizes of that part.

My options at the time seemed to be: Buy one and chance it or buy both and return the one I didn’t need. Since the parts were just a couple of bucks, and since I wanted to finish my plumbing project quickly, I opted to buy both.

I got home, finished the project, and (of course) ended up with one piece I didn’t need.

Now here’s the problem — something I hadn’t considered while shopping at Rona earlier. Rona’s returns desk is awful. It’s not properly staffed so it’s often overcrowded and quite busy. (Side note: Is this because Rona serves a DIY homeowner while Home Depot serves more of a professional market? I have no idea. Not relevant to my point).

So I had this part, which cost a couple of bucks but the idea of driving to Rona to get my money back is not really that attractive. Heck, it will probably cost me just as much in fuel to drive there and home again. Then there’s the wait time while I’m at the desk. A quick thumbnail estimation of my costs to drive there and my time waiting in line is approaching $50 to return a $2 or $3 part.

Not worth the effort.

So now I have an extra part I’ll never use.

Maybe I can bring it with me next time I go to Rona and, if the line-up isn’t that long, I’ll return it.

355 words to get to my point: Waiting is expensive.

Another story: I used to take my car to one garage to have them service it. But they didn’t offer any kind of shuttle service to get me home. There’s a nearby mechanic who charges more but it takes me about 10 minutes to walk home when I drop the car off. No waiting!

A third story: I recently bought some software online and paid a couple hundred bucks for it. I was expecting instant download and delivery (it IS internet-based software after all). Only after my purchase did I learn that I had to wait “at least 1 business day after payment to receive my order”. Not sure why. I’m assuming that the payment transaction software doesn’t talk to the delivery software. I hated the amount of time I had to wait because I’m used to instantaneous online service.

A fourth story: My wife and I were recently at Chapters and saw a book that we wanted for $49. We knew the same book, brand new, was available on Amazon for $25 (plus shipping, unless we bought other things too). So we needed to weigh the cost of $49 now or $25 to wait. It wasn’t a critical purchase and we chose to save the $24 and buy it from Amazon.

Waiting is expensive and it “costs” both the customer and the business.

Customers who have to wait are exchanging their time and money to get the product or service. Forcing customers to wait when the don’t want to makes the product or service becomes more expensive (increasing in “cost” by the amount that the customer values their time). One customer who bills $100/hour and has to wait an hour for service is now thinking that the service costs a $100 more! Not every customer values their waiting time like this but many do… and the more someone waits, the more likely they are to think that they could be spending their time in a more valuable way… and maybe they’ll seek out an alternative way to do business next time.

Waiting costs businesses, too. Customers who have to wait too long become disenfranchised with the business. They get buyer’s remorse. They have time to shop around for competitors. They have time to ask for a refund and go somewhere else. They have time to google product reviews and read all of the negative ones.

There are times when waiting is unavoidable. As I write this blog post, I’m mindful that I force my customers to wait for me while I write content for them. They have to wait because it’s custom content, of course. They know that. But waiting is expensive so I have trained myself to write as quickly as possible (without sacrificing quality, of course!). But each passing day that a customer has to wait is a customer who has the potential to be less happy about waiting.

A smart way to make your customers happy and your business more successful is to find ways to keep your customers from waiting. Here are some tips:

  • Create appointments and stick to them. I don’t mean the “our service people will be there between 1 and 5 on Friday”. I mean: Say you’re going to show up at 3PM and show up at 3PM.
  • In some cases, keep the customer from having to wait by offering to get back in touch with them. I dreaded calling my telephone company with a question about a bill once but was pleasantly surprised when the automated response said: “All of our agents are busy. You can continue to hold or you can enter your phone number and you will keep your priority sequence but someone will call you back.” It was great. No waiting.
  • Don’t make it feel like waiting. If you have a waiting room, you probably have a few old subscriptions to Reader’s Digest and Woman’s Day or something… from 2 years ago. But you can transform the experience your customers’ experiences by creating a welcoming, comfortable, and inviting space to wait, and by engaging them.
  • Keep your waiting customers updated. It doesn’t matter if they are waiting in your waiting room or at home. Keep them updated. If something is being shipped, give them the tracking number. If you have several things that they need to wait (i.e. a team of installers who are currently on a job, as well as a new carpet being shipped in from out of state) keep them informed with brief updates about where things are in the process. Silence is NOT golden when it comes to waiting.
  • Try to add value to the waiting time. If there is a lot of waiting, find ways to fill it with valuable information and insight. Pre-record webinars that you can trickle to them about new ways to derive value from the product or service you will be delivering them shortly.

