
How good are you, really? Be your own customer, and find out, really. Yesterday I got the shock of my life: I tried to buy something on my own website and couldn’t. Funny, I buy all kinds of things on other people’s websites. I’m a one-click buyer on Amazon. I’m a Paypal customer. And I have my credit card registered and saved on every site that will allow it. In short, I trust the Internet.
In short, short - if I decide that I want to buy something online, I want to buy it fast. And I don’t know about you, but I’m not crazy about filling out an online order form (where all the boxes say it’s “mandatory” to enter my information.)
Many of you subscribe to my weekly email magazine and have taken advantage of the “deal of the week,” a special offer on a bundle of my books and CDs. Last week we decided to present something for the first time – a $20.00 discount off any of my upcoming public seminar tickets. Fair enough…
So I went to my own site to test the offer. I put in a request to buy five tickets. The website (my website) promised fast and easy purchase. And that promise was ANYTHING BUT the truth. It was a pain in the butt. I clicked off of my own site in frustration and disgust.
I immediately pulled the offer and we went through an e-commerce exercise that brought me back to reality. We revamped the purchasing process to where it IS fast and easy. And easy to understand. It’s now fixed for the short term, and we have a long-term plan in place (actually in motion) to make it even faster and easier.
MAJOR CLUE: Had I not tried to buy something from my own website, I would have never known. I would have danced along actually believing my own words, never realizing that customers were frustrated – and worse – not purchasing. Clicking off – abandoning the next step in the buying process because it was slow, cumbersome, and uninformative.
How’s yours? Think your e-commerce is great? Ever try to buy something from yourself, or are you just taking “IT’s” word for it. Or worse, believing your own instructions?
CHALLENGE: Be your own customer at least once a month.
In these “trying” times, many customers (yours and mine) are struggling to maintain volume, profit, and productivity. Somehow the stimulus package and bailout have not... Read the rest of this article.
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LAST CHANCE! - Jeffrey Gitomer LIVE! Charleston, WV - March 11th & 12th, 2010
Charleston Managers: Develop your personal plan to find and keep a winning, loyal, well-trained, and self-directed sales team. This seminar will provide strategies and techniques about real-world sales leadership, plus self-evaluation to measure your present level of achievement.
Jeffrey Gitomer LIVE! – Charleston, WV: Regardless of the economy and the current circumstance in your industry, sales are still being made. The only question is “Who’s making them?” This seminar will provide you with the ANSWERS you need to succeed, and you will learn new strategies and ideas about how to sell any product or any service in any economy -- without sacrificing price. Click here to Register NOW! Charleston, WV special Managers Event Jeffrey Gitomer LIVE! – Charleston, WV
Jeffrey Gitomer LIVE! – London England March 16th, 2010
Join the global authority on sales, Jeffrey Gitomer, for an intimate seminar on Sales Attitude, Customer Loyalty, and how to sell anything in any economy! This rare seminar will give you the opportunity to get your personal questions answered plus bonus product to boost your sales, ring your own cash register, and achieve a YES! Attitude.
Click here to Register NOW! Jeffrey Gitomer LIVE! – London, England
Jeffrey Gitomer LIVE! – Sacramento, CA March 31st & April 1st, 2010
Sacramento Managers – Develop your personal plan to find and keep a winning, loyal, well-trained, and self-directed sales team. This seminar will provide strategies and techniques about real-world sales leadership, plus self-evaluation to measure your present level of achievement.
Jeffrey Gitomer LIVE! Sacramento, CA – Join the global authority on sales, Jeffrey Gitomer for a seminar on SALES ATTITUDE. Learn how to uncover buying motives, double your sales, get your price without sacrificing profit, and establish a YES! Attitude for a lifetime of success.
Click here to Register NOW! Jeffrey Gitomer's Sacramento Managers Event Jeffrey Gitomer LIVE! – Sacramento, CA
Want to reach my public seminar audiences of 500+ LOCAL business people in your community? Would you like your company to receive additional sales training from me while I’m in your city? Contact Sara or Heather at 800-242-5388 or email publicseminars@gitomer.com for information.
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Jeffrey,
I work for an electronics company and I am known as the Queen of Cold Calling in my office. In your lessons about cold calling, you say to "leave a message with two ideas and give them the third one once they call back." What kind of ideas would you give a prospect?
