Don’t let your thoughts roll off your tongue. They will bite you!
Check yourself, take this quick customer service quiz:
A client cancels a meeting for their professional service. They claimed it was for an unexpected medical appointment. You have no written signed contact nor have you received payment from the invoice you sent this week. You are disappointed. Your response should be:
A. No problem, I hope everything is okay and let me know a convenient time to reschedule.
B. Well, now you know why I want payment up front.
I know for all of you professional sales and service reps, the answer is obvious. “But”- I actually heard with my own ears, response B.
I felt badly having to cancel an appointment with a photographer at 6:40 pm the night before an appointment as I wanted a new photo as much as he wanted his pay. So I was actually in shock to hear his response. So much so for two days, his comment continues to linger on my mind. There was no empathy, something all service professionals are trained to convey and worst no sense of professionalism. We all have disappointments as entrepreneurs, sales and service reps. So how do we handle them:
- Learn to handle these disappointments with grace. Empathy is part of the role you play, no matter how you feel or how desperately you needed that money.
- Grumble and complain to your coworkers, spouse or significant other if you have to, not your prospect or client.
- Put processes in place to avoid situations such as a deposit. Payment in full in advance may not seem realistic to a client or the companies CFO.
- Learn to be flexible: it pays dividends. Let me give you an example. I have a regular customer who has had to cancel training the day of a training on more than one occasion. It is a financially great day as I have 3 sessions in one day. Our contact states, I am to be paid in full if cancellation occurs within 3 days of training. I have not enforced that and did charge a very small fee for prep time. I have received four direct referrals from this client that led to long term accounts and I know more to come.
In summary, Sales 101: Be easy to do business with and your rewards will come.
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