Some waiting is inevitable. Not all of it has to be. And the waiting that is inevitable doesn’t have to costly.

On the subject of waiting…

Small business strategy question: Why would someone want to buy from you instead of your competition?

By Aaron Hoos on October 13, 2012 in Business

This post is part of an ongoing series exploring 100 small business strategy questions.

Businesses used to be hard to start. But now, thanks to the web, they are insanely easy to start. This leveling of the field was good in some ways (you can read more about why it’s good by visiting ScrappyCapitalist.com).

But this leveling of the playing field was also bad in some ways, too. The web made it easy for everyone to start a business… which means that just about everyone has started a business! It’s very competitive out there now, as aspiring entrepreneurs pile onto the web to make money.

All of this competition means that customers have choice — an overwhelming number of competitors to choose from. So this leads us to our small business strategy question: Why would someone want to buy from you instead of your competition?

Think about who your competition is. Not just other businesses in your industry but the very businesses that serve the exact same target market as you. What makes you different? What makes you special?

Many businesses default to a general unique selling proposition (USP) like “we give great customer service” or “we deliver excellence products”. But every other competitor serving the same target market likely says the same thing. (Yes, I’m sure it’s only true for you and not for them… but the customer hears it from everyone).

So imagine this: Your customer has invited you to sit down at a table and spend 30 seconds (yes, just 30 seconds!) explaining why they should buy from you. They have also asked each of your competitors to do the same. The customer asks this specific question: What is the one thing you do that no one else at the table can do?

What do you say in that short amount of time to capture your prospective customer’s attention and convince them to buy from you? In this scenario, saying “we give great service” won’t work because everyone else is saying the same thing. “Our products are second to none” is also off the list because most of your competitors are saying the same thing.

This exercise might seem silly because we can’t imagine a situation where our customers would have us and our competitors in a room and give us only 30 seconds to state our case… but that is exactly what the marketplace is like.

When a potential customer wants to buy something and they quickly check out you and your competitors, they’re looking for the unique points to help them decide who to buy from. If everyone is the same, the customer concludes that it doesn’t matter who they buy from; there’s no loyalty and the purchase becomes only measured on price.

But if you can answer the question “Why would someone want to buy from you instead of your competition?” then you change the conversation. You give the potential buyer a reason to buy from you and not from anyone else; you make the customer more loyal because you are the only one who does whatever it is you promise; and you can charge more money because the conversation is no longer about you-versus-your-competitors.

How to handle difficult customer service situations and bad PR

By Aaron Hoos on October 4, 2012 in Business

Running a business means putting yourself out there… and guess what: You’re not going to please everybody. I could fill a book with times that I’ve pissed off customers (when I was an employee and as a business owner). Of course I don’t go out of my way to do it but it happens.

Clients have expectations and they don’t always mesh with what you do. Sometimes it’s your fault; sometimes it’s not your fault.

In spite of what the customer service gurus tell you, the customer isn’t always right and it’s not always possible to bend over backwards to please the customer. Along with keeping your customers happy, you have laws to follow and a profit to make. It’s a fine line.

So when things don’t go well (regardless of who is at fault), it’s helpful to be prepared with responses to the way your customers are likely going to react. Below, I’ve drawn out a spectrum of the most likely reactions a customer might have when things go bad…

THE CUSTOMER REACTION SPECTRUM

To elaborate on the above graphic…

  • Some customers don’t know something went bad.
  • Some customers don’t care; they’re extra forgiving or the situation was just not important enough to them.
  • Some customers care but don’t act… either because it’s just easier to maintain the status quo or because they don’t like conflict or because they think the situation was a one-off and it won’t likely happen again. (There might be other reasons, too.)
  • Some customers act defensively and do something about it to make sure it doesn’t happen to them again.
  • And some customers act vindictively and take a strong stand to make sure you’re aware that the problem occurred and perhaps to warn others away. I think the word “vindictively” might be a little strong but the other word I was going to use (“offensively”) seemed worse.

