In fact, customers have so much choice that independent of what service you provide or product you sell, it’s more and more likely to be viewed as a commodity.
And, as is the tendency with any commodity, price and convenience tend
to have an exaggerated influence on a customer’s purchase decision.
In our quest to differentiate ourselves in the marketplace, we
increasingly turn our attention to delivering a customer experience that
makes us stand apart. We may focus on delivering services faster,
easier, friendlier or perhaps more professionally than our competitors.
Online access to our business certainly provides an important portion of
that experience, but there is no substitute for the role that frontline
customer-facing employees play when it comes to increasing sales and
building long-term loyalty.
As a result, 'how' employees interact and engage customers
is the true differentiator that will make your business stand out from
competitors. Similar to the way that the attention you receive at your
favourite restaurant dictates your total dining experience, how company
representatives connect with you greatly influences your final purchase
decision.
Customer-facing employees are fundamental in being able to stimulate a
customer’s curiosity and obtaining permission to initiate a conversation
that can explore and satisfy both active and latent needs and
expectations. And in order to do that, you must first institute an
approach that has been proven to change how frontline employees
systematically and quickly move customer interactions into a much richer
and rewarding experience for everyone.
The Algario PowerLearn™ Sales Development System
fundamentally enables all frontline employees to systematically engage
customers in real, unscripted conversations designed to utilize the time
available during any interaction and significantly contribute to the
overall sales effort at every stage of the sales process.
And since managers are integral to your employee’s success, they are
provided with the coaching systems, skills and feedback required to
reinforce and embed those behaviours that will differentiate your
business well into the future.
Join the conversation and let me know your thoughts. What have your experiences – either from the learner side or the coach/trainer/manager side – been?
Wednesday, January 28, 2015
Friday, October 31, 2014
Rate Discounting Sets Off Chain Reaction
In
today's competitive reality, it is easy to get caught up trying to
either justify 'rates' or beat the competitor with aggressive pricing.
We know this isn't where we want to be, but with marketing campaigns
often encouraging rate and price comparisons, it is how customers
inevitably start their conversations.
We all recognize
that this approach can significantly erode profits and margin, and
likely land us in a never-ending spiral of rate cuts and cost
reductions. The approach is economically unsustainable, and can easily
set off a chain reaction that results in a pullback of customer service,
ultimately impacting customer satisfaction.
Getting out of
this rut can often be difficult, and shifting a customer conversation
from one of 'price' to one of 'value' is a skill that has taken on
increasing significance. Price is the last element of the conversation
that we want our customer facing employees to talk about. We need them
to focus on 'non-price differentiation', and in order to do that we need to change how they approach each and every customer interaction.
The PowerLearn Sales Development System experiential learning approach has enabled front line employees to systematically engage customers in conversations designed to use the time
available during any interaction. The result: everyone significantly
contributes to the overall sales and service effort at every stage of
the sales process.
Recent results from one of our financial services wealth management clients showed year-to-date gross sales increases of 106%.
This was achieved by engaging all customer-facing employees in a
program that developed and supported a series of customer-centric
conversations.
Visit us online at Algario.com, or contact David Batchelor at 416-865-9200 (dbatchelor@algario.com) and we'll show you how.
Wednesday, April 17, 2013
Algario Insight – The Customer Experience
Online access to information about our products and services has changed the way customers conduct business. And in the event that a customer has to physically go into a store or branch, online access has also changed what they expect from that retail experience.
When customers physically walk through our doors, we have to both understand their expectations and engage them in conversations that make the most out of the time we have with them. Often, we leave it to frontline employees to address customer transactional or service issues in the most effective way they know. We even ask them to try and uncover opportunities to sell products or obtain referrals that product experts can follow up on.
But, we don't always provide frontline employees with an easily repeatable formula that shows them 'how' to do this effectively. Or a learning process that allows them to learn the formula over time so it becomes ingrained, second nature and is used in every customer conversation or interaction.
As we focus on a value-added customer experience, companies and their employees that consistently engage in interactions that can explore and satisfy both active and latent needs and expectations will stand out in the crowd.
Why? Because customer-facing employees are the key to providing that differentiated customer experience that will open the door to new business opportunities.
And since managers are integral to your employees' success, they are equipped with the coaching systems, skills and feedback required to reinforce and embed those behaviours that will differentiate your business well into the future.
Join the conversation and share your thoughts and experiences about changing sales and service behaviours in your frontline employees.
Wednesday, March 20, 2013
Customers Have Choice
In fact, customers have so much choice that independent of what service you provide or product you sell, it’s more and more likely to be viewed as a commodity. And, as is the tendency with any commodity, price and convenience tend to have an exaggerated influence on a customer’s purchase decision.
In our quest to differentiate ourselves in the marketplace, we increasingly turn our attention to delivering a customer experience that makes us stand apart. We may focus on delivering services faster, easier, friendlier or perhaps more professionally than our competitors.
Online access to our business certainly provides an important portion of that experience, but there is no substitute for the role that frontline customer-facing employees play when it comes to increasing sales and building long-term loyalty.
As a result, 'how' employees interact and engage customers is the true differentiator that will make your business stand out from competitors. Similar to the way that the attention you receive at your favourite restaurant dictates your total dining experience, how company representatives connect with you greatly influences your final purchase decision.
