Today I refer you to Jerry Kennedy’s blog. Here’s an excerpt:

“What this post and the “open letter” campaign are really about is a determination to end the the tolerance of bad service. We as customers have become so accustomed to bad service that we just pretend like it’s something we have to get used to. But we don’t. We get to choose. Just like the business has a choice in whether or not they want us as customers, we have a choice and we need to exercise it more often.”

Read more of Jerry’s post at his Motivation 101 blog.

Many of us hear the word salesperson and think of a pushy car salesperson. We don’t like to be sold to and so we hold back from selling our services because we don’t know how to do it without feeling like we’re being another pushy car salesperson.

If you’re in business, you’re in sales. So let’s think about how we can sell our services the right way. Here are 3 things to consider:

1. Diagnose – How can you make a recommendation to your prospect about how your services are their solution when you haven’t yet diagnosed their problem? And how can you diagnose until you’ve come to thoroughly understand the prospect’s situation?

2. What do they want? – Just because you and your prospect agree on the problem does not mean you agree on the desired outcome. Find out what they want the desired outcome to be so you can then offer the solution that will result in that particular outcome.

3. How will you provide what they want? – Explain in as much detail as possible exactly how you will provide their desired outcome. Be specific in what they will get, how you will work with them, what will happen. The more they know, the more reassured they will be that you can provide the desirable outcome they want.

This requires communicating with prospects. Listen to them, understand their situation and needs and desired outcome. Explain clearly how your solution will benefit them. Give your prospects solid reasons to work with you. Then invite them to get started!

It’s bound to happen. We’re only human and we all make mistakes. We try very hard in our businesses to put processes in place so that we don’t make mistakes. But it happens. So what do you do when it happens?

Here’s my opportunity to be authentic and admit that recently we made a mistake on a client project. Of course it was completely unintentional and accidental. Upon review we still don’t even know how it could have happened. But it did. Our client brought it to our attention in a very kind manner. He knew it was accidental and unintentional. Though the mistake couldn’t actually be fixed, he expected us to offer some sort of compensation for the error. And we completely agreed!

We were mortified that a mistake had been made! This client is one of our favorite clients. We really enjoy working with him and we weren’t sure if this was going to be the end of our working relationship. We needed now to make sure we lived up to our customer service superheroes policy. So we discussed exactly what we could offer this client to make amends for this mistake. We wanted to be sure that what we offered far exceeded any expectations he had.

We called our client and apologized for the mistake, no excuses. Then we proceeded to explain what we could do to make amends. We made a generous offer of additional time at no charge and offered to take on a project we knew he needed done at no charge. We wanted to make sure our client felt well taken care of and hoped he’d continue working with us.

Our client was very happy with our offer of additional work at no charge! He explained that he’d wondered how we would handle the situation. He realizes that mistakes happen and that it’s the way they are handled that makes all the difference. He was very excited to continue working with us and had a project we could start on immediately. He was so impressed with the results of that project that he offered to write a testimonial if he hadn’t already (he already had though).  We continue to work together and our client continues to refer others to us.

Yes, we will make mistakes. It’s how we handle them that determines the outcome. So here’s my 3 simple rules on how to handle mistakes:

1. Own up to your mistakes. Take responsibility for what you did. Don’t make excuses. Figure out how the mistake was made, if at all possible, and then put into place processes to prevent that mistake from happening again.

2. Apologize. Give your client a sincere apology, without excuses, for what happened. If you used a sub-contractor and the error was made by your sub-contractor, you still need to take responsiblilty.

3. Make generous amends. This does not have to be monetary. It can be additional time or product. Be sure your client feels they got more than enough compensation. If the error resulted in a $500 loss for your client, make amends of double that value.

When you own up to your mistakes, apologize, and make generous amends, you’ll find that your clients appreciate your openness, honesty and integrity.

We’ve added a new customer service policy at our website.  Below is an excerpt:

Our customer service goal is not just to meet your expectations, but to exceed them.

Okay, that’s not true. Our real goal is to crush them to a fine powder, throwing them under Charon‘s keel to drift down the River Styx, never to be heard from again. We want your expectations to know they don’t hold a candle to the reality we deliver.

There is, though, an obstacle.

Read the entire policy at my website.

Then let me know what you think!

I recently read a book by T. Scott Gross, Positively Outrageous Service. His ideas of providing outrageous customer service are just what we need.

Are you satisfied with getting a new customer, having them buy from you once, and then never seeing them again? Of course not! We want them to come back again and again and to tell all their friends about our business. How do we get them to do that? Provide outrageous customer service.

Every once in a while do something totally unexpected and over the top for one of your customers. See if it doesn’t get them coming back and telling everyone they know about you and your services.

I highly recommend that you read Positively Outrageous Service and think about what you can do to provide it to your customers.

I’d like to hear what you’ve done for your customers that keeps them coming back.