This is a spectrum, meaning that there are probably degrees of severity, and each of the 5 main points on the spectrum probably have several “sub points” beneath them. For example, someone who acts defensively might just warn you. But someone else (further to the right on the spectrum but still acting defensively) might actually switch to another service provider. And someone who acts vindictively might post something negative on Yelp to warn others. But someone else (further ot the right on the spectrum but still acting vindictively) might sue you.

Your job during a potential PR disaster (or, better yet, while you are contingency planning for these situations), is to look at each of the potential customer reactions along the spectrum and figure out an appropriate response. Some customers might deserve to be compensated. Some customers might just need some communication. And you might have to have to say goodbye to some customers when you simply can’t fix the situation.

It’s important to note that customers can move left and right on this spectrum based on several factors. You need to control those factors (as much as possible; you can’t control everything, though) and do your best to keep your customers from moving too far to the right.

For example, a customer might be in the don’t care part of the spectrum until they realize how much of a problem it is. Or another example: A customer might be in the care but don’t act part of the spectrum if it happens only once. But if it happens repeatedly, they might do something about it.

External factors (often outside of your control) play a part in their reactions, too: A customer might be in the don’t know part of the spectrum until a vindictive customer tells them. Or a customer might be in the care but don’t act part of the spectrum until they discover how easy it is to switch to another service provider.

I should also mention that people move left and right on this scale at different speeds. I don’t move right very quickly but I will eventually move all the way right if necessary. I have peers, though, who seem to live on the right side of this spectrum with every single business they work with.

Okay, now that I’ve explained the spectrum, I’ll give you an example of a negative situation and the customer reactions and the I’ll talk about some of the things you might do for customers in each part of the spectrum…

AN EXAMPLE OF THE CUSTOMER REACTION SPECTRUM

A great example of a recent negative situation, and the spectrum of customer reactions that went with it, is from GoDaddy’s epic fail last month. I don’t know what happened from a technology standpoint but from their customers’ perspectives, it basically seemed like everything (email, websites) went offline for an eternity. (Read about the details from GoDaddy).

So let’s look at the customer reactions to GoDaddy’s temporary offline situation:

  • Some customers don’t know: There were likely a large number of people who didn’t even know it happened. For example, they might have been at work or on vacation or busy doing something else.
  • Some customers don’t care: There were likely a large number of people who don’t care. They shrugged it off as a risk of doing business online.
  • Some customers care but don’t act: There were likely a large number of people were impacted and annoyed or even pissed off, but didn’t act. They maybe felt it was too much hassle to switch or they feel that it probably won’t happen again.
  • Some customers act defensively: There were likely a large number of people who started looking into switching their accounts elsewhere. In fact, a number of people said so on Twitter.
  • Some customers act vindictively: The twitter posts ranged from “I’m moving my service” (which is on the upper end of defensive and on the lower end of vindictive) to things that were far worse. Some asked for compensation. Some cursed. I haven’t looked but I’m sure we could find even stronger reactions elsewhere online.

HOW TO RESPOND TO THE SPECTRUM OF REACTIONS


Sometimes it’s okay to not say anything and see if you got away with it (I’ve worked for a company that used this method all the time!!!) but it can haunt you. So for customers who don’t know, I think it’s best if you let them know proactively. Don’t let them hear it from others. Tell them what happened as concisely as possible but tell them why it’s not a big deal. That’s the most important part. Keep the statement of facts short and truthful and then elaborate on how things are going to happen going forward.


I think there are a lot of companies who ignore this group of people, and instead adopt the belief that the squeaky wheel gets the grease. But for customers who know about the situation yet don’t care, I advise that you do two things: I think you should tell them (in the same way you told the people who didn’t know) but you should also compensate them or reward them for their loyalty. This group isn’t thinking about compensation so they will be surprised to be offered something it this act of generosity can make them even more loyal because it makes you seem like someone who truly cares.


I’m alarmed at how often companies do nothing for these customers. As a consumer, I’ve received a barely sincere “our sincerest apologies” from companies who know that I’ve been inconvenienced by them. This group of people are really on the fence and could leave. This is a key group of people to reach out to. Compensate them! Reward them for their loyalty! Communicate (and even OVER-communicate) with them and let them know why the situation happened and why it will never happen again! Make them feel so special and extra smart for sticking with you while everyone else jumped ship.


