As entrepreneurs we know IT will hit the fan every once in awhile. But if we take responsibility and be honest with our clients we can avoid making the situation worse and gain our clients respect as well.
What do many companies do when they have an unexpected problem that arises that negatively affects their clients? They hide. They cover it up. They blame it on their suppliers. They blame it on the weather.
Let me take you back to 2007. I remember a two specific companies in which I was pleasantly surprised with their response to a difficult situation. JetBlue went from the darlings of the airlines that everyone loved to the airline to hate when they left people stranded on runways for up to 8 hours and 1,096 flights were cancelled. JetBlue's CEO David Neeleman didn't hide, didn't blame others or blame this on the weather, even though the Northeast was in the middle of a big snowstorm when it happened.
He stepped up to the plate and took responsibility for the problem and the inconvienence it caused his customers. He said “What I've learned about these situations is you come out and explain what happened, and explain what you're doing to make sure it never happens again. That's the right thing to do. If you try to hide stuff and twist the truth, you don't come across as credible. I decided to do this, and no one is telling me what to do.”
The other example was online marketer, Rich Schefren. He was supposed to deliver a live video feed of a new presentation, From Startup to Freedom, but ended up delivering an older presentation. I received an email from him titled My Confession, How I Screwed Up. In the email he explained that due to moving his business to a new office he was functioning on catnaps and Red Bull to deliver his weekend seminar. He and his staff made a decision to present the old material since he was already familiar with it, and in his current sleep deprived state he decided that he would not do justice to his new material. Again, Rich didn't hide, he simply told the facts of what his situation was and apologized for it and admitted that he was not proud of it.
As entrepreneurs we know IT is going to hit the fan every once in a while. But if we take responsibility and be honest with our clients we can avoid making the situation worse and gain our clients respect as well.
3 Ways to Sell With Confidence
I have a confession to make. I was a top salesperson since I was in 3rd grade. But when I started my own business, all of my sales skills seemed to vanish and I struggled to get new clients. Many business owners I work with have the same challenge. They are good at what they do – creating or delivering a product or service, but struggle with selling it. You may find that you have this same challenge – you wimp out on asking for the sale, you do too busy work instead of income generating activites, or you take objection as your final answer instead of asking for the sale agai
Do you have a CRM system or a SYSTEM for CRM That Gets You More Clients?
One of the questions I ask new clients is,” How is your CRM?” There are three responses I usually get: What is that?I use XYZ software.We follow-up with prospects once or twice and send Christmas cards or gifts.
Low Hanging Fruit
Are you looking for ways to get more clients? Increasesales? Well the answer may be right in front of your face.
