Be a great listener. You’ll find that this tip is a prerequisite for the following tips. Becoming a great and active listener is a valuable art to master for any professional role you take on in life. Pay attention to your customer’s message and body language, and resist distractions. It is also important to keep an open mind if they begin to disagree or identify objections. Don’t tune them out or cut them off. Listen closely, and let them know that you understand by reframing key points.
Speak their language. Listen and pay attention to your customer’s communication style. If your customer is energetic and sociable, change the tone of your pitch to be energetic and sociable. This goes for all personality types: direct and efficient, calm and easygoing, or bubbly and animated. Adapt to your customers’ personality types and communication style, but always be professional.
Respond, don’t react. It is second nature to us to react to something that we are passionate about, and we often become very passionate about the product we are selling. Once you have listened (see tip #1) to your customer’s objection or complaint, respond mindfully rather than reacting emotionally. This requires self discipline and knowledge, but it allows us to become more effective in communicating to unhappy customers – which will lead to more happy customers.
Manage objections. When listening to customers’ objections or hesitations in regards to your product, you will find trends in what people really love or what they really hate. Gather these objections as a team and work together to come up with ways to respond. Other team members will see things differently or might have great success stories with overcoming the same objection. This will also keep you and your team be on the same page with your message along with your strengths and weaknesses.
Follow through. Making promises is an easy solution to temporarily resolving an issue or customer complaint. But failure to follow through can backfire quickly. If you make a promise, always follow through with action – even if this action ends up being an explanation of why you are not able to deliver your promise. If the promise you presented in the communication to them ends up taking more time than expected, follow up with and keep them informed. But never leave them hanging and uninformed.
Misty Sanford
Social Insight Thought Leader
Renter’s Voice