Customer Touchpoints

What are customer touchpoints?

What makes your business stand out from the rest?  What makes you as a sales person stand out so that both people and your client base trust you anyway?

 From a customers point of view ever business has product and costs. These are givens.  But why do they allow you in the door?  What makes them want to do business with you and keep coming back or referring your service to others?

What are the little things that make customers come back?

Pleasant decor.

• Is their somewhere for the client that has to wait on your time to log into the wi-fi service?  Can they make a cuppa?  Is the music so loud that they really have to go - now! Good lighting, pleasent smells. Clean restrooms.

Appropriate storage capacities.

• A mechanics shop that has a pile of everything everywhere would make people think that their car will be done ... when it is found... later.
• Where as a mechanic shop that has everything in it';s place and a place for everything gives the first impression of a faster more through service because of streamlining and time management aspects.
• A home business that has a well looked after frontage gives the illusion that the people inside care for their things.  Therefore they will care for your business - not spreading everything around for competitors to 'take'.

Extras that cost

• Hidden fees and unclear billing statements are not something that the customers have budgeted for.  After a delay in payment to you will they really be coming back?

Buzzworthy side effects of good touchpoints

First off when people actually get something that they were not expecting they will comment on it.  Maybe not to you, but word of mouth gets around through their friends.  Especially over the internet as many customers both research the products they want to purchase before purchasing.  When they find what they are looking for a 'share or like' may occur.  Then they will tell others about what they have purchased.  Word of mouth like this is quick and does your business well.  The reverse is also true.

Valuing the customers time and energy may be a little thing that you can 'show' your business cares about.  Having small chocolates individually rapped, or biscuits in their own wrapper placed next to the refreshment stand allows freedom of choice for the customer. Having an empty plate or container means that someone has not been keeping tabs on the freebee's. It really is the  little things are something that your customers value above and beyond the basic product that they came in to purchase.

How to find out what your customers are saying about you.

• Simply - ask them.  
• Listen to what the customers have to say.  Verbally as well as on the internet.
• Listen to on--line conversations with a # and your company name straight after the #.  Anything on-line within that servers platform will come up.  Get back to these customers quickly.  Rectify the problem before word of mouth becomes a viral backlash.
• Be easily found on the net.
• Engage with customers, and other people through the forums, microblogging and commenting on their comments or feeds.
• Create focus groups.
• be active within these focus groups.
• Being proactive and bringing up topics for conversation gets your business name [and your one too] seen on the top of peoples comments.
• Remain within your focus as this will give you and your customers the direction your business is in.
• Ground braking technology input when all someone really wants is to collect a cuppa and something to eat could and will put them off returning.

Customer touchpoints are not always obvious.  The touchpoints are sensory pleasures or displeasures.  When painful or just not there another brand fill the void.  Your potential customers will simply go there.

Just Sleeping on it.

There are few jobs where a lowering of social conscience is not accompanied by a lowering ethics.
Sharlyn Lauby writes a great short post that raises Sleep Deprivation and Ethics issues. Wikipedia states that sleep depreciation "adversely affects the brain and cognitive function."  While there is definite regonition that sleep deprecations is an impairment of ability factor and Amnesty International lists sleep as a form of torture just who is responsible for putting the pressure on, effectively Bulling someone into constantly being on the go while they are on call or actively meant to be in a working situation.

Think of being in a position where you initially stand your ground. You turn off both the machinery you operate and then yourself in order to get that nights sleep. Refreshed both you and the consumers can now use the machinery safety being a priority.  Then something alters.  You take on that extra job just to help out.  Some one wants a day off so you cover.  Gradually what was not normal before has become normal now. Just when the pre training takes precedence over an incident is up to not only the individual but the communities culture the individual enters into. Hence the reason why business are subjected to stronger law suits than the employee.  That is if the employee can obtain and pay for good council while paying the 'lawyers' waiting game. Often setting out of court then finding the life quality has diminished further as they are now known as whistle blowers.

At this point subjective behaviour steps in. Steven Brown states that: ...." the person's subjectivity as such constitutes an actual event which exists in it's own right and is measurable in it's own terms..." Behaviour and impairments being similar to the excess blood alcohol levels sometimes a break down of personal wellness is the trigger.

