A few weeks ago I spoke at a Sales Rally for a
client. Their theme for the event was Disney and they asked me to give a key note speech that would tie in Disney with sales and
service. Disney has long been known for excellent customer
service, and if you've ever been to DisneyWorld you'll know that they are exceptional at selling and up-selling. In my research for the talk I came
across this quote from Walt Disney:
"Somehow I can't believe there are any heights that can't be
scaled by a man who knows the secret of making dreams come true. This special secret, it seems to me, can be summarized in four C's. They are
Curiosity, Confidence, Courage, and Constancy and the greatest of these is Confidence. When you believe a thing, believe it all the way, implicitly
and unquestionably."
I was especially struck by the words Confidence and
Constancy and their relevance to sales and service. Selling is all about persuasion. The best sales people
really believe in their product or service “all the way, implicitly and unquestionably”. It’s that kind of
confidence that persuades people to buy. If you don’t believe in it, why should your prospect or
customer. When I do sales training for banks, I often ask how many in the room have on-line accounts. I then
ask those who didn’t raise their hands, why they don’t bank on-line and I get the standard objections around security, hate computers,
don’t want to bother or I’m just too lazy to set it up. When I ask them how they expect to sell a service they
don’t believe in and have never used themselves, it becomes an Ah-Ha moment. Ask yourself just how much confidence your
sales team has in your products? In your company? In its ability and willingness to keep its promises to its
customers? If you hear grousing and complaining instead of “damn we’re good” – you need a change in
attitude!
Keeping promises is the corner stone of good customer
service. It is the “constancy” of focus that builds great service. I know, it’s hard to
stay focused on anything these days but if you have to choose what to focus on, your first choice had better be your customers. To
the constancy of focus I would add “consistency”. Your message, your service, your products, your people –
must be consistent. Variations in service or product knowledge from employee to employee or location to location undermine your
customer’s confidence in you and leave you vulnerable to the competition.
Walt Disney was right. It takes
confidence to win the business and constancy to keep it!
Call Catalytic Management today and let's talk about how your organization
can become famous for its selling capabilities in an environment dedicated to keeping it's service promises! |