Debbie
Debbie,
Hey, I thought you were the Queen, what are you asking me for, I’m just a pawn? Leave a voicemail about your electronic widget, tell the prospective customer that you have two ideas, leave one and ask them call you back for the other. Don’t make it about your product, and make sure it's something they value and they would consider interesting or cool. To really establish yourself, this process will take about six months. In the meantime, keep doing what your doing.
Best regards, Jeffrey
Jeffrey, I read in one of your books that you are loyal to the Lexus brand. I have recently purchased a second Toyota due to the loyalty I hear about from other Toyota owners. I don't watch the news but I hear something about a mass recall for a safety issue. Both of my Toyotas have been "fixed," but I had to be proactive in scheduling the service. Personally I think it’s a media conspiracy to promote American brands, I never felt unsafe in my cars. Has Toyota / Lexus kept your loyalty?
Dustin
Dustin,
My Lexus dealer, Hendrick Lexus in Charlotte, NC, proactively called me on the phone and scheduled my recall maintenance at my convenience. They gave me a car to use and actually delivered my serviced car completely washed and detailed as part of their unbelievable service. Loyalty would be a weak word when describing my relationship with my car dealer and my passion for the brand. In this whole Toyota mess it will all boil down to the dealer and the dealer's relationship with the customer. For 25 years car dealers were fat and happy in this country. Toyota is not the first brand to have a recall and they will not be the last. GM just announced 1.6 million cars and Mitsubishi just announced half a million, but somehow this did not make news. The fact is the dealers are going to have to be more service oriented then they are sales oriented. My dealer has always been about service and it's not a coincidence, they are one of the ten top Lexus dealers in the United States.
Best regards, Jeffrey
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Safety vs. Opportunity
by Jason Seiden
I asked my daughter point blank if she'd rather have me be strict and keep her totally safe, or give her opportunities to try new things, even if it means she'll occasionally get hurt. Her response: "I would rather, every once in a while, get hurt. Because if you were strict I would never have the chance to try anything new and have limited experiences."
The thing that surprises me is when employees answer just like my daughter but then, when given freedom by their bosses, rather than take the opportunity, they complain about why they can't take the opportunity.
What's truly interesting about this is that by complaining, they're actually trying to choose both safety and opportunity. By complaining, people can convince themselves that they have embraced opportunity while keeping it just far enough away that they don't actually have to give up their safety. This lets them feel secure, while also feeling close to their dreams.
Of course, it's an illusion, which is probably why maintaining it comes with so much drama and heartache.
The next time someone seems to have all the reasons in the world not to do something, recognize that they're not necessarily being mean-spirited, they're just trying to keep safe. (After all, with opportunity comes the possibility to get hurt--better to avoid having to try!)
If you find yourself trying to keep safe by complaining, do this to break out of the cycle:
1. Learn to spot opportunity. It rarely comes gift-wrapped in a box labeled, "opportunity." A hands-off boss, a new project, or a slacking coworker can all be catalysts to spread one's wings and do something great. 2. Learn to recognize how you keep safe, too. Like opportunity, safety rarely comes in a labeled box. Instead, safety looks like responsibilities that are too narrow, responsibility without authority, or organizational problems. Basically, any excuse you use to explain why you can't do something may be a thread in your security blanket. 3. Ask, "So what?" frequently. So you take on the project and a coworker gets annoyed. So what? 4. Ask, "Why?" Someone thinks your new process won't work? And keep asking until you get a real reason. 5. Accept yourself. Some people need lots of freedom and opportunity, others need less. Recognize and accept who you are. Otherwise, you'll find yourself leading a string of failed projects, or you'll find yourself regretting that you passed on projects that turned out to be winners.
If you're like most people, my guess is that you are hungry for opportunity, but at the same time, you have some fear of the unknown that opportunity comes with.
That's OK. Everyone has some fear. It's part of the human condition.
So what?
Go for it anyway. Get your hand slapped. Dare to fail spectacularly!
You can't have freedom and opportunity without risking getting hurt now and then.
Jason Seiden is an author and speaker who takes the fear out of work. His book, How to Self-Destruct, shows employees at all levels how to embrace risk and what happens when they don't. His latest book, Super Staying Power, gives people specific tools for handling the stresses, politics, and uncertainties inherent in their jobs. To purchase his books, visit www.jasonseiden.com or email jason@jasonseiden.com.