Through out our lives various behaviour programming occurs. Think about a foreigner to the cultural community you are in.  Say a foot baller attending a boxing match. Or a Vegan attending an event where sitting down to a roast meat meal or eggs and bacon breakfast is obligatory. What do they do? What would you do as the host, the guest next door or even the vegan themselves? Subliminal triggers are released causing judgement decisions to occur relating to the social conventions and poor risk analysis of the guest, the other guests, and the host.

Think of the professional people transporting driver who by convention must drive on the correct side of the road. The brain goes into overload a mini sleep occurs. Hopefully waking up before the accident happens.  Gets a fright . Adrenalin pumps into the system.  They get home and thank their lucky stars and God for another chance to see daylight, kiss their families and play with the dogs.  Then one day something else happens.  This time they realise that through lack of sleep, both drivers are needing an adrenalin fix to keep going. While one person is not transporting the other has picked up clients.  Really dangerous situation.  STOP.  Where are the ethics here?  Besides leaving what do they do, who can they report too?

The eventual effect of being lulled into these situations are depression, anxiety and stress conditions accompanied by guilt should injury or death occur to others. In these situations "...sleep deprecation has the same hazardous effects as being drunk. People who drove after being awake for 17 - 19 hours performed worse than those with a blood alcohol limit of 0.05percent."

Does ethics have a tangible as well as an intangible price tag.  The answer is yes.

Grab a concept.

Consider your companies views regarding the Internet, it's usage, leverage, belief and ethic systems all ready in place.

Before you charge on ahead, going where angels fear to tread, have a good understanding of exactly what the combination of the companies strategies and objects exactly are. Then look again the vision and mission statements just to be sure you are working within these guidelines. Study carefully the social media policy... or lack of one.

You know the what, the  where's and how too. This knowledge is of great worth to any company that uses it. However, by the 'self-value' not being understood even by yourself the effect lessons the other values - that your hard earned skills, certificates and experiences have all cost you to get.  Put your price on them. Work at not lowering what you have going for you.

I say this, as when you charge on ahead, out of this realm and falling into a danger zone of having no support, you will be overused, unsupported and frustrated... just to name a few.  There goes both your anxiety and stress levels off the measurable chart, taking with it your health and sapping your energy poor time management. Especially since there are so many variables to put into place [sites to use, information, research to gather, writers and other multimedia and techno savvy people to train and work as a team] just so the first post can flutter onto a web page.

If you are already heading this way... STOP. Sit back and reassess what and where you currently are.  Why you were heading that way?  Begin thinking out of the box just to get another point of view. Remember and action that fact that you are not a prisoner of work but a Person of Worth  [P.O.W]

Covers everything I think

Who said that? Where did that list come from?

Now prove it to me!

12 RULES FOR GETTING THE BEST OUT OF PEOPLE

Expect the best out of the people you lead. Make a through study out of other peoples needs. Establish high standards for excellence. Create an environment where failure is not fatal. If they are going anywhere near where you want to go, climb on other people's bandwagons. Employ models  to encourage success. Recognize and applaud achievement. Employ a mixture of positive and negative reinforcement. Appeal sparingly to the competitive urge. place a premium on collaboration. Build into the group an allowance for storms. Take steps to keep your own motivation high.

Found this when visiting a forgotten site. 

The hook, link and sinker effect.

As a sales person learns, practices and uses the techniques shown to them through a combination of the in-house training, the private and sales experiences, reading, an awareness of just how far that sales person has travelled  becomes apparent to them. This is especially so when they then observe someone that they too have mentored mentoring a new sales person. The effect of a good mentor is that they cause ripples of interest to become tsunamis with sales climbing and experiences growing.

Like a well presented cloak, the experiences are woven into the materials threads. This results in the three way strengthening of the sales structures.  A sales person is a channel between their company and the client. The cloak of sales experience holds together that three way interaction process which occurs through the development of an interactive 'common' knowledge base, customer interactions, natural decision inputs and shared understandings. Even when the client themselves has not recognised those needs now dealt with the interaction is still occuring.

While a common basis is formed [from trust, repetition, and good standing has been developed] the simulation of shared base of images is triggered. At times during the sales persons 'off time' the client will approach by themselves, through another person or with another prospective client, then casually mention something that has been bothering them.  Word of mouth and referrals are powerful trust mechanisms.  Follow through on them or your client is made to feel foolish.

