by Andrea Chow
Official Book Launch
Author: Andrea Chow
Expectation – Observation = Frustration
A friend of mine post an article on Facebook with regards to relationship and it speaks about frustration in relationship. After reading it, I felt it was interesting to look at a formula and apply it to business or in sales.
“Expectation – Observation = Frustration”
When running a business, a lot of times we mentioned, over promise under deliver. Doesn’t it resonate with the formula above? Let me explain why.
During the sales presentation stage, sales presentation of the product comes with lots of marketing tools, flowery language and promotions to entice a prospect. At the end of the day, the happy client that was turned from a curious prospect was painted the biggest hopes and promises.
What was the real observation? Down the road as the products or services get delivered, it is not as per expectation. Observation is when the marketing tools, flowery language and promotions have all been taken away by the magic spell and there comes the “as it is”.
From sales perspective, customer relationship ends at signing or starts after customer says yes? The old school of thoughts in sales process, customer relationship ends at signing.
Apparently, in this ever-connected world, this is no longer true, the purchase of products or services marks the beginning of customer relationship.
This would leave us with frustrated customers, complains to customer service department or regulators and request for refund and etc.
Ever thought:
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How many people would this frustrated customer share his/ her story with? Thereafter, the compounding effect.
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How is it damaging your brand? Online and offline? On social media, it is a share button away.
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How much money a year spend on rectifying customer issues?
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How much budget has been allocated in setting up complain units and how much refunds business a company have lost?
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Will you ever get the customer back again? Especially when market is so saturated these days, can you afford to have high leakages?
Having said all the above, my suggestion is to sell the product “as it is”, tell me how the product can benefit me and my family now or in the future.
Sales staff would then require training that help them identify the selling point of the products or services from customer’s perspective, understand consumer behavior and propose product recommendation based on individual needs.