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Say YES! To Yourself And To Your Customers To Cultivate Loyalty.
Start with your own attitude, adjust the way you think to incorporate YES! Start with YES! to answer all of your customer's questions. Be creative in your business to make YES! a reality. Study your business relationships to find the loyalty driving factors. And do it all from your car! This week's deal includes two of Jeffrey's best audio programs Got Attitude? and THE BEST OF Customer Satisfaction is Worthless, Customer Loyalty is Priceless. All for $49.00 (A $79.00 value).
Click here to order now!
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“I love your teaching on sales and I appreciate you for your dedication to the friendly salesperson. By the way, this book sighting was at the Barnes and Noble in Charleston, SC” - Mike
If you see Jeffrey or Jeffrey’s books SEND YOUR PHOTO to ezine@gitomer.com. If it’s posted, you’ll receive an e-book!
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Some individuals appear to be "allergic" to honest work, but opportunity is equally allergic to them.
In any business, profession, or occupation, there comes a time when you have to deliver. You may fake it for a time, pretending that you’re giving an honest effort, but eventually you will be measured by your deeds, not by your words. If you are more of a talker than a doer, make a vow today-right now-to change your behavior. You may be able to drift through life if you never do more than you are required to do, but you will never know what you might have achieved if you had only been willing to give a little more. The greatest opportunities always go to those who have an affinity for hard work, not an allergy to it.
Click here to subscribe to Napoleon Hill Yesterday and Today |
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“The thing I like about this book is that Jeffrey stresses the importance of little things. Improving customer service is not about planning and executing a massive, company-transforming project. It's about doing a lot of little things every day with every customer, to make their experience better. This book is full of useful ideas anyone can understand and put to work right away. It works.” - Kevin
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Jeffrey's Sales Rant is a clip from his online training video library.
watch the rant now (you need it)
Requires Flash player
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Customers talk…to their associates, friends, and neighbors. Here is the number of people they will talk to based upon how well you handle their complaint.
3 if you do a good job 10 if you do a great job 25 if you do a bad job 50 if you get into an argument
If the argument develops into a fight, and your lawyers get involved, you will be on the 6:00pm local news.
How are your customers talking about you?
– Jeffrey Gitomer, Customer Satisfaction is Worthless Customer Loyalty is Priceless
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It’s Time for Toyota to Visit the Truth Doctor.
By Noah Rickun
My wife and I have two young daughters. Before our first was born, we transformed our house into a child safety zone. Goodbye glass coffee table, hello cushy ottoman. All of our cabinets suddenly required a college degree to open, and our electrical outlets became impossible to use. We wanted to do everything to ensure that our kids would be safe and happy.
When our second daughter was born, my wife felt it was time for a new car. She needed a new car because hers didn’t have the LATCH system. (For any parent who raised children before this millennium, this is probably a foreign term). Also, her car was a sedan, rather than a big SUV like most other suburban warriors were driving. I live by the philosophy that a happy wife equals a happy life; and so began our search for an SUV.
We put the same effort into our new car search as we did with baby-proofing our house. And after an exhausting process, the Toyota Sequoia appeared to be a great vehicle for us. When we went to pick it up, we were surprised how BIG it was in person! I could tell that my wife was a bit frustrated with the size of the Sequoia, but she kept it because she felt safe. She perceived that it was the best option for our girls. It was the best option… until that fatal day several weeks ago when the news about the Toyota accelerator pedal hit the airwaves. We anxiously waited for a response from Toyota, the most trusted brand. And then it happened. Decades of trust were wiped away in a matter of days by Toyota’s pathetic attempt to maintain credibility.
While Toyota instantly lost corporate trust, I found a beacon of hope in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. I was several states away at the time the news hit, and was concerned about whether or not the Sequoia was safe to drive -- so I immediately called my Toyota dealer, Andrew Toyota, to ask for advice. To my surprise, I reached the owner of the dealership on my first attempt. Andy Schlesinger (Andy is short for Andrew, THE Andrew in Andrew Toyota) gave me his best advice on how to take precautions while continuing to drive our Sequoia (what to do about the floor mats, what to do if the accelerator sticks, etc) and then assured me he would have our recall procedure done quickly. I’ve known Andy for a few years and my family has been buying Toyota’s from his dealership for three decades, so I assumed that when Andy offered to schedule the accelerator fix the very next day AND PICK UP the Sequoia from our house he was giving me special treatment. Not the case. Andy kept his service center open seven days a week and longer hours each day to be sure that he took care of EVERY customer. If you live in Milwaukee, you may have seen Andy’s TV commercials that always end with “Andrew Toyota—Where customer service is not a department, it’s our passion!” Andy and his staff live by that maxim and it shows.
