On last week’s NLP Trainer Training we were discussing the importance of customer satisfaction and long-term relationships in developing a training and consulting business.

Coincidentally, I was this morning chatting with somebody who could be a role-model for this: someone who instinctively applies this approach. (That chat prompted this article). He owns and runs one of the local car-repair garages here in Swanage and is somewhat unusual for someone in his business.

If you ring him up and say your car has a problem he says ‘Fine! Drop in and we’ll have a look at!’ Then he will look at the car, roughly assess the problem, and say ‘Yes, that’s fine – we can deal with it and it will take this long and cost this amount.’

What’s the catch?

The first time this happened I wondered what was the catch. I wasn’t used to this kind of service, especially from garages.

Everywhere else I’ve lived car mechanics were of a type – or so it appeared to me and friends of mine. Instead of the can-do approach their’s is the big-problem one.

While looking over the mal-functioning vehicle they’d sigh, suck their teeth, put on their gravest look, stroke their chins, go very silent with lots of hmmm-ing and huh-ing… and eventually say ‘Well, can’t really say without stripping it down – we’ll just have to check it out and see what we find – but it could be a big job – and not a cheap one!’

A joy to deal with

The local can-do garage owner is a joy to deal with. No pursing of lips, no ominous forecasts, no stroking of chins, no kicking tyres, no trying to instil fear in you as a no-nothing-about-cars punter – to the point where you’re grateful enough to pay whatever they choose to charge you just so long as they do it.

(This is, of course, a generalisation and this type of character is certainly not confined to car mechanics. They appear in most professions and trades: plumbers, accountants, counsellors and therapists, solicitors, electricians, estate agents, etc.)

The can-do customer-focussed recipe

If we use NLP to model, or identify the structure of the all too rare can-do attitude of this garage-owner and others, a few key attributes appear. They seem to:

1. Genuinely like people – including their customers
2. Like what they do and take pride in their trade or profession
3. Take a long-term approach to business. Rather than looking at how much they can get away with charging each customer they value repeat-business and create customer-trust by charging fair prices – knowing customers will return again and again once the relationship is established.

Instead of hit-and-run selling

Incidentally the latter approach does work for the garage owner. I’ve since discovered that he has a great reputation locally for making things easy, for taking time to explain things, for fair prices, for being genuinely interested in people.

Not surprisingly he never seems short of customers – even during the economic ‘downturn’.

In many businesses the pressure on the sales people to produce quick results doesn’t allow for, let along encourage, such his long-term approach. And when times get tougher the pressure becomes even tougher; they have to produce instant results or else they’re out.

They have to meet monthly or even weekly sales targets. There’s little time for developing relationships. Sales and margins are what they are measured by. Sales people are expendable. So the temptation to develop a hit-and-run approach to selling is completely understandable.

What about customer satisfaction?

Customer satisfaction is sacrificed – after all, it doesn’t matter if the customer never comes back because the salesperson will probably have left and moved on to another company. And her sales manager will probably have been promoted to a higher post.

In the eyes of the pressured safes force not only is the long-term customer relationship unimportant but short-term satisfaction with the product isn’t important either. ‘As long as Customer Services can keep them from returning the goods my commission is safe!’

Expensive selling!

This short-term this approach misses a key point: your first sale to a customer is the most expensive for your company.

Just consider the cost of prospecting to find each customer, converting them to your product line, satisfying their concerns about moving from their current supplier, and finally getting that first sale.

Now if this first sale is based on meeting their needs and is supported by after sales visits the customer’s satisfaction and belief in you and your company grows.

If because of pressure to deliver more sales, sales people have to adopt a hit-and-run approach to selling and just want to offload products, and quickly move on to the next punter before they change their mind, they will always focus on making lots of very expensive first-sales – and the reputation of the company will suffer.

Quick sale – or long-term reputation

Some years ago I wanted to buy a pair of in-line skates. It was one of those impulsive ‘new start’ things. I did no research but just went out and found a sports shop that sold skates and asked for a pair in my size.

Happily the owner of the shop asked me a few questions about what I wanted from in-line skates and then told me that the skates he had would not be suitable. Not only that but he also told me about a shop on the other side of town that would be able to sell me what I needed. (Which, incidentally, they did.)

So he turned a customer away.

He lost a sale.

But…

… over the following few years I must have pointed upwards of a dozen people to that shop, assuring them that they would be well looked after – just as I had.

Now even if only 25% of my referrals purchased he’s profited from his can-do customer-focussed approach… And those customers, in turn, will be sending further customers his way.