Happy Wednesday!Today I’m going to share with you a little bit about my experiences and what I’ve heard on my travels.
Quite often I hear “Sell it and Forget it!” in several stores throughout my travels. That is a good attitude to have if you have the best products available or if the customer clearly understands the product(s) they have purchased with you. Unfortunately, that is not always the case. It is exciting, intimidating and downright scary purchasing a ‘new’ vehicle these days.
If your dealership does not have a service department someone else will be looking after your customers therefore I ask yourself these questions: Do you believe your customers should have the protection they require and who has their best interests at heart? Customers usually don’t come back and say thank you for selling me “product” but it just didn’t cover me and I want to repurchase again with you - they just don’t come back at all! There are so many choices both in the vehicle market and again in the product market that it is hard to determine what suits whose needs? If you are not forthright in explaining clearly to customers their purchase they will find out eventually and if it isn’t satisfactory news who will it affect? Have you ever thought how many people direct and indirect know each other? This could really hurt your business and reputation in the future. The initial sale isn’t always the one that matters. Repeat and great service is what brings your customers back and will result in referrals. The initial sale is often the hardest so why work so hard and then loose your customer by not giving them something that fits their needs.
Everyone has purchased a product at some point during their life that was not what they initially thought it was. Do you think they bought it again or think they went to one of your competitors? In most cases the competitor! I remember purchasing a game for our PlayStation for our kids for Christmas one year. It was on sale one month before Christmas therefore I purchased it at the time. When the kids received the game and played it for a few weeks it wasn’t working properly and I decided to try to exchange/return the game. I was told that I was past the 30-day return policy and there was nothing they could do. I then asked if there anyone that might make a suggestion how to fix or what my next step should be? I was again told “Sorry we cannot do anything”. At this point I asked to speak to the Manager and was told “he cannot talk to you at this time” (even though he was in the back office where I could clearly see he was not busy). Their Team was happy when I spend $500 and a warranty purchased I couldn’t believe the change in attitude! That was 10 years ago and I can truthfully say that I have not entered that store to this day! To top it all there was no response to my email. Was it the Sales Agent’s fault? No, It was simple their motto was “Sell it and Forget it! And the result as in most cases was: the loss of a loyal customer.
On a side note I went to another electronics store and it turned out the solution was simple! We had to have it reprogrammed with a simple online process. Guess who has my business now? We forget that we are dealing with a person sometimes it isn’t just about the paperwork and getting those numbers up. If you follow the process, offer the best you can I truly believe you will save more customers than you will lose. If it is the best, then most definitely you can “sell it and forget it”! If it is sold properly the customer will come back and repurchase all over again. There is nothing worse than seeing someone walking over to you with paperwork in hand and a stern look - you cannot tell me that you are about to feel good about this moment. My husband always says - “If I trust someone to give them their business - I trust the fact that they offer the best they can at the time”. Simply put.
I 100% stand by my products and promise to give you the best service each and every time! Have any questions about this? Just give me a call or send an email. I will gladly answer all of your questions.
Take Care,
Denise