no,its not what you think!!
Recent event made me realise, that what I thought I had by way of (good) communications skills with my customers that in practice a softer approach can be just as sucessful.
Following on from a first clean,I had charged £30 for a normal 3 bed semi as it was pretty bad, on the understanding that the new customer would revert back to £12 on her regular visit thereafter.
One terse e-mail later, she was astonished that I hadn't included the conny roof.This despite me being there for nearly two hours(she wasnt home at the time)This e-mail arrived at half ten at night and it sent me into a fit of apoplexy!!
There were intimations of misleading advertising,poor sales technique and so on
I was about ready to jump in the van and give her a piece of my mind
Several composed e-mails and deleted drafts of utter rage and who did she think she was etc,etc
My lovely lady, ever the diplomat, composed a delightful response which we sent at 00.30 hrs(I dont sleep well if things play on in my mind)
She carefully worded an e-mail highlighting our time on site and fair price for a fair job.She explained how our leaflets work and how the customer had simply misunderstood them and that because of my history in field sales,that she just hadnt grasped succinctly what our services were.
The reply arrived last night.
She thanked us for our e-mail and felt that we had addressed her concerns about our service.Her and her husband were in fact delighted with the work that had been done,so much so that they had then spent the whole weekend cleaning and sorting their now delightful conservatory into the lovely summer room she had always promised herself.They have agreed and booked us to return and clean her conny roof(including a re-clean of her windows,at cost!!) within the week as they want to really enjoy their garden again.
What did I take from all of this?
1)I know that we now have a customer for life as her acceptance of our apology and explanation means that she sees us a proper company to do business with and that we are sincere and customer focused
2)I need to hone and sharpen my patter when selling my companies services and leave no room for ambiguity or mis-interpretation
3)My hot headed imediate response would have turned a potential banana skin into a spewing volcanoe of accusations and mud slinging
4)Sometimes,despite myself,my lovely lady really does know best
Regards
Roy
