- 04 February 2002
Quote of the week:
- "We have moved from a world where the big eat the small to where the
fast eat the slow."–
Klaus Schwab.
Book of the week:
- Runaway World – how globalisation is reshaping our lives. Authors:
Anthony Giddens. Publisher: Profile Books. Anthony Giddens is the Director
of the London School of Economics, Britain’s leading contemporary social
thinker, and one of the world’s most influential academics. His book is
about global change and its impact on every aspect of our lives. Giddens
explores these changes covering Globalisation, Risk, Tradition, Family, and
Democracy.
-
http://newslettersonly.com/
Newsletters are one of the most powerful components of any marketing
strategy. This website offers a wealth of ideas and suggestions to help you
create an awe-inspiring newsletter that your clients will love you for.
This week’s customer service "Touchstone"
Honesty is very similar to pregnancy. It’s impossible to be a little bit
pregnant. Either you are, or you aren’t. Likewise, you’re either honest or
you’re not.
Sometimes people delude themselves by giving themselves permission to tell
‘white lies’. The dictionary describes a white lie as ‘harmless and
trivial’. But harmless and trivial as determined by who? White lies have a
tendency to expand and turn into shades of grey, which in turn become
barefaced lies. An example of this is a business manager or head of department
who says to a subordinate, "if so and so calls, tell them I am not
in". Whether they are aware of it or not, their very action is helping to
create a culture where the telling of lies is accepted as being okay.
In instances where someone doesn’t wish to take a call, simply tell the
caller that they are not presently taking calls. However, I would suggest that
occasions when incoming calls are turned away, be kept to an absolute minimum.
If rejecting the call is due to you not having completed some previously
undertaken commitment, then have the courage to face up to your caller and
tell them the truth. Hiding from reality is not only cowardly, it will
ultimately return to bite you on the bum.
Another problem with telling lies is that you have to have a very good
memory. The great thing about always telling the truth is that you only have
to remember one version of the truth, and that’s the truth itself.
Sometimes people say they didn’t tell someone the truth because they
wanted to protect their feelings. This is one of life's biggest cop-out
excuses. In 99% of cases, the only feelings being protected are your own.
Telling the truth often causes some short-term pain, however my experience is
that whilst people may not always want to hear the truth, they will at least
respect you for telling it.
Over enthusiastic sales people often make the mistake of stretching the
truth in order to get the sale. ‘Stocks are running low, so you’d better
buy today’, or ‘the price is due to go up tomorrow’ are just two
examples. Now if that is the truth, then by all means inform the customer of
this, but if it just a ploy, then don’t. Chances are that unless the
salesperson is real con artist, the customers will know that the salesperson
is lying anyway.
Telling the truth may cost you an occasional sale, but in the long run,
honesty is by far the best policy.
Until next week, many happy customer returns!
Graham Harvey APS
Next week: Be on time.
Watch out for Graham’s new book Seducing the Vigilante Customer – winning
strategies to guarantee the return of happy customers and healthy profits,
available in all good book stores in mid February.
Previous newsletters available at www.grahamharvey.com.au/Articles/
Please feel free to recommend "Touchstones" to your
family, friends and business colleagues. Tell them that their free
subscription is waiting for them at www.grahamharvey.com.au
|
