I wrote briefly in my last post about Knock Out Customer Service Rule #5. It probably borders on blasphemy to many salespeople and sales managers out there. But know this: Copernicus was attacked by the church for his theory that the earth rotates around the sun, and we all know how that turned out!

Rule #5 states: “You’re better off talking a customer out of a sale if you know the purchase may not be right for them”.

I’ll try to keep this explanation less than book-length and as basic as I can. It will give you the you the gist of the thinking process.

During my 38 years experience in retail sales, I came to realize that the less you know about your product, the more persuasion you must use to make sales. Persuade here is defined in Websters New World College Dictionary thusly: to cause to do something by reasoning, urging or inducement; prevail upon. Doesn’t sound so cool when you know the meaning of the word. Anyway, the more you need to “persuade” in sales the more the chance of buyers remorse later. We all learn that customers make most of their buying decisions based on emotions and rationalize those decisions later. But when they’re in that emotional state, they are susceptible to persuasion be that to their benefit or not. If that persuasion isn’t entirely honest, they will many times leave with a purchase that isn’t really right for them. Later, when the logic sets in and they realize they’ve made a mistake, they get upset. And now the fun begins!

Whether they are at fault for that decision or you are at fault, guess who gets the blame? If that customer returns to your business to get an adjustment you now have to go through the process of satisfying them all over again but this time it won’t be so easy. The one emotion you can’t manipulate is anger. If you see where I’m going here, you’ll realize that you’re much better off by preventing this from happening in the first place.

Keep in mind that what I am talking about here doesn’t apply to all customers. There are many customers who know what they want, walk in the door, plunk down their cash and go merrily on their way. But it does apply to the ones that cause many of your customer service problems. These are the ones that can and sometimes will spread bad word of mouth if not handled properly. Bad word of mouth in today’s world multiplies exponentially.

In my career, I’ve had many occasions when I knew the customer didn’t sufficiently understand the product they wanted to buy. I knew in my gut that they might not be happy if they made the purchase with their current understanding of it. If they walked out the door with that purchase the odds were high they would return with it. If it was returned in used condition it made an adjustment very, very expensive.

Excellent customer service was absolutely top priority in our store. We valued our customers and went to great lengths to assure they were satisfied. Even if they were totally at fault for buying something that wasn’t right for them. I realized early that being honest and transparent with customers and being certain they understood what they were buying, and that it would solve their problem, was definitely the least costly road to take in the long run. So I would make sure they understood the product and I would tell them if I didn’t think it was right for them. Guess what? Our return rates were cut way down and the overall cost of handling the used returns dropped dramatically.

It was a scary selling technique to try at first but I knew in my gut it was the thing to do. I closed my eyes shut and jumped off the diving board. In other words, sometimes improving your customer service (helping customers), doesn’t require surveys, discussion groups and complicated analysis. Street smarts and some common sense can sometimes take you a long way toward improvement. Customer service never will be an exact science. Don’t waste money trying to make it exact.

Here’s the big bonus we got for implementing this new philosophy!

Many, if not all of those customers we may have talked out of buying, returned to our store. They actually would thank us for what we did to stop them from making a wrong decision. The best comment from them was when they would actually say ” you made yourself a customer”. Wow! How is that for counterintuitive selling? No sale; but we created a loyal customer! You won’t learn that at Wharton Business School!

•        No cute persuasion techniques
•        No dishonesty
•        No deception

Unadulterated customer service………helping the customer; caring about the customer.

Customer service done right doesn’t have to cost you much at all!