This is the group, and the one that follows, often get the most attention from businesses. They’re people who are already on their way out but that loss of revenue or negative feedback becomes the squeaky wheel. Companies pour their compensation into these customers (often at the expense of ignoring all the people on the left side of the spectrum). For this group of people, compensation is definitely a need. But there are other things you can do too: You almost need to go into sales mode to explain why the situation will never happen again, and you need to remind them of the reasons that they first started with you anyway.


Like the previous group of customers, the customers in this category of customer reaction are the squeakiest of wheels. And frankly, at this point in the spectrum, it’s not likely that they are coming back to you. Offering them compensation is debatable. It had better be pretty freaking amazing to get them back, and then you’d better remember that you are “on probation” with them for a long time to come. I don’t think there is much you are going to do for these people. Additionally, your compensation has to be carefully presented because I’ve seen people in this category become indignant that the business is trying to bribe them for their silence. For these customers, I think the best thing to do is thank them for their years of service and let them go.

THE SPECTRUM WORKS FOR ANY NEGATIVE SITUATION

As a business owner, you’ll face innumerable challenges and potentially negative situations — some will be your fault, some won’t be. You can prepare by using this spectrum to anticipate customer reactions and to develop responses to each of those reactions.

What a $110 lightbulb can teach about sales and customer satisfaction

By Aaron Hoos on August 31, 2012 in Business

A few years ago, I bought a brand new furnace/air conditioning system from One Hour Heating and Air Conditioning. I’ve been very happy with the furnace and air conditioning system itself, although the company has struggled with delivering good service. If it wasn’t a requirement of the warranty, I would have dropped them years ago.

As part of the annual maintenance, a technician came out earlier this year to inspect the furnace and (because it was too cold at the time) another technician came out to inspect the air conditioner this week. During his inspection, the air conditioning tech observed that the pilot light was out. “I can order another one for you. It will cost $110.”

Yes, $110. For a lightbulb.

I haven’t decided if I want to order the lightbulb yet. I get that things cost money and there are many industries where prices are more than the consumer wants to pay. But I think I’m galled by the high price from this company in particular, since I have had more than my fair share of frustrations from them.

But it was also a lesson in sales skills… or lack thereof. The technician was very nice and did their job quickly and professionally. But when it came to presenting me with the lightbulb, their sales skills fell far short. As a result, I am even more annoyed by this company than I was before.

When the technician want to hear. “Your lightbulb is out” and “It will cost $110 to replace“. Although these are both factual statements, they fail to point out why this is important. So instead of forcing me to consider the function of my furnace or the safety of my family (or whatever the purpose of the lightbulb is), all that is left out hanging in the air between the technician and I is the idea of a $110 lightbulb. I think about the other lightbulbs in my house — which might cost between a few cents and a couple of bucks, depending on the type of bulb — and all of them do a fine job. This furnace one is smaller and is some kind of indicator bulb… but I don’t even know what it indicates. And so I’m left with what seems to be an overpriced lightbulb of unclear purpose, and that just compounds the negative feelings I already have for the company.

How should the technician have handled the situation? This is where some sales skills come into play. It’s not that complicated, and the technician shouldn’t have to feel like they are forcing me to buy anything.

  1. The very first thing they should have done is highlight the importance of the indicator. (I’m not sure what this lightbulb indicates so I’m just making up the following example…) “Aaron, part of your furnace has an indicator mechanism that watches for poisonous carbon monoxide and alerts you to when those levels become too dangerous”.
  2. The second thing they should have done is highlight the consequences: “When carbon monoxide levels are too high, your family is in danger.”
  3. Then they can talk about the lightbulb: “The lightbulb lets us know that this carbon monoxide detector is working. When the light isn’t on, we’re not sure if it’s working or not.”
  4. And THEN they should talk about price, but they can soften the blow by forcing me to consider the cost of not fixing the light. And they should also soften the blog by making it seem like a pretty special lightbulb: “We have special long-life indicator lightbulbs that are installed in these, and your lightbulb has lasted 4 years — far longer than most household lightbulbs. But now it’s burnt out and it’s pretty important that you are aware that this unit is functioning. So I recommend that we order in a special bulb. The cost is $110, which some of our customers find a little steep but there isn’t a better bulb out there to do the important work that this bulb does.”

The tech doesn’t have to go into a hard sell on this. But with a $110 lightbulb, to a customer who is already on the edge about liking the company, they could do a better job of selling me on the bulb.

