You Do Not Need Pushy Salespeople. You Need Observant Ones
A lot of businesses are afraid of selling badly. Fair enough. Nobody wants staff hovering over customers. Nobody wants every interaction turned into an upsell. Nobody wants customers feeling like they are being squeezed for another dollar. So the pendulum swings the other way. Staff become polite. Helpful. Efficient. And completely passive. They wait for […]
The Most Profitable Service Moments Are Often the Smallest
Businesses often look for revenue in big places. New campaigns. New locations. New products. New systems. But some of the easiest money is sitting inside moments that already exist. A customer finishes a meal. A client pauses before leaving. Someone asks a question that signals interest. A group settles in and clearly plans to stay […]
The Gap Between Intended Service and Actual Experience
Every business has an intended customer experience. The phone should be answered quickly. The offer should be explained clearly. The staff member should make the right recommendation. The process should feel simple. The customer should leave confident. On paper, it all makes sense. The problem is that customers do not experience the version on paper. […]
A Difficult Customer Can Be the Best Stress Test You Get
Most businesses look good when the customer is easy. The request is simple. The answer is obvious. The process works exactly as expected. Nobody is frustrated. Nobody is asking for anything unusual. Under those conditions, almost any service system can appear healthy. That is why difficult customers are useful. They put pressure on the parts […]
Most Expensive Problems Started as Small, Awkward Conversations
Big business problems rarely arrive looking big. They usually start quietly. A customer complains about something that seems minor. A salesperson misses another opportunity. A service standard slips. A team member starts showing signs that something is off. At that point, the problem is still relatively cheap. It might require an uncomfortable phone call. A […]
The Best Salespeople Don’t Sound Like Salespeople
You can usually tell when someone has gone into “sales mode”. Their tone changes. The questions become more polished. The enthusiasm gets turned up. Every answer somehow becomes “a great choice”. And the customer notices. That is the problem. Most people do not mind being sold to. They mind feeling handled. There is a difference. […]
A Physical Store Needs to Give Customers Something Online Cannot
A physical store has one big disadvantage. It requires effort. The customer has to leave the house. Drive there. Find parking. Walk in. Look around. Possibly wait. Compare that with buying online. A few taps. No travel. No queue. No awkward interaction. So if a customer is going to make the effort to visit a […]
The Problem With Trying Too Hard to Delight Customers
“Delighting the customer” sounds like a good goal. It sounds generous. Ambitious. Customer-focused. But it can also lead businesses to improve things the customer never wanted changed. That is where the trouble starts. There is a difference between creating value and creating a surprise. Businesses often confuse the two. They assume faster is always better. […]
Customers Don’t Want More Service. They Want Less Friction
There is a strange assumption in business that better customer service always means adding more human interaction. More staff. More conversations. More check-ins. More opportunities to “delight” the customer. But sometimes, the best thing you can do is simply get out of their way. Think about filling up your car. Years ago, you would pull […]
The Awkward Moment Your Staff Are Avoiding Is Hurting Your Business
Think about the last time you went to a restaurant, finished your meal, and nobody offered you dessert. Happens all the time. And it’s not because the restaurant doesn’t have dessert. It’s because the staff felt a little awkward about offering it. You didn’t ask for it. They didn’t want to seem pushy. So they […]
Why the Friendliest Service Isn’t Always the Best Service
I was out in a country town in Western New South Wales a while back, and it struck me how friendly everyone was. People say hello on the street. You walk into a cafe and it’s warm, it’s welcoming, properly country hospitality. The kind of thing you don’t get as much in the city. And […]
Your Best Store Might Not Be Your Best Store
I’ve had this conversation more times than I can count. A client comes to me and says, “Look, we’ve got a real problem at this location. But that one over there is fine, we’re not worried about that one.” We run the evaluations. And more often than not, they’ve got it the wrong way around. […]