Practice Random Acts of Kindness
posted: Friday, August 24, 2012
Everyone has seen the bumper sticker that says Practice Random Acts of Kindness, right? If you haven't, the phrase is pretty self explanatory. If we were just nicer to one another, this would be a much better world to live in, which is also true in the field of sales. Customer service is the lifeblood of any salesperson, but what is customer service really? It's nothing more than being kind to those around you, especially your customers.
I have certain places of businesses that I frequent simply because the salespeople are nice to me when I go into see them. There prices aren't any better and the quality of their product is not any better, but their humanity is much better. I am really not trying to get philosophical on you here; it's just a simple equation. We all want to feel welcome and like people are happy to see us, why would sales be any different?
On one of my eight thousand trips from the airport to the hotel, I was riding on a shuttle and there was only one other person on the bus. Actually two other people; it was a mom and her son who were on their way to Grandma's house, but the airline had lost their luggage. The child must have been 18 months or so and obviously still in diapers but the mom had packed all of the extra diapers in the luggage that was lost. As she is telling the driver this story, he looks at me and asks "Do you mind if we make a quick stop to help these two out?" I said not a problem and we stopped at the next drug store and the mom was able to get what she needed, and it was a much better ride for everyone.
The driver was under no obligation to do what he did but he was just being kind, which turned into some pretty amazing customer service. Now could he have done that if the van had been full? Maybe not, but that's not the point. Customer service is a lot of things and there are thousands of techniques, but in the end customer service is just about treating people the right way. If you do that, then an increase in sales is sure to follow.
FINAO - Brad Huisken
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