How the ‘Good, Fast, Cheap’ concept can help real estate professionals build better relationships with clients

By Aaron Hoos on October 26, 2011 in Business

You’ve probably heard the well-known, often-quoted concept that all products or services possess two of the following three qualities:

Good, Fast, Cheap.

It means that every product or service you buy will be…

  • Good and fast but not cheap
  • Good and cheap but not fast, or,
  • Fast and cheap but not good

Every client who wants to buy a product or service will have an innate preference about which two qualities they want their product or service to possess. And they will seek out products or services that match their preference.

Knowing this, most businesses specifically sell their products in a way that fulfills two of the three qualities. For example, a fast food restaurant might offer food that is fast and cheap but not very good, or a freelance writer (ahem) might offer writing services that are good and fast but not cheap.

HERE’S WHY THIS MATTERS TO REAL ESTATE PROFESSIONALS

If you’re a real estate professional, you might be wondering how this applies to you. I think the answer is quite exciting and can help you become even more successful because it will help you build better relationship with your clients.

Yes, the good, fast, cheap concept applies even to your real estate practice! Here’s how:

Every client you work with — whether they’re listing or buying — wants the home listing or home purchase to satisfy two of the three qualities.

For example, they might want to buy a house quickly and with your great service and therefore they will have less concern about the cost. Or, they might want to buy a house cheaply and with great service and will therefore maybe not get a house as quickly as others.

I’m sure you read the above paragraph and said: ‘Aaron, all of my clients always want all three of those qualities and I deliver all three qualities every time‘.

Here’s my response: I believe that all clients want all three qualities in the service they receive from you but there are only two qualities that are extremely important to them (and the third is less important).

Even if you offer all three qualities all the time and with every client, you will build better relationships with your clients when you intentionally identify what is important to each of them and you highlight that aspect of your service to them whenever you interact with them.

Let’s say that you identify a client whose must-have service qualities are good and cheap and they really don’t care that much about how fast you are. You will build a stronger relationship with them by highlighting the depth of your service and how hard you’re working for them, as well as how much money they are saving. Don’t worry about talking about how quickly you can close the sale or how fast they can find a home. Those don’t matter as much to them.

It’s all about finding out what is important to your client and then making sure that your interaction with them resonates those two most-important qualities.

By highlighting the aspects of your service to them, and by going the extra mile in the two must-have qualities that are important to your client, you’ll demonstrate your value to them much more effectively than if you tried to establish your credentials and ability in all three.

Want to dive into this good-fast-cheap concept even more? My blog post Why good-fast-cheap might be wrong (and how to fix it so you can sell more) will give you an in-depth look at the good-fast-cheap model and help you use it more skillfully to work with your real estate clients.

HERE’S A BONUS IDEA TO SUPER-CHARGE YOUR BRANDING

You can construct your entire business around one of these models — which is exactly what some real estate professionals do. (The flat fee real estate agents are using “cheap” as one of the must-have qualities while other real estate professionals might use “good” or “fast” as one of their must-have qualities).

Although you’ll drive away some clients because you’re focusing on something they don’t care about, you’ll attract more clients by marketing in a way that truly resonates with the must-have qualities they are looking for in a real estate professional.

61 questions to strengthen your client relationships and build loyalty

By Aaron Hoos on October 7, 2011 in Business

Clients have a lot of choice when it comes to selecting a real estate or financial professional to meet their needs. And just because we serve a client once doesn’t mean they’ll come back to us when they need a similar service in the future. Client loyalty is scarce.

One important way to create client loyalty is to build a relationship with them. The deeper the relationship, the more likely they’ll be to come back to you for future services. But building relationships isn’t easy – you probably have lots of clients and it’s hard to keep them all straight.

Here’s a tool that can help. It’s a simple list of questions to help you get to know your clients better. Don’t hand over this list to your clients to fill it out and don’t pepper them with all of the questions at once. In fact, not all of these questions can even be answered by the client! Answer as many questions about each client as you can. Then identify a couple of questions that you want to discover the next time you talk to them. Sometimes you can ask the question directly; other times you’ll have to communicate with your client and use clues to discover the real answer.

Use this list as a guide to understand your client better and as a foundation to build a relationship with them.