Since your client has already taken the bait long ago, he literally has been swimming around in circles waiting a trigger in order for him to stop swimming, give a yank for help so the sales person can real him in.  Some external and unexpected thing may have triggered the clients needs causing the client tot jump out the water and into the sales persons well positioned safety net!

Important note: Deal with the follow up, close the sale, unhook the fish at the mouth and let him go.  Oh and did I forget to mention you, the sales person has transferred the client from the wild sea into your own fish tank!

To care for transferred fish means that the sales persons team feed them regularly, interact when and where possible, do not swim in the tank, clean the tank when needed. 

Rescuers complex.

In the beginning the client had a concrete set of images in their mind.  The sales person job is much like a lawyers. The client is like the jury members both waiting and needing to be swayed.

Through the use of  multi-media animation built up from photographs and videos that superimpose a graphic image into the mind of the client the animation gives the client a clear illustration of both the current situation and

• what may occur without your companies intervention, products or a design change.
• what might have actually happened. 

Either way the client goes the sales person follows up with a lead that takes the client through the opportunity door.

Just to practice 

1. Choose a picture from the newspaper. 
2. Draw a ring around some thing that may not be right, could go wrong or looks better with your product there.
3. Attach the picture to the reflective glass or an actual mirror surface you are standing in front of. 
4. Look into your eyes and practice saying out loud 

                               "Of course with these products this has changed, that would have been different, cost

                                factors verses compensation or insurance damages.... "

How would you feel when someone points out little things that leave niggling doubts. Now  that sales person sends you information to help you. Ahh! the rescuers complex in action.  

Close the sale now. Make a follow up date - to be confirmed of course. Move on to the next appointment. 

That paperwork again!

• Paper work is important, be it through pen on paper or multi media means. Channelling the correct paper work through the parties involved keeps communication up front and moving on. Keep your finger on the pulse here through tracking the information as it goes through the organisation you are representing.
• Reports are a two way means of keeping everyone informed.
• Updating the journal and diary entries you keep. 
• Filling out the surveys.
• Reading newspapers, the net, and stream lined emails will assist in keeping you ahead or just on top of what is happening. The possibilities are endless so act on them yourself or through contacting your head salesman or other appropriate person.

• Today the use of multi media is prevalent.  Should things ever go to court what bis actually written in hard copy stands up in court. Anything else is an opportunity for fraud as it can be electronically tampered with or whipped out in a instant. Yes the disks may be unscrambled... at whose cost?.

What time was that?

Were you late, barging in through a busy sales time, did you talk too long, waste to much time?

Waste time you loose the opportunity, waste time management skills and literally kill the opportunity of furthing that lead while nullifying the request for a referral. 

Your appearance

Your dress code, demeanour, posture, the presence you radiated? Was what you were carrying, clean cut, crisp and well presented?

Courtesy, manners and politeness.

Little things that speak volumes. Once you are in sales your whole scope of activities are under review on and off the job. Any weakness within these will catch you unaware.  Your client will know even on a subconscious level that there was a weakness there.  

It's happened. The emotions come. Capture the moment.

Imagine this:
There has been a robbery, arson attack, serious bodily harm been done.  The culprits have not been caught.

Now there is:  an Event===> arousal===> reasoning===> emotion.

Either once an event has occurred, or when it is about to occur, sales people go to the area to capture the two-factor theory of emotion and put it into action. The harvest is the sales and thus the sales persons commission.
Yearly there are celebrations on the calendar.  Corporations and manufactures compliment the use of sales people with the emotional pulls the subconsciousness cognitive act of 'missing out' to lever up the sales. Effectively the more sales the greater pulses the economic cycle has injected into it. The more everyone benefits.

People or business who buy early must buy well.  The fashion may change or an updated product will hit the self.  Sales people go back and take the next order. Neither the client, nor their clients want to miss out as the money cycle flows. The clients know this but still they events confirm their conclusions.

A good sales line is something like  " If you are feeling a bit vulnerable after the last rise in thefts from your store and are excited by what this camera can do for you then..." Close the sale now.

Where do I sign.

When people are swayed to change their habits, ideas or principles, something has occurred to trigger this action flow.  Often people sow seeds that make another person uncomfortable, causing inner turmoil or conflict. When this sowing is done with positive regard for the other persons situation the result is called "Cognitive Dissonance".

