Service Is Your Most Important Product
To achieve success in business you must truly understand what you sell. You may think this is an easy answer, like "I sell hardware" or "I sell candy", but it is not that simple. If you met in person with me and actually thought about all of the products you sold then you might answer differently. There might be lots of answers about what you sell. But that is wrong!
No matter what business you are in, one universal answer is applicable always. Your product is a solution which lead and will lead your customers to your door!
What you sell is Customer Service!
Do not be fooled into thinking that customers come to you just to buy a particular item. To think this is to fail to understand the necessity of building a relationship. The reason that they came to you is because they have a problem or a need and you may be able to supply something to help them. Customers often feel that they know what they want and may not be aware that you have a better solution for them. If your attitude is that your aim is just to sell them something you will never know if you have sold the right thing. If a customer comes to you with a need, you can only satisfy that need if you try and find out what brought them to you. To do this you must treat your customers as people and not just potential profit. This means that you have to talk to them to establish what their need is and only then can you suggest the right solution for them.
That doesn't mean you need to take the time to know their life history. What it does mean is that whenever possible you try to understand the need that brought them to you, and make a sincere effort to fulfill that need. Sometimes that may mean selling them a more expensive 'thing' than they originally had in mind. Sometimes it may mean that a less expensive 'thing' will better suit their needs. Sometimes it may mean that nothing you have is appropriate for their particular need at that point in time. Even if nothing you have will meet their need at that time, there is great opportunity there to establish the relationship by your honesty- which will lead them back to you again when they have a need that you can help them to fulfill.
The point this section is trying to make is that your products are not the things you sell. Your company's "product" is meeting the need that customers have when they come to your business. People don't care too much about the features of the things you sell. They care about whether your business can meet all of their needs, including their emotional needs.
About the Author: You can get a free copy of my latest ebook by clicking here: The 7 Keys To Business Marketing Success. Eric Menzies writes about Business Customer Service at http://www.BizRave.com
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