HERE’S HOW TO USE THE ANSWERS

  • Use the answers to build rapport: “Your daughter is in piano? So is my daughter. I’ll watch for you at the next recital!”
  • Use the answers to prompt future sales: For example, a child’s birthday might be good reminders to sell insurance or an adult’s birthday might be a good time to revisit their retirement fund.
  • Use the answers to start future conversations: “Hey, how did your son’s little league tournament go last weekend?”
  • Use the answers to look for referral opportunities: “If anyone in your business networking group happens to be looking for key man insurance, let them know that I specialize in insurance for small businesses.”
  • Use the answers to help you understand your clientele and shape your business accordingly: If many of your clients are young families, the products you offer might shift over time as your clients’ children age.
  • Use these answers to help you understand how to market your business: Once you have these question lists started for your clients, you can fill out the questions in the blog post 55 questions to answer when defining your sales funnel’s target market. (In fact, you’ll notice that some of the questions below are closely connected to the target market questions).

61 QUESTIONS TO ASK

  1. What is your client’s age?


  2. What is your client’s gender?


  3. What is the your client’s ethnic heritage?


  4. What language does your client speak as their primary language?


  5. Where does your client live?


  6. Who else lives at that address?


  7. What does your client do for a living?


  8. What is your client’s approximate income range?


  9. What are your client’s hobbies?


  10. What teams, leagues, groups, and associations does your client belong to?


  11. What kind of music does your client like to listen to?


  12. What kind of car does your client drive?


  13. What sports does your client follow?


  14. What kind of education does your client have?


  15. What are the things that your client aspires to do? (i.e. Climb the corporate ladder? Give their children the best opportunities?)


  16. What kind of house does your client aspire to live in?


  17. What kind of car does your client aspire to drive?


  18. If your client seems themself in a “lifestage”, what would that lifestage be?


  19. What would your client say is the next lifestage that they should move toward?


  20. How can you help them get to that next lifestage?


  21. What does your client consider to be important to them?


  22. How does your client define happiness and success?


  23. What kind of personality would describe your client?


  24. What motivates your client?


  25. What fears does your client have?


  26. What are the problems that your client wants solved in their lives?


  27. What are the challenges that your client faces in their day-to-day lives? (Unlike the above question, this question forces you to consider other challenges — even ones that your client wouldn’t define as a problem to be solved).


  28. What value does your client place on family? (i.e. more important or less important than other factors in their life).


  29. What value does your client place on friends? (i.e. more important or less important than other factors in their life).


  30. What value does your client place on their work? (i.e. more important or less important than other factors in their life).


  31. What value does your client place on recognition and status? (i.e. more important or less important than other factors in their life).


  32. What value does your client place on happiness? (i.e. more important or less important than other factors in their life).


  33. What value does your client place on fear of loss? (i.e. more important or less important than other factors in their life).


  34. What value does your client place on money? (i.e. more important or less important than other factors in their life).


  35. What value does your client place on time? (i.e. more important or less important than other factors in their life).


  36. What value does your client place on leisure time and activities? (i.e. more important or less important than other factors in their life).


  37. What value does your client place on peace of mind? (i.e. more important or less important than other factors in their life).


  38. Who influences your client?


  39. Who does your client influence?


  40. Where does your client like to spend their time?


  41. What are the most important purchases to your client?


  42. If your client had an extra $100, what would they spend it on? What if they had an extra $1000? What if they won $1 million dollars?


  43. If your client had a week where they had no work-related commitments, what would they do? Where would they go? Who would they go with?


  44. What are the top 10 tasks that fill the to-do lists of your client?


  45. How does your client define the problem that you solve or the need that you fulfill? (i.e., What words to they use? What “symptoms” trigger a search for a solution? Check out this blog post, which gives a closer look at the Audience stage.)


  46. What does your client consider to be risky? (Time, effort, money, and reputation are the big ones)


  47. Who will your client have to face if they buy your product or service and it doesn’t meet their needs?


  48. What other alternatives does your client have to solve their problem or fulfill their need? (Be sure to include competitors’ products and services as well as alternate offerings that aren’t direct competitors but still solve the problem. And don’t forget: Do nothing is also an alternative!)


  49. What reasons would your client give for not purchasing your product or service?


  50. How familiar is your client with the solution you’re offering? (i.e., is it entirely new and requires a lot of explaining or is it a very familiar solution?)


  51. How is your client changing? (i.e., what answers to this list of questions will be different next year or in the next decade, and why?)


