An interesting statistic is that two and a half times as many people will tell their friends and family of a bad experience, with a company, as those who have had a positive experience – with that same company! Stated another way: if you mess up customer service then you can easily tear your business down at a rate that is more than twice as fast as the rate that you can rebuild it. Customer service is, in essence, keeping your word . . . and it is the single most important aspect of your job in an MLM.
Keep your word and make sure that you don’t “set the bar too high” for yourself. Don’t gamble on a product delivery date and don’t make promises that you, or your product, cannot keep. Customers will be far more disappointed if their product doesn’t arrive, when they expect it to, than they will if you initially promise them a later delivery date. They don’t know how long the product should take to receive so it won’t matter to them what delivery date you quote – unless you don’t meet that date! They will also be disappointed if they don’t get the results that you promise them. Err to the safe side and give yourself an extra day or two for deliveries and don’t promise anything that the product cannot actually deliver.
If you remain vigilant about customer service then your business will thrive. Long-term, satisfied customers will be far more lenient when back orders occur or if specific products are discontinued. Your goal is to stay in business and that can be a real challenge in these harsh economic times. Customer satisfaction is the best insurance that you have against loss of business.
It is also important to realize that seemingly unreasonable customer expectations can have two sources. Some people are simply so conflicted that they cannot be made into a “happy customer.” These cases are very rare but, obviously, they are not unheard of.
I spent a couple of years as a top salesman in telemarketing with two Fortune 500 companies. Every once-in-a-while I would get a customer to whom I simply could not relate. From the moment I said “Hello” I could do nothing right for that angry customer – I’m not kidding . . . apparently THE WAY I said “Hello” was offensive to this caller’s ear. My supervisor was immediately summoned and she had no trouble at all in dealing with the offended customer! Meanwhile I was scratching my head and wondering, “What hit me?”
Now, mind you, this only happened a couple of times in thousands of calls but there was simply no way for me to make that particular customer happy. If you find yourself in this position then simply try to do everything that you can to conclude the deal to the satisfaction of the customer. It may mean honoring a money back guarantee or replacing a product. And you may have to consider terminating your business with that individual. Talk with your up-line and ask them if this particular customer might be better served by someone else in your MLM. You can only build a successful business with happy, satisfied customers – people who WANT to do business with you.
The other source of a dissatisfied customer is that you (or a team member) may not have presented your product or service in the right light. As much as I hate to tell you this . . . this scenario is far more likely than the truly unpleasant and obstinate customer mentioned in the previous two paragraphs. Take responsibility for the words and actions of yourself and your team mates. If you notice a pattern in customer responses, for example – if you hear more than one customer say, “But you said . . . fill in the blank,” and the “fill in the blank” is the same thing every time, then something is wrong – and it’s probably NOT the customer.
I don’t mean to get all spiritual on you here but there is a quote from the Tao Te Ching that I really like. It follows in a question and answer format:
Q. What is a good man?
A. The teacher of a bad man.
Q. What is a bad man?
A. A good man’s charge.
What I believe the Tao is really saying is that if we perceive someone else as troublesome then it might be our own fault or, at least partially, our responsibility. In other words: we may not have been a “good teacher” Dr. William Glasser, and others, have shown that by changing our actions (or words), which are the only actions/words that we actually have any control over, other people may be motivated to change their own actions (often to something more of our liking). It’s a little something that is otherwise known as “leadership.”
Another book of spiritual reflection is the Book of Proverbs which states: “A soft answer turneth away wrath: but grievous words stir up anger.” Here again is this idea that our actions, or our responses to a situation, can influence the response of the other person.
So when you encounter a dissatisfied customer take any and all reasonable action to rectify the situation. Perhaps a misunderstanding can be remedied by a free product, a replacement product, or a discount on a future purchase. Sometimes all that the customer really wants . . . is to know that you heard their complaint. Determine, in as much as it is possible, what would turn this client into a satisfied customer. Chances are good that they will tell you.
If you, or your down-line, discover that you have been giving out bad or confusing information then it’s time to sound the alarm. Make sure that you remove the offending language (or promises) from your vocabulary or your script. Make sure that your down-line removes it too. Ultimately this will affect your paycheck, perhaps devastatingly so, so you will need to take action to remedy the situation as rapidly as possible.
Teach your clients well for they are your “charge.”
Remember: Two and a half times as many people will tell others of a bad experience with your company as those who have had a positive experience with you. Work towards 100% customer satisfaction and you will greatly improve your odds at “surviving” the coming economic collapse.