Business Tip 3: Make Your Client the VIP of the Moment
Treatment of Clients is Very Vital in the Service Industry
Negative experiences of how we are treated as customers
Have you entered a store or a fast food and then the attendant knew you
were waiting there and did not even budge to attend to what you need.
How did you feel? Sometimes we need to call the sales attendant so that
they will serve us. But even when we call them, they reluctantly approach
you as if you were not important. How did you feel? Now, let us look
at ourselves. Are we in some way the same as that business? Do we
at times neglect to attend to the client or customer in a way that they
don't feel important? Let us explore and examine this element of
customer and client servicing.
Sales become alive when you treat clients with VIP treatment
If we were to reverse the above scenario with sales personnel who treated
their customers and clients with a VIP-like treatment, imagine the delight
that would be felt by the client. This assures you of more repeat business.
And not only that, your referrals will multiply and the good word will
do the work for you.
Who do you prioritize?
Sometimes, because of our business and profit-orientation, we tend to
discriminate our clients. We put them in categories like: these are the
ones that are bringing in the profits more and these are the ones that are
not as profitable. We sometimes forget that both categories of customers
are not isolated from one another. They are within the social milieu and
within the network of your business. If you discriminate one client and
she feels so bad that she shares her experience with the client you treated
better, imagine what damage that can do for your business - especially if
that client you treated better were more compassionate of her than you.
The client you treated better may eventually decide that you are not the
service excellence business you really represent to her.
The lessons of treating people as subjects
The ideal thus is to practice our VIP-treatment business strategy to all
our clients and customers. And if in case, they come all together to you,
make a first come, first serve rule so that they will not feel as if they
were overlooked or made to feel less important. This is a difficult job,
but it can be done. It only needs practice. And practice makes perfect.
I guess one golden rule is to treat the client and customer as you yourself
would like to be treated. There are exceptions to this rule for certain,
because of the distinct differences and unique traits that go with each
particular client or customer, but in general, we as humans want to be
treated as subjects and not as objects.
For client-centered businesses and one-on-one encounters
This is where the VIP of the moment strategy will be most effective.
In a one-on-one encounter with the client, usually you can customize your
service according to the needs of the client. And when you are able to
customize your service, that is when the client feels that he or she is
the VIP of the moment. Many of those in sales feel that he should be the
center of the encounter - giving all the input, the sales spiel, and making
the sales presentation. We forget that the center of gravity must rather
be on the client. Focusing our attention on the client makes us listen
more and find out what his needs are. It lessens our desire to be the
know-it-all-type of salesman. And we must have the discipline to not
hurry up and get the client call as short as possible because we have
other things to do. Yes, we indeed have others things to do, and we are
in a business world, but when we at times take time with the client and
share "small talk" with him or her and find out how he or she is personally,
then he or she will feel that you are really treating him or her as a
subject and not just for his or her money. We are not perfect. Indeed,
there are times we think self-centeredly and are guilty of thinking only
in terms of the money we can get. Money is important. Indeed it is.
It is what fuels the business operations. But if we lose clients
because they feel as if they are not really serviced well as people, then
there would be no money to fuel our business.
Focusing on the person
When meeting with a client, when our mind is focused on money, usually the
the encounter is "tense" and "nervous" and "anxious". Especially when
economic times are hard and people are all burdened financially, since
we are in the lead and in control of the encounter, we will all the more
make the client feel tense, nervous and anxious by our own focusing on
money matters. The ideal is to focus on service and to do it well -
service excellence that has impact. If we are able to do this, then our
faith lies in a spirit and an ideal and not on money. Money is limited,
but the spirit of service excellence is unlimited. And what is unlimited
brings on unlimited richness - both material and in values. If we practice
generosity of spirit with our clients, then for certain our client will do
the same and be generous with his or her compensation to your service.
The Christian perspective
If we look at the Gospel and examine how Jesus treated the sick, the lame,
the blind, the sinners, the outcasts, the widows, the orphaned, and the
mute. Instead of discriminating, he gave his full service to them and
focused on solving their problems and making life less burdensome for
them. Imagine the delight of the people who were cured. The ten lepers
who were cured were so happy that they forgot to thank Jesus. Only one
came back to thank Jesus. And that is why the good reputation of Jesus
spread. People spread the good news. "He does all things well", they say.
And people flocked to Jesus that Jesus had sometimes to escape the crowds
out of sheer numbers. And remember when a crowd of 4,000 to 5,000 gathered
before Him whom he now had the problem of feeding. Just think of such a
great increase in "clients"! We can learn from this Christian perspective
that treating everyone well is important - even the least in our business
hierarchy.
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