MARKETING TIPS 



10 Steps to Becoming Customer Friendly 



Tina Sawtelle 



For some of you, it's check-up time! Winter meeting enthusiasts should use the 

 following steps as a review and as a check list for following your progress. Other 

 owners and managers should let these steps guide you in developing and 

 maintaining a super customer service plan for 1992! 



□ 1. Decide that your customers are the most important people. Your 

 customers are the lifeblood of your business. Without them you need not worry 

 about any other part of your business. 



^ 2. Plan your marketing goals toward the winning and keeping of customers. 

 You must get satisfaction from helping customers derive happiness and enjoyment 

 from the products you sell. Satisfying your customers needs is what gives you the 

 right to earn a profit on the items you sell. By satisfying your customers, you 

 benefit through greater sales and profits. Remind yourself of the value of your 

 current customers. It takes a lot of marketing dollars to attract a new customer so 

 once you've attracted them, service them and cultivate them continually. 

 Through their repeat business and positive recommendations, you have increased 

 your chance of success. 



n 3. Understand your customers ♦ Customers come to you with needs. Fill 

 them. ♦ Customers do not want to argue. ♦ They are offering you the 

 opportunity to service them. ♦ They are not an interruption. ♦ They can go 

 somewhere else. ♦ They want a nice relationship. ♦ They expect to find what 

 you have advertised. ♦ They don't mind paying money for quality. ♦ They need 

 you to service them well. 



D 4. Do you definitively know how your employees are treating each one of 

 your customers? If you do, are they treating them in a way that you like and are 

 they consistent with every customer? If you don't know for sure, implement 

 training immediately. 



□ 5. Train your staff. Hiring people without training them is a serious mistake. 

 Plan today to have customer service training sessions and periodic refresher 

 meetings. It does not matter if you have 1 or 20 employees. Take the time to 

 train! Train employees that there are no unimportant customers. 



n 6. Build a desire in your employees to be the best they can be. This means 

 the best successful individual they can be. Find enjoyment in your work. 

 Enjoyment is contagious and picked up by your employees and your customers. 

 Good management reaches the best in people and brings it to the surface. 

 n 7. Think like a customer. Be objective about your business through customer 

 eyes. Think about all the experiences good and bad you've had as a customer and 

 relate them to your business. Analyze your competitors' service. Play customer 

 with your employees and raise questions to them that may be asked by your 

 customers. Show interest in your customers' complaints and let them know 

 exactly what you plan to do for them. Ask your customers if they were serviced 

 well and ask them if there are any further services you could offer them. Get 

 feedback and input from your employees. Ask them to write down customer 

 questions and pass them on to other staff so everyone can be fully prepared. 



□ 8. Have a clear recourse policy. Write it down! Be sure your employees 

 understand it. Customers do not want to hear from an employee that he cannot 

 assist with the problem because the manager is out. Train your staff to take 

 responsibility and authority to handle these situations and let them! 



□ 9. Write yourself a contract. Make a commitment with yourself to improve 

 your customer service for 1992. Write down each step you plan to take and assign 

 a completion date to each step. You must follow through. 



□ 10. Summary. We must continually grow more efficient and find new and 

 better ways of being of service. We must communicate our values to our 

 employees. And, to be successful, we must follow through with persistent action. 



Tina Sawtelle, principal of Sawtelle Marketing Associates, consults with c^ricukural 

 direct retail businesses on marketing and merchcahdising. In addition, she teaches 

 agricultural business management techniques ax the UhlH Thompson School. 

 For more information, callherat (603) 659-8/06. ^ 



Let 



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Call the experts at Rough Brothers 



for information and technical 



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Manufacturers of: 

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■ Harvest House 



■ The "21 00" gutter-connected house 



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Distributors of: 



• Alcoa Aluminum Fin Heating 



• Heating and ventilating equipment 



• Maintenance supplies, glass, parts 



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Rough Brothers 



P.O. Box 16010 



Cincinnati, Ohio 45216 



rrm 



ROUGH 



BROT HERS 



I 1 



1-800/543-7351 



February/March 1992 25 



