All of my future blog posts and entries will now be on John Lusher.com. Update your links and feeds and come over and comment!
John
November 23, 2008
November 14, 2008
Customer Service
Is customer service dead or is it just on life support?
I ask this question as both a consumer and a business owner because as the economy becomes more challenging, customer service becomes even more important! Voluminous studies have been done that highlight the fact that keeping a current customer is easier and less expensive than attracting a new customer. One of the hallmarks of retaining customers-great customer service!
So why do we have so many companies or businesses that are so bad at customer service? I think one reason is that we have become accustomed to settling for less than we deserve. As a society we have accepted the “buy it all in one place for the cheapest price” pitch. I think this leads to poor customer service. If you are always looking for the cheapest price, you typically will find the cheapest service to go along with that price.
If you want to have a great customer service experience, work with a custom clothier. The Tom James Company specializes in custom clothing for men and women plus they do an exceptional job at customer service. My personal clothier, Randy Womack, could write a book on customer service. Tom James trains their employees very well, but Randy takes it to a new level of service.
Do you pay more for this service? Of course you do, but it is worth the price. Too busy to go shopping or just want to make the right impression, this is the BEST option!
If you would like an introduction to Randy, just let me know!
John
November 13, 2008
Cold Call or Referral?
When the economy weakens; how do you get more business? If you are in sales, the choices are narrowed down to making more cold calls or doing more business by referral. As a salesperson, you typically do not have the money to pay for advertising, so normally you make more calls or work your network.
If you know me, you know that I prefer to do business by referral.
I was having a conversation with an otherwise intelligent business owner recently and he stated that his sales people should be concentrating more on cold calling than on building their business by referral in groups like BNI. I asked why. He stated that BNI requires too much time during normal business hours.
I was stunned.
Why in the world would you want your sales people to spend more time and more expense for less results? I know that cold calling can work; if you know your cold call numbers and can consistently reach those numbers, then it will work for you. But at what expense?
Personally I would rather be referred in by a someone that is a trusted referral source. The referral source can provide a warm introduction as well as an opportunity for you to walk in the door with instant credibility. When was the last time you cold called a business and walked in the door with instant credibility?
Now, doing business by referral costs something too; TIME. It takes more time to develop relationships and to educate a referral source than it does to cold call. I prefer to invest my time in developing my referral sources. Want to know why? Once you have a well educated referral network, you can and will gain more business in less amount of time, with less effort. Oh, and your closing percentage increases!
I am a member of BNI and an Assistant Director for the BNI Southwest Virginia Region. I am also a student in and a Trainer for the Referral Institute and the Referrals for Life Program. I also build my network, my sales and my consulting business through various online and social resources such as LinkedIn.
How do you gain more business; cold calls or referrals?
John Lusher
