It’s Hard to Steal a Happy Client & Easy to Lose One Who Is Unhappy

The salesperson delivered his pitch, complete with attractive graphics, graphs, and photos of happy clients. Embellishing the presentation were currently popular sayings like, “Building our business one client at a time,” “We’re building growing relationships,” “Under promise and over perform,” and “When our clients profit, we profit.”

The listener sighed, almost rolled her eyes and said to herself, “They talk a good game, I’ve heard all this relationship stuff before, but I’m unhappy with my current vendor, the price is competitive, and if they do half as much as this guy says we’ll be getting more for our buck, so I’ll give this guy a try. And she signed the contract for a “Trial Period.”

Three days later she received a handwritten(!) “thank you” note in the mail(!) from the salesperson along with a list of people in the firm that she could contact for various services. A week later she received an “Introduction to Our Company” brochure. A month later the salesperson called and asked if she had any questions or problems and, although he doesn’t work with the clients directly, he checks in with her every two or three months to improve the relationship, discover if there are any problems, and seeks to find further potential opportunities.

This is a classic “Sales Satisfaction System.” While most companies have their salespeople say, “Thank You” and then go on quickly to sell to the next prospect, this company has their salespeople deepen the business-client relationship by ensuring that the client is truly satisfied beyond the original sale.

A Sales Satisfaction System is designed to back up the promises made in the presentation and further establish the relationship from “vendor” to “trusted vendor we rely on.” She has found their service actually is as good as all those clichés in the original sales presentation. Now she relies on them, and she has expanded her use of their services substantially.

She recently received an ad for a similar service at a lower price. She glanced at it, wadded it up into a ball and lofted a three-point shot into the wastebasket, smiling in the confidence of her growing and profitable relationship.

If a company’s success is based on long-term customer retention and repeat sales, then an ongoing “Sales Satisfaction System” will reinforce the commitment to the client and act as an ongoing retention strategy.

What “Sales Satisfaction System” is in place at your company?

Customer Service