People that have good sales technique often use cognitive dissonance as a central component to many forms of persuasion.  The challenge of changing beliefs, values, attitudes and behaviours of the client starts when the sales person knows their product, but listens to what the client is actually asking for.  The sales person then tailors what they have to offer into what the client wishes to hear.

Dissonance basically means holding two conflicting thoughts at the same time. By the sales person fully listening to the client, then tailor making their presentation to meet the needs analysis 'he' has done as the client has explained their situation, the sales person has just done three very important steps.

Where are the tomato plants

1. The sales person has got the client to explain why they actually want the product that the sales person is selling.
2. The client passively wants it but is also trying to self explain away the fears from not having it.
3. Now the clients inability to rationalize and explain the conflict between wanting and not having it causes a need for the void to be filled. 

In effect the client has just tilled the soil, fertilized it, grabbed a hand full of seeds and is in the process of sowing those seeds.  The sales person just has to assist the client with the choice of seeds or transplanting actual plants for a quicker harvest time.

At this point the client has had to

1. Change their behaviours from a 'no' situation to a 'I must have' situation. Using the seed situation the client has gone from believing the soil would benefit from being left alone for another year, into planting cheery tomatoes.
2. Needs to justify their behaviour by changing the conflicting cognition. Cherry tomatoes are more productive than asparagus as the crop will be more immediate.
3. Then the client will justify their behaviour by adding new cognitions. Next year I will companion plant with...

In effect, what has happened is that the client has just talked themselves into signing on the bottom line.

Exit with appreciated thanks

Are you scared of making yourself to raw or of having your trust smashed? What happens when you refer someone on  and there is a much up.  Things just did not work out, ended up messy, with painful repercussions and complicated outcomes?

When  a salesperson approaches someone in the visited building that salesman is asking the other person to represent them. In effect to trust them, make a complimentary judgement and then refer them higher up. Your network of people has increased.  The referrer has opened the door to you.  All this work so why would you want to have it slammed behind you?

That same salesman wants, and needs, to make a good impression in order to better the commission chance - correct?

Here is the crunch. Often people approach someone , they refer them on, consequently the referrer gts trampled on if the sales person attitude rubs the boss the wrong way, or simply offers a good product at the wrong time.

As the sales person disappears out the door the referrer does not even get a good bye or a thank you.

Take time to make a good impression on the way in.  remember that it is not the way in you are remembered for but your exit.  Spend that time personally saying your thanks.  Leave the referer a card as a complimentary thank you please remember me ticket into your  next call back.  The time you spend leaving the place you have enetered makes for a more relaxed acceptance for when you do a follow up.  The relaxed attmosphere rather than the chilled 'over there' nod has already marked you in their bosses eyes.

Thirty seconds spend in acknowldegement when leaving gains you miles and minutes when you finally pitch your wears to the boss.

Interacting and communicating with others

Having gained, practised and put into place effective people skills takes time, commitment and effort. Interacting with your business, employment or those who are you target audience challenges and expands these skills still further. Using these skills to communicate with people, while they in turn have a base to form trust from, is a method successful used effective sales people.

To the point - to gain successful sales means that the sales person has to use effective people skills, backed up through supported decision making processes. Backing management allows the new sales person to reach a decision on their own, implement that decision, take responsibility for the outcomes from that decision, move forward having learned from the actions and counter reactions.

 Primarily for the sales person to obtain the help that enables them to further develop confidence, communicate well and establish a rapport with other people, an initial stepping stone should be implemented. This could be as simple as using the introductory and handshake phase to garner the control of the situation. to have this control stabilised and past through to others the whole time you are their selling.

Once the people skills go up, the sales go up. Confidence is given by both parties. People like the way business is handled.  They become relaxed. The people skills go up to a new bench mark level.

Way to go

Cowardice is a form of In-built self-defence. The energy spent by not raising to meet new benchmarks every day of our lives, sucks our potentials away until there is nothing left, but a husk of our former selves. So be reflective, make adjustments but get out there and expand your comfort zone.

Recently I was in dialogue with a few members of our direct management team.  Having a list of what was actually holding up the inward money flow was an important step. The list was a tangible face facts mission statement.  Laid out for all of us to see.  Now action could be taken.  Importantly responsibility for that action was also both acknowledged and given.  Sounds strange one would say.  But if the upper management will not divulge some aspect that places all the pieces together, then others on the team  have difficulty fighting through the floss of what actually needs doing.

