How to be different in the marketplace

FROM THE DESK OF GRANT CARDONE:  Regardless of what your job title is, you’re either selling someone on why they should continue to do business with your company or why they should not. Trust me, if you interact with customers, you’re also in the sales department. If you deal with people in any way, shape or form, you need good customer service. Good is not good enough, you must exceed your customer’s expectations and deliver outstanding customer service. I control the service—not the customer. Don’t delegate it to someone else. Give excellent customer service before the sale, during the sale, and after the sale. See service as an opportunity. Here are 3 ways you can be different in the marketplace:

#1 Phone—When I do customer service evaluations of companies, the first thing I do before getting on a plane and flying across the country and visiting them is to get on the phone and call them. I’ll find out all I need to know about their customer satisfaction by the way they answer the telephone, the attitude they have when they answer—if they even answer the phone.

Look, here’s the facts: 92% of customer interactions take place over the phone. People pick up the phone and call as part of the product or service research stage. A huge number of people no matter how much information you give them will still need assistance to figure out how to actually buy the product or service.

85% report being dissatisfied with their experience over the phone.

This is a monster opportunity if you can solve it. Oh, by the way, one of the best ways to train customer satisfaction is over the phone even if you don’t have phones—because if you can communicate and control an experience over the phone, you can certainly do it in person. You start listening for tones and inflections and become aware of different grades of satisfaction by listening on the phone.

46% OF CUSTOMERS PREFER TO TALK TO CUSTOMER SERVICE ON THE PHONE ABOUT COMPLICATED ISSUES.