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Outrun The Bear

8 No Cost Techiques

Outrun The Bear: Two men are being chased by a bear in the woods. As the bear is gaining on them, one of the men stops and begins to put on a pair of running shoes. The second man stops beside him and says

“The bear is too fast for us. You don’t think those running shoes will help you outrun the bear do you?” The first man replies, “All I have to do is outrun you.”

Fortunately for you, because of the lack of service provided by most sellers today, so many sellers do the exact wrong thing in decreasing service when the economy is slow. Now is a great time to win new customers and sell more products and services and sell them more often to your present customers. Like the man trying to escape from the Bear, you do not have to be perfect; all you have to do is be better than your competition.

8 No Cost Techniques That Will Help You Outrun The Bear

  1. Return telephone calls within the hour of receiving them. Jupiter Media Metrix survey: 57% of customers polled said response time to their customer service inquires would affect their decision.
  2. Make follow-up calls 12 hours after the sale:
    • Just in case the customer has a question or problem, you will have them telling you, not 10 of their friends.
    • A great time to sell add-on items.
    • A great time to ask for a referral to their colleagues and friends.
    • A great time to sell them additional goods and services.
  3. Send a Thank You Card 24 hours after the sale.
    You will surprise and delight your customer with this relationship establishing technique. Very few of your competition are sending thank you cards.Everyone loves receiving them. Thank you cards help you to be remembered when a buying decision is to be made in the future.
  4. Make sure you and everyone in your business understands the customer is the Boss.
    “There is only one boss: The customer. And he can fire everybody in the company, from the chairman on down, simply by spending his money somewhere else.” -Sam Walton, Founder of Wal-Mart
  5. Deliver what you promise. People would rather buy from people they trust than people they like.
  6. Make it easy for your customers to understand the benefits you offer.
    Feature: The item and parts your product / service is made up of.
    Benefits: What the features do for the customers.
    Example: The large tub of a super capacity washing machine is the feature.
    A benefit is: The consumer is able to save time and money by laundering more clothes at once.
  7. Concentrate on telling your customers the results they will receive from doing business with you.
    It is no longer good enough to just sell benefits. You must give your customers a complete understanding of what is in it for them, what the end result will be for them when they do business with you. If you just tell the customer the washing machine has a super capacity tub they will never see the benefit. You must take the next step and tell them what they will gain by purchasing the machine with the large super capacity from you.
  8. Accept all responsibility for customer problems. The customer is never wrong. # 1 Rule in selling: The one who solves the customer’s problems the easiest for them will get the sale. From the book Join The Profit Club Whenever the customer feels they are wrong, they will no longer be your customer because they will go to your competition and no longer be your customer.

To outrun the Bear, you do not have to be an Olympic champion. All you have to do is out service your competition.

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