Service Is Your Most Important Product

You must understand the product that you are selling to be successful at selling it, no matter what it is. If I were to ask you right now what goods or services your business sells, how would you answer? You would think that there would be millions of possible ways to answer that question, depending on the exact nature of your company. And you would be wrong.

No matter what business you are in, one universal answer is applicable always. Your product is a solution which lead and will lead your customers to your door!

Your Product Is Customer Service!

Contrary to much of the world’s popular opinion, most customers frequent a certain establishment far more for the personal experience and service they can find there than for the actual product it provides. Problem-solving help and suggestions of possible products to meet their needs is equally as important to each person as the individual item itself that meets their particular need. An experienced sales person who is knowledgeable about all of their various products and product lines and what they do, and who can steer a potential customer in the right direction to solve their particular problem is invaluable to your business. Service in this case is far more important than the products you carry! Pleasant conversation and taking a personal interest in every person who walks through your door will go so much farther than any of the items you may choose to stock on your virtual or actual shelves. If this is not your current mode of operation, you should consider revising your service and sales plan.

Selling a product need not entail an intrusion into the life or a probing of the personal history of a customer. Instead, the primary goal of the seller should be to understand something about the mindset which motivated the customer to seek him or her out. Such an understanding may lead to the sale of a higher ticket item or a sense of empathy could produce a bargain for the buyer. It may also lead to the customer exiting the store with a sense of trust yet empty handed. Regardless of the immediate result, the seller will take a great step towards the creation of a long-term relationship with a customer which is built on a solid foundation of trust.

The point this section is trying to make is that your products are not the things you sell. Your company’s “product” is meeting the need that customers have when they come to your business. People don’t care too much about the features of the things you sell. They care about whether your business can meet all of their needs, including their emotional needs.

You can get a free copy of my latest ebook by clicking here: The 7 Keys To Business Marketing Success. Eric Menzies writes about Marketing And Customer Service at http://www.BizRave.com

- Eric Menzies