I had the great privilege to listen to the charming and wonderful Richard Hammond during a corporate conference. He was the afternoon speaker at the conference, the dreaded slot. He was entertaining, witty & had great examples. We all got copies of his book "Smart Retail" afterwards, having listened to him speak so entertainly I decided that I would have to read his book. Anyone that is considering in getting into retail or managing a sales team this is a must read. One of the points that always stood out on the book, was a quote make your team happy & they will make you money. I also subscribe to the happy workforce will bring in better results.
He gave a great example from Boots in Oxford. There are three shops selling the Clinique brands, high end make-up, (please excuse my vague description I have never used the product) . By all accounts a very lucrative market to be in, with good margins. All the shops sell for the same price, the product is marketed / displayed identically. The reason is for Boots outselling Debenhams & Alders is down to the salesperson. Beverly works on the counter in Boots, she knows the product inside out. She remembers the customers by their name & she also remembers their skin tones. On top of this she is very friendly & will always say hello to the customers when passing even if they are not buying from the make-up department. She never pushes the sale & has built up a great trust with her customers. Her exceptional customer service is a great example of how customer relationships can benefit a company.
In a previous life I managed the biggest customer that we ever had. The account had turnover over €7m in about five years. I had started the account off with a limit of €2k, we had built it up with time. I met the owner every week to iron out any issues that he would have on service, price & on the account. I would have also helped him with HR & legal issues. My theory was to have him concentrate on selling & I would look after some admin that he needed help with. We built up a great relationship & he even invited me to his wedding. It was not always plain sailing I could on occasion get a phone call being lifted out of it for something that had gone wrong with a delivery or a product defect. I would always start the conversation with calm down tell me what it is & I will fix it. Generally I would, it might take a courier to collect from another branch around the country, or if it was in Dublin I would go get it myself. There had been occasions that he was overcharged, I investigated & gave him the credit immediately, in fact I sometimes gave him more if I found more while investigating the first query. I always found that you can not always get it right in a large company, but when it went wrong deal put your hand up & deal with the issues immediately. It was down to great customer services that he stuck with us as we sold in a very competitive market. Ironically when I was made redundant he called me and wanted to close the account. I suguested that he did not and look after his own business which he was still driving it forward. I passed the account onto a good friend in the company & asked him to follow my lead on customer service. We still keep in touch today.
I also remember attending a funeral of a customer who's father had passed away. We did have the occasional spat over the account falling into arrears but had great respect for each other. I went over to him at the funeral & we embraced. He thanked me for coming & he said in business you have relationships, thats what business was about. People buy from people not companies. He was so right.
Regards,
BIP / SO'D
Good stuff Stephen.
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