I used to trust Toyota quality and value. Today, I am skeptical. Millions of others have written off Toyota forever. But I trust Andy Schlesinger. Had Toyota followed Andy’s example of being proactive, admitting fault, and offering answers and solutions, then Toyota would have strengthened its reputation as a responsible and customer-focused automotive manufacturer.
So what can we learn from Toyota’s poor decision? Here are five takeaways about trust:
1. It always costs less to fix the problem than to not fix the problem. 2. Trust takes years to earn, yet only moments to lose. 3. There is nothing more valuable to a company than trust. If your customers trust you, selling is easy. If you lose that trust, you will eventually lose the customer. 4. Being known as trustworthy is far more important than being known as clever, smart, innovative, or trendy. 5. Trust is all about consistency, reliability, and truthfulness. If you are consistently truthful, your customers will feel that they can rely on you.
Is your company trusted? Are YOU trusted?
EDITOR’S NOTE: Noah will be presenting on the topic of TRUST as it relates to non-profit organizations at a community event on March 24th in Charlotte, NC. This event is sponsored by the American Red Cross and more details can be found here.
Noah Rickun is the CEO of Jeffrey Gitomer’s TrainOne and a Gitomer Certified/Audience Approved speaker. Noah delivers customized and personalized seminars on sales, customer loyalty, and personal development. To book Noah for your next event, visit www.GitomerCertified.com or contact the friendly folks at Buy Gitomer via email or by calling 704-333-1112.
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Your Success Stories.
I moved from Israel to Canada with my wife and two toddlers. I landed a job "selling" International Freight Forwarding. I knocked on doors with the goal to sit down with three people per day. Not knowing a thing about the business, I "sold" a lot of freight (in one day I “sold” two major accounts, each worth over 1.2 Million dollars to the company). I never sold anything, but lots of people bought. I always knew if a customer said no they really mean 'They do not know enough to say yes,' and that was my responsibility. At the age of 60 I began working on straight commission in an unrelated business continuing to help others. The lessons of my youth will always hold true. Play - Have fun - Love what you do - Help others - Give your loyalty. The game of life is about what you give, not what you take away. - Murray
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Each week, we feature a salesperson's success story. Please send your stories to gill@gitomer.com. If your story is published, we'll send you a free e-Book!
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Charleston. WV 03/11 Managers Seminar 03/12 Sales Attitude Seminar
London, UK 03/16 Special Sales Attitude Seminar
Sacramento, CA 03/31 Managers Seminar 04/01 Sales Attitude Seminar
Grand Rapids, MI 04/08 Managers seminar 04/09 Sales Attitude Seminar
Pittsburgh, PA 04/22 Managers Seminar 04/23 Sales Attitude Seminar
Houston, TX 04/28 Managers Seminar 04/29 Sales Attitude Seminar
Hartford, CT 05/13 Managers Seminar 05/14 Sales Attitude Seminar
Greenville, SC 05/24 Managers Seminar 05/25 Sales Attitude Seminar
Philadelphia, PA 06/09 Managers Seminar 06/10 Sales Attitude Seminar
Cleveland, OH 06/17 Managers Seminar 06/18 Sales Attitude Seminar
Reno, NV 09/01 Managers Seminar 09/02 Sales Attitude Seminar
Minneapolis, MN 09/09 Managers Seminar 09/10 Sales Attitude Seminar
Harrisburg, PA 09/16 Managers Seminar 09/17 Sales Attitude Seminar
San Jose, CA 09/30 Managers Seminar 10/01 Sales Attitude Seminar
Murfreesboro, TN 10/07 Managers Seminar 10/08 Sales Attitude Seminar
Birmingham, AL 11/11 Managers Seminar 11/12 Sales Attitude Seminar
Albuquerque, NM 11/18 Managers Seminar 11/19 Sales Attitude Seminar
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