• Action one: Related to name changes of business. Owners only could do this.
• Action two: Update and sort out the financial aspects of the books.  Owners, accountant and book keeper to achieve this.
• Action three: Lay out the five year plan for the business. Owners to have major input.  Each person within the business circle to add their contributions to the main projections of goals. My field here was to connect  all the pieces and on sell the ideas as they emerged from concept to a marketable time management program.
• Action four: Public Relations development  - primarily my field. With the business teams skills/ talents/ dreams and desires lists a future development pathway has be pencilled out. 
• Action five: Develop the teams to active these goals.

Although all of us had actions, none of us could effectively do anything, unless we communicated to work together, cognitively was hampered. Then with cohesive working ability got out there and made it happen.

It is happening

A "two sides of the coin" concept.

Willpower is a term for helping us grasp an intangible concept. A concept that all through lives people can be trained in, while training and exercising their brain to daily strengthen the willpower which prompts healthy life choices.

Another intangible concept is hindsight. Although hindsight is supposed to bring wisdom often the knowledge gained being released once it is too late for the first protective offensive.  Bad habits then need to be broken.  Our minds, bodies, families and peers retrained enabling the 'us' to stay on track and reach for the new foundation goals.

This being said how does one gain a functioning, resourceful, thinking on feet sales team?  One that pushes their subliminal limits, over comes hurdles at a mear thought and charges in where angles fear to tread??



References:
Luminosity
The Sydney Morning Herald

Step 1 with business communication building structures

Communication begins at home right?

Replace the word home with "business". Now choose one or more of the following add ons:

• Between the others and you <-> you and the others.
• Between yourself and what you want <-> what you want and what the others need you to do.

The third one is : What you want to do <-> what your body limits are !

Take three pieces of paper strips. label them as above.

Place the  <-> above each other, while the "arms" form a six pronged star.

The star is actually a six forked communication process that meets up through a central point. To have balanced energy flow the 'energy' must always be able to flow from one side to the other and back again continuously in harmony. Back a forward.

 Sometimes the amount of pressure the incoming arm exerts on the meeting point may block up and try to force a blow out or take over of the focal meeting point.  Should this happen the equilibrium of the six armed communication meeting point is thrown out of balance. 

Imagine a person who begins work for what ever the reasons are. In the beginning all three communication junctions are functioning evenly. Energy comes.  Energy flows through the other arms interchanging with energy from the other arms.  Harmonious. 

Both the person, and those around them, are able to communicate. Knowledge and skills are passed on and freely swapped.  The business prospers.

Over time the communication from one arm is either choked off or blocked off.  The arm becomes  toxic. Effecitively communication gangreen sets in.  The wellness balance is affected. No one knows what is happening, what needs to happen and why it is happening.

In an ideal world this point would not be reached.  people leave, contacts and contracts being to vanish. tensions rise. the blame game occurs.  No matter what way it is seen the situation fast destructs into a Lose / Lose situation.

To begin to rectify this situation watch what is happening.  Now Is what is happening process falling within the business or project charter? 

• Collect data. 
• Create a needs analysis from what you see happening.
• Compare what is happening to the benchmarks set out in the business / project charter.
• The part [gray area] between what is happening and what is desired to happen is the focus of the needs analysis.
• Draw up a needs analysis. 
• Ask for help with this project.

When people start to come on board the attitude will change.  Be warned it is a long road to get to the end.  However the journey with many people travelling in the same direction is usually fun, fulfilling and very rewarding.

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5 points... there they are

• Be creative.
• Use Social Media
• with Persistence
• add Social Networking
• repeat the lot again

There you have the how to's in five dot points.

4 steps for a get 'there' goal.

The need is to directly communicate with others to achieve a goal.

Sometimes the awareness of the following dot point list is jumbled at best. Meaning the sequence of events may be repeated often until another step is moved through.

• Become aware that there is a potential negative aspect of work in progress.
• Complete a needs analysis
• Use the vision and mission as a support guide line.
• Work out strategies designed which enable the objectives to come within the guide lines. 

Our get there goal is to have a stall at the 2011 Traralgon Show.

Keep posted... just subscribe!!

POW

I have realised that I am a W.O.W.  This is good.

But there is something bigger than a W.O.W.

That is a P.O.W.  That is a Person of Worth.

Are you one too?

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