  52. Does your client have a spouse? What is his/her name and age?


  53. What is your client’s spouse’s hobbies?


  54. Does your client have any children? How many? What are their names and ages?


  55. What activities do your client’s children take part in?


  56. What products/services has your client bought from you in the past?


  57. What products/services has your client bought from your competitors in the past?


  58. What products/services is your client most likely to buy next from you?


  59. What would your client say is the most important reason that he/she uses your services?


  60. What would it take to get your client to switch service providers and get the same service you offer but from someone else?


  61. What would it take to lock your client in to working exclusively with you for the rest of their lives?

The worst kind of client and how to deal with them

By Aaron Hoos on August 10, 2011 in Business

Some clients know very little about what you do and they put their trust in you. These are great clients to work for because a lot of the relationship is built as you prove your value and educate them.

And some clients know a lot about what you do and are pretty easy to help because they eliminate a lot of the legwork. Everything clicks because you communicate as peers and they can move through your sales funnel pretty quickly.

These are great clients to have.

But the worst kind of client thinks they know what they’re talking about (but really doesn’t know what they’re talking about). They have just enough financial or real estate knowledge to dazzle their friends, and they expect their financial or real estate professional to be dazzled too.

Maybe you’ve met a client like this.

It happened to me. Years ago, when I was working at a leasing company, I had a meeting with a client who felt I didn’t know as much as he did about the industry and he “educated” me. Unfortunately, I knew what he was saying was wrong but I didn’t know how to correct him.

With frustration and regret, I’ve thought a lot about that meeting since then. It really bothered me that the client felt smugly superior. More importantly, it bothered me that I didn’t know how to respond to his inaccurate knowledge. Here’s what I’ve learned since that meeting, and here’s how you can handle these clients when you meet them.

HOW TO RECOGNIZE THESE CUSTOMERS

In the example I gave above from my early leasing career, the client I met with was smug in his inaccurate knowledge. But not all of these “worst kind of clients” are smug. Some of them are just plain fooled because they know a bit but it’s quite a bit more than their friends and family know. Financial professionals see this all the time with people who dabble in the stock market: They know a bit more than their neighbors so it seems like they know a lot more. But the reality is, they’re just dabblers.

You can recognize these customers pretty easily in conversation. They have a confidence in their knowledge that might (at first) make them seem like they know a lot. But further conversation will reveal that they know less than they think they know.

HOW TO DEAL WITH THESE CLIENTS

Here are some tips on how to deal with these clients.

  • Acknowledge that they know what they are talking about, even if they think they know more than they do.


  • Take the approach of working with these, alongside them, shoulder-to-shoulder. Treat them as you would treat a peer. Talk to them as you would talk to a colleague — informally yet professionally as if you are both insiders.


  • Refer to your relationship as “working together”. You’ll put them on your side by making them feel like they are equal to you.


  • Avoid colloquialisms and acronyms and the conversational short-cuts you use when talking to your colleagues. Spell everything out.


  • Don’t ask for their opinion. If they give their opinion, acknowledge it. If you disagree, use a phrase like, “That’s an interesting experience. I’ve encountered a different outcome from a similar situation”. (Be genuine! Don’t be condescending!)


  • Don’t call them on their ignorance! The worst thing you can do is push them a little to reveal how little they know. It will humiliate and anger them and you’ll lose a client.


  • Use phrases like “as you know” or “as I’m sure you’re aware”.


  • Go into extra detail to help these customers connect what they do know with what you want them to know. If they talk about small cap stocks but don’t know what “cap” means, take a moment to talk about market capitalization and the different kinds of -cap stocks. But again, do it in a way that helps them to feel like equals.


  • Provide educational materials and training content but position the information by saying: “You probably know the material covered here but there might be something in here that will fill any gaps you might have simply because you don’t deal with this information 24/7.”

In summary, take a specific approach them where you acknowledge what they do know and make them feel good about it; then build on it with more information.

And, be sure to stand your ground in situations where they might smugly try to educate you. You can be professional about it by taking charge of the conversation and saying something like, “I have a different perspective.”

WHAT TO DO IF NONE OF THIS WORKS

Not every client/professional relationship is destined for greatness. That’s okay. As a financial or real estate professional, you owe it to yourself to determine who you should and should not work with and then stick to those parameters. For more information about firing your clients if you need to, check out my blog post Breaking up is hard to do: Why businesses need to occasionally fire clients.

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