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Showing Your Appreciation to Customers

Guest articles > Showing Your Appreciation to Customers

by: Daniel Milstein

There are many ways to show customers that you appreciate them. Once this appreciation is known and understood, you will get a reputation that sets you apart from most other salespeople.

I had an opportunity to illustrate our customer-centric approach during a conference of mortgage professionals in Las Vegas. My colleague Rick Richter and I were asked to speak to the loan officers of a large mortgage company. There were about 300 loan officers staring attentively and ready to learn. Rick gave a presentation on how to ramp up your pipeline if you are new to the business. Then I began my talk about what it takes to be on the short list of the top 200 originators nationwide.

After about five minutes, I stopped, grabbed my BlackBerry and started to read an e-mail. The audience grew restless and some people seemed a little offended. I looked up, smiled and explained, This is what it takes to be the best. You have to be ready to drop everything for your clients. If you're consistent with this, you will get a reputation for being available. Realtors and referral partners will know that when they call, you will be ready to assist them. I let them know I did that on purpose to prove a point. The group responded positively; it was clear they understood my message and by the end of the presentation, they were fired up and ready to take on the world.

What extra measures salespeople will take to satisfy their customers: We were about to close on a customer's property, but underwriting stipulated we needed to correct the peeling paint that the appraiser noted on the porch. I anticipated new hand-wringing by my client, the seller and both agents regarding scheduling, cost and other issues. So, the next day I spent an hour painting the porch, then ordered the final inspection and closed the transaction. I drove to the home of a customer who was purchasing in the dead of winter and personally shoveled the snow off the roof in order to pass the FHA/home inspection and close the loan before year's end. (I brought a friend in case I fell.) I once went out in the middle of January to help a borrower patch his driveway to meet an FHA repair condition.

The extra measures taken are mutually beneficial for both you and your customers: you become a more successful salesperson and they feel better taken care of.

Daniel Milstein is the bestselling author of ABC of Sales. For more information, visit: http://amzn.to/ABCARTICLES.

Contributor: Daniel Milstein

Published here on: 20-Jul-14

Classification: Sales

Website: http://amzn.to/ABCARTICLES