Customer-facing employees are fundamental in being able to stimulate a customer’s curiosity and obtaining permission to initiate a conversation that can explore and satisfy both active and latent needs and expectations. And in order to do that, you must first institute an approach that has been proven to change how frontline employees systematically and quickly move customer interactions into a much richer and rewarding experience for everyone.
The Algario PowerLearn™ Sales Development System fundamentally enables all frontline employees to systematically engage customers in real, unscripted conversations designed to utilize the time available during any interaction and significantly contribute to the overall sales effort at every stage of the sales process.
And since managers are integral to your employee’s success, they are provided with the coaching systems, skills and feedback required to reinforce and embed those behaviours that will differentiate your business well into the future.
Join the conversation and let me know your thoughts. What have your experiences – either from the learner side or the coach/trainer/manager side – been?
In our quest to differentiate ourselves in the marketplace, we increasingly turn our attention to delivering a customer experience that makes us stand apart. We may focus on delivering services faster, easier, friendlier or perhaps more professionally than our competitors.
Online access to our business certainly provides an important portion of that experience, but there is no substitute for the role that frontline customer-facing employees play when it comes to increasing sales and building long-term loyalty.
As a result, 'how' employees interact and engage customers is the true differentiator that will make your business stand out from competitors. Similar to the way that the attention you receive at your favourite restaurant dictates your total dining experience, how company representatives connect with you greatly influences your final purchase decision.
Customer-facing employees are fundamental in being able to stimulate a customer’s curiosity and obtaining permission to initiate a conversation that can explore and satisfy both active and latent needs and expectations. And in order to do that, you must first institute an approach that has been proven to change how frontline employees systematically and quickly move customer interactions into a much richer and rewarding experience for everyone.
The Algario PowerLearn™ Sales Development System fundamentally enables all frontline employees to systematically engage customers in real, unscripted conversations designed to utilize the time available during any interaction and significantly contribute to the overall sales effort at every stage of the sales process.
And since managers are integral to your employee’s success, they are provided with the coaching systems, skills and feedback required to reinforce and embed those behaviours that will differentiate your business well into the future.
Join the conversation and let me know your thoughts. What have your experiences – either from the learner side or the coach/trainer/manager side – been?
Thursday, March 7, 2013
Moving Past a Discussion about Rates and Price
What can we do to influence both current and future sales results?
As managers we have daily interactions with frontline employees and every one of those is a coaching opportunity. Observing and reinforcing how customer interactions are conducted is certainly a good start, but to truly influence results, you must first institute a successful approach that has been proven to change behaviours and then provide feedback in a way that reinforces and embeds those behaviours.
For instance, take a customer entering a financial institution and inquiring about an interest rate for a five-year mortgage. We know that customers commoditize our products by focusing on rate comparisons so, as managers, we often limit our feedback to the obvious elements of the employee’s interaction with the customer – their courtesy, their professionalism and their accuracy. All are elements that impact the overall customer experience, but not necessarily ones that drive a successful conclusion such as a referral or sale.
‘How’ the conversation is conducted will determine the outcome. In our ever increasingly commoditized environment, the really important part is how the frontline employee moves past the rate discussion (for example), engages the customer and matches their needs with the available solutions.
And what constitutes effective coaching is when we can provide concrete suggestions on ‘how’ an employee’s next customer conversation could be handled in a more effective manner – suggestions that reinforce a verified methodology or activity that improves results.
My belief is that we should provide the tools that enable all frontline employees to systematically engage customers in conversations designed to utilize the time available during any interaction and significantly contribute to the overall sales effort at every stage of the sales process.
And we should provide managers with the coaching systems and skills required to build the foundation of a truly robust Coaching culture.
Do you have any thoughts on this? Please submit and let's start a discussion.
As managers we have daily interactions with frontline employees and every one of those is a coaching opportunity. Observing and reinforcing how customer interactions are conducted is certainly a good start, but to truly influence results, you must first institute a successful approach that has been proven to change behaviours and then provide feedback in a way that reinforces and embeds those behaviours.
For instance, take a customer entering a financial institution and inquiring about an interest rate for a five-year mortgage. We know that customers commoditize our products by focusing on rate comparisons so, as managers, we often limit our feedback to the obvious elements of the employee’s interaction with the customer – their courtesy, their professionalism and their accuracy. All are elements that impact the overall customer experience, but not necessarily ones that drive a successful conclusion such as a referral or sale.
‘How’ the conversation is conducted will determine the outcome. In our ever increasingly commoditized environment, the really important part is how the frontline employee moves past the rate discussion (for example), engages the customer and matches their needs with the available solutions.
And what constitutes effective coaching is when we can provide concrete suggestions on ‘how’ an employee’s next customer conversation could be handled in a more effective manner – suggestions that reinforce a verified methodology or activity that improves results.
My belief is that we should provide the tools that enable all frontline employees to systematically engage customers in conversations designed to utilize the time available during any interaction and significantly contribute to the overall sales effort at every stage of the sales process.
And we should provide managers with the coaching systems and skills required to build the foundation of a truly robust Coaching culture.
Do you have any thoughts on this? Please submit and let's start a discussion.
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