Turn Lemons into Lemonade, Sure... But Do You Go Out LOOKING for the Lemons?

by Ken Evoy, M.D.  (excerpted from his "Sales from the EDGE" e-zine)


Last issue, ...we covered the fine art of being your customer... Shortly after that, I received an extraordinary e-mail from a customer. Before I get into that letter, let me back up a bit. 

It turns out that Janice (adored wife who administers SiteSell and also tracks failed orders) had sent this e-mail to a customer who had trouble ordering...

Hi Paul,

I noticed that you had difficulty placing
your order overnight for Make Your Words
Sell!. It appears the server for our credit
card clearing company was down and for this
reason we could not process your order.
If you wish you may try again today as their
technical glitch appears to have been

I invite you to use our discount page since
you have already purchased a product from

I also noticed that you ordered Make Your
Knowledge Sell! without the discount. I will
refund 10% from the price you paid.

I thank you for your attempts to order MYWS!
and apologize for the bother.

Best regards,

I've cut out the special sig file that everyone uses when they e-mail customers, since we covered that in the last issue of the EDGE. But it was there. :-)

So what did Janice do? Sure, she picked up a failed order and encouraged the customer to try again, after being sure that the glitch was fixed. She's supposed to do that.

But then she went way above and beyond... She noticed that the customer had earlier incorrectly overpaid for a different product. She automatically credited the difference.

Would the customer ever have noticed? Not likely. If he had, would he have blamed us? No. So why bother? Because it's the natural thing to do, if you are totally consumed with your customer's well being. And that's the "takeaway lesson" here...

You, and every one in your company (including your spouse, if s/he's involved!), has to be infused with a passion for customer delight, not mere satisfaction. Not just your support staff, either...
        Your product development team.

You'll know you've got it when you go out of your way to find and fix problems. And you know what happens when you embrace this "delight your customers" attitude? Good things happen. Here's how Paul replied...

Ken; (With apologies to Janice)

For years, I was an out-of-print and rare

"So what?" You say. "What has that got to do
with me?" Everything...

You see, a bookdealer handles hundreds of
thousands of books. He learns a little about
a lot of things. Authors, titles, and
subjects, run through his hands, making
instant impressions and telling wondrous
stories in just a brief moment. Soon, he
develops the ability to "feel" greatness in a
single glance...to know, without question, he
holds a treasure of a lifetime...

That ability has never left me.

In all that I do, I'm a seeker of excellence.
Those rare times I find it -in any field-
make up for the vast illusions and imitations
that pass before my eyes. When I find it,
suddenly, the void is filled, the world is
new, and I say: "I'm not alone."

Ken, I'm a hard buyer. I pass up buying
products just because I don't like the
service. And it doesn't take much to shut me
down. I have probably lost out on some great
items because the marketing was offensive. I
have a trunk load of free ebooks on Internet
marketing; some are good, most are bad, a few
are just plain silly. You made me realize an
important truth:

Money is not an obstacle to buying. I will
pay whatever it takes, if the product is
first-rate, the marketing exciting and
motivating, and the service beyond

Ken, your marketing is hype. Brilliant hype I
might add. What sets it apart is the message
that rises from it when I consider its value.
You infuse your message with believability. I
trust you. You got me. Unlike that other
fellow <<Ken's note -- initials withheld>> who
tries to copy your style, (I never believed a
word HE said, ) there is honesty embedded in
the hype. I could tell. I fully expected you
to deliver on your promise.


Only those who experience the worst can
appreciate the best. And that makes all the
difference. Just from reading your marketing
message, I realize the many mistakes I made
in my website and email marketing. But I vow
this: I will follow your advice and commit to
its spirit.

So now to the matter at hand. I was a bit
annoyed at not being able to download your
last book. But here is the truth:

(So O.K., not really! But... you would have
gotten a phone call from me today to place
the order.)

Thank you, Ken, for your precious gift. No,
not for the content of your outstanding book,
nor its ridiculous price, or its devoted
attention to usefulness and service. Thank
you for your EXCELLENCE.

Paul Bynum
Paul R. Bynum-Director
Faucette School of Real Estate
Licensed by S.B.P.C.E. #003
Website: http://www.realestate-school.net

Did Janice win a customer for us? Nope. Seems he would have bought the next day anyway. (Of course, if this was a customer who was peeved, she certainly would have "won one.")

Did she make us any money? Actually, she cost us a few dollars (plus her time) in the short term.

Did she make a customer delighted? Absolutely.

And that, dear reader, results in a lifetime customer. One who'll tell several friends, who in turn will become lifetime customers. What Janice did does not show up in this quarter's P&L statement or balance sheet. But chalk up one more big asset
for SiteSell... a raving fan.

I happened to think about that incident because I'm reading an excellent book right now. Written by Ron Zemke and Tom Connellan, it's called "e-service"...
by Ron Zemke
ISBN: 0-8144-0606-8
In it, they state the obvious...

"Customer loyalty measured in repeat purchases and referrals is the key driver of profitability for online businesses."

But what's the key to "customer loyalty?" No, it's not customer satisfaction! They show some fascinating data that proves "satisfied customers" are "at risk" of defecting to competitors. In other words, mere satisfaction falls short.

The key is to delight the customer. Score 10 out of 10 on customer satisfaction surveys. Because loyalty, as measured by the likelihood of repeat business, shoots up exponentially among "highly satisfied" customers. So... delight your customers. 

But here's the critical point... Don't delight your customers because you'll make more money.

Yes, that *is* the end result. Only one problem though... you can't fake this. You have to build delight from the ground up. The foundation must be your attitude... Care. Be obsessed with your customer's success and happiness.

That attitude creates situations like the one above, over and over. Here's the twist, though...

This "ground up" approach has to come from the "top down."  The #1 person at your company must infuse everyone with this attitude. Or it simply sputters.

In the article at the URL just below, Dick Lee talks about "adopting customer-centric values" and "instilling customer-centric values throughout the organization"...

The author is a CRM consultant to large companies. Some firms literally spend hundreds of thousands on outside consultants and specialized software to manage customers. Yet most fail to develop customer delight (that's why you always see the same companies (ex., DELL) used as positive examples over and over). For example...

High-powered, super-expensive semi-intelligent software continues to spit back useless, off-target answers to customer questions. And that gets them mad.

Why? Why would big companies do that? Because the "ground up" has not been built from the "top down." There's no true commitment to the customer. If there were, someone would take the time to check what their customers are seeing, and how they're feeling about the responses they get. And why would they do that? Why should they do that? Because they care! Instead, they look for quick solutions to "handle the CRM issue. Hey, if it costs $100,000, we must care, right?"


Follow this simple advice... care. Soon, you'll be "looking for trouble." When that happens, you'll be ahead of those high-budgeted dotcoms. You'll be building lifetime customers who love what you do, and how you do it.

From the November 2, 2000 issue (#012) of
"Sales from the EDGE - Breaking Through the
"White Noise" Of Selling on the Net"
, by Ken
Evoy, M.D., of SiteSell.com Inc.  ("Sales from the
is sent only to SiteSell product owners.)



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