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Okay, most of us care waaaayyyy too much about what others think, I know I do. We worry about what our boss thinks, the people at the gym think, the people on the street think, etc.
When it comes to worrying about what others think, there is only one group you need concern yourself with: your closest friends and family. Your closest friends and family are your support group, they are the people that help you along the way, that encourage and inspire you and thus it is important to be open to their feedback and oppinions.
IMPORTANT NOTE: This does not include negative friends and family who always have a negative for your positive, or who try to knock you down whenever they get a chance. These people are NOT your support group.
You know who the positive, supportive people are and these are the people you want feedback from. These people are not always easy to find and you may not have a ton of them in your life. You may want to seek some people out.
There's an easy test you can use to find out who is with you. Simply tell the person your goals and dreams. Those that are with you will be supportive of ANYTHING you set out to do. You can tell these people you wish to climb Mt. Everest, write a 1000 page book, run 7 marathons in 7 days, and swim the Atlantic Ocean, and they will look at you wide-eyed and excited and say something like, "Wow! That sounds great! I know you'll do it, let me know if there is anything I can do to help you." Typically these people will believe as much or more in you than you believe in yourself.
The bottom line: The only opinions that truly matter are the opinions of the people who truly care about AND SUPPORT your dreams. Don't concern yourself with the opinions of the people on the street or negative naysayers.
This post ties in with my last one about bad customer service.
Last Friday Night I was driving by a used car lot and noticed a woman with a sign. The big yellow sign, about 3 feet x 3 feet, said, "Don't waste your money buying a car here." Of course I couldn't help it, I had to pull over and ask what the story was. At first she was a little suspect thinking that perhaps I knew the owner or something. I explained to her that I do sales and customer service training. She then proceeded to tell me how she bought a real "lemon" at the car lot, how the owner of the car lot completely misrepresented the car, and she was now determined to save as many people as possible from this shyster.
What's interesting is that when a customer gets what they expect from a business, that person will usually not tell anyone about the experience. When a customer gets more than they expect, they will tell an average of 4 people. And when a customer gets less than they expect, they will tell an average of 24 people. This is a perfect example of that. Think of what that car dealer, or any other business for that matter, would have had to do to get a happy customer to stand outside with a sign praising or endorsing the business.
The bottom line: Nothing motivates people like pain. While it's true that you can't please all the people all the time, you have to do your best to satisfy customers and to right any wrongs. One dissatisfied customer can add up to a ton of bad publicity.
For Mother's Day we went to one of my favorite restaurants - Dino's in Worcester. I love the place, but we had a REALLY bad experience. We had reservations, were there on time, ordered our meals and got served 1 hour and 20 minutes later. Ouch! The people who showed up at the next table at the same time we did, got their bill before we got served. Double ouch!
The waitress apologized several times and gave us an excuse. She said they had a party of 30 downstairs who arrived just before us. Hm, not sure how they got in before the people at the table next to us as we walked in at the same time but the bottom line is: their problems aren't our problems. We didn't care what the excuse was, we just wanted our food.
What's also interesting is that the owner, who usually goes to each table to asks how their experience is, didn't come to our table. At the end of the meal, we requested the owner. We got his wife, who is arguably part owner but, she has never gone around to the tables before and we had seen the owner going to the other tables. In any case, I explained we had been coming to that restaurant for about 25 years. I also mentioned I'm there about once every 3 weeks and the woman acknowledged recognizing me. I then explained the situation. Her response? "I'm sorry, I cannot apologize enough. I wish I had known sooner." I know, I should have asked, "What if you had known sooner." but I didn't. We all sat there and looked at her waiting to see what else she was going to say. She said nothing else. She apologized 2 more times as we left.
As we were leaving, a lot of people were waiting, we over heard one of them say, "Wow, how many more excuses are they going to give us for why they can't seat us yet?" A bad day all the way around.
Incidentally, this restaurant has been around for MANY years, not sure how many but again, we've been going there for 25 years, so my guess is 30 years or more. This is not their first Mother's Day. They knew how many people had reservations. My guess is they didn't have enough people to cover because they've cut back due to the economy. Well, they will lose future business, and the economy with have absolutely nothing to do with it.
The bottom line: No one's perfect, everyone makes mistakes. As ticked off as we were, we simply wanted the acknowledgement and some consideration. What would it have taken? A gift certificate. Amount? 20 dollars definitely would have done it. I spend more than that on take out and now I'm not sure I'm going back again. One thing I do know is that I'm not going back for a while. They should have acknowledged the mistake, apologized, asked what it would have taken to make us happy, and then they should have made it happen.
Do you have a dog? Do you know someone with a dog? Hopefully you answered "yes" to at least one of those questions, but this next question is the most important... How does a dog you know react when it sees you? Right, it jumps all over you, tries to lick your face, etc., etc. Even if it has only been 2 minutes since you've seen the dog, same reaction.
You want to be this happy to see your customers. Okay, don't jump all over them or try to lick their face, depending upon the type of relationship you have, :I but be VERY happy to see them. You want to be present and very interested in them. When they are in front of you, act as if they are your only concern on the planet.
The bottom line: Let your customers know you are happy to see them and there to help in any way you can. Make sure they know you appreciate them and their business.
I forget who it was who said that ninety percent of life is simply showing up, or something like that, but that saying applies to sales, specifically it applies to persistence in sales.
Now I'm not telling you to be a pest and show up on someone's doorstep again, and again, and again when they aren't interested or don't need what you have. What I am telling you is that you need to continue to show up, follow up, and continue to stay in touch with people. I occasionally come across salespeople who have a lead, call the lead, don't get a call back, and assume the person isn't interested and never call again. Also, if you have a set number of accounts, say 100 in your territory, you have to continue to call on the competitive accounts and continue to ask for an opportunity at the business. All that being said, you don't want to chase dead leads and try to get blood from a stone, you also don't want to spend too much time on a particular lead that may only minimally affect your business if you do get the business. That being said, when you know there is a need and the person has the means to get that need filled through you, you want to continue to "show up."
The bottom line: Keep calling, keep persisting, keep showing up. If you continue to push forward with pleasant persistence and let people know you care about and want their business, eventually most will give you a shot.
