Monday, August 30, 2010

Clarify Cause & Effect with Users

Be sure your customers recognize the benefits that came from their purchases. With so much going on in their busy lives, the customer can too easily forget to give credit to a service or product for the benefits they obtained. And sales staff can too easily forget to hook the effect to the cause in the customer’s mind.
     Again, this oversight can be because sales staff are busy. But there’s another reason as well: Sales staff who are thoroughly familiar with how well a particular item produces benefits can take it for granted that the customer knows, too.
     Customers usually want specifications pre-purchase, but after making the purchase, they're usually seeking reassurance. So right after the purchase, tell the customer that they’ve made a good decision. Keep it general.
     Then when the customer returns to your store later or contacts you to place a telephone or ecommerce order, assume they are now ready to sample and to shop. Deliver a different sort of reassurance about their prior purchase: Emphasize cause and effect. Point out to them how what they obtained from you produced benefits important to them.
     Do you recall what they bought? If so, ask a question like, “How did you feel the evening after you had your last massage here?” or “How did that carpeting work out for you in your family room?”
     If you don’t recall the prior purchase and can’t promptly obtain the information from your customer database, start with, “What are some of your most recent purchases from us?” It’s better to assume the person is a prior customer and be wrong than to assume the person has never shopped with you before and insult a loyal client.
  • If the customer was displeased with the product, make it right with an exchange or a refund.
  • If the customer has trouble coming up with benefits, say, “Here are some of the benefits I’ve heard other users talk about….”
  • Then when the customer tells you the benefits, say something in the format, “I’m pleased that your purchase of [the product or service] resulted in [one or two of the benefits that seem to be most important to the customer].”
Click below for more:
Use Partitioned Pricing to Highlight Benefits
Ask Shoppers to Imagine Usage Benefits
Sell Benefits to Fit Shoppers’ Values
Answer Customer Questions with Enthusiasm

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