By the authors of Knowledge Leadership
The ThomasGroup
KL@TG: What Clients Love is a brilliant title. Why do you characterize the book as a "field guide"?
HB: First, thanks, because while I thought the title deserved an A for brevity, it flunked the "unexpected" test. It sounded a little ho-hum. It's called a field guide because, while it's based on sound theory, it's practical and not theoretical. It's meant to be used in the field.
KL@TG: For those who have not as yet read this book, what do clients love?
HB: They crave two feelings: comfort, and a sense of importance -- the feeling that they are valued. All of your efforts should focus on satisfying those two needs.
So clients love speed, in large part because your responsiveness to them suggests they are important to you. Clients love lawyers who return their calls promptly, for example; it may be the most important element in the entire lawyer-client relationship.
Your "apparent expertise" makes clients comfortable. They feel assured they are dealing with someone who can solve their problem. And affinity makes clients comfortable. If they feel similar to you, they feel they know who you are and how you will act.
Our key list is this: affinity, predictability, integrity, speed, apparent expertise, clarity, sacrifice, gratitude and welcome. It's hard to detail these without going to some length, and clients like brevity -- so for the sake of your clients reading this, I should stop here.
KL@TG: For decades, salespeople were trained to focus on functions, features, and benefits. Then the emphasis seemed to shift to interrogation skills (e.g. "SPIN selling") to determine a prospect's situation, and, to identify her or his needs and interests. More recently, the focus seemed to be on "relationship selling" or selling "solutions." To what extent are these approaches mutually exclusive?
HB: They aren't…they're mutually complementary. You should combine all three approaches.
You must know your product and service deeply; it's the number one or two requirement of virtually every prospect. If we sense that you do not, we become uncomfortable. We need to know what we're getting for our money, after all, and if you appear even slightly unsure -- or communicate so unclearly that we're not confident you're sure -- we'll move on.
You must know your prospects, and what each wants. So you need to ask questions. And "relationship selling" is as old and basic as selling itself. We buy from people we trust and like.
KL@TG: Sales nomenclature has also changed. First, "customer satisfaction," then "customer loyalty," and most recently what Ben McConnell and Jackie Huba characterize as "customer evangelism." Your own take on all this?
HB: Customer satisfaction isn't enough. In some cases, it barely matters. General Motors surveys showed a huge surge in customer satisfaction in the early to mid 1980s. Meanwhile, their sales reports showed a major decline.
Satisfaction isn't enough because no one is satisfied with merely be satisfied. And once a human being is satisfied, his or her expectations increase. They now want more, and need more, to be satisfied. This is why continuous quality improvement is necessary just to retain clients. People are uniquely restless.
As for loyalty, the term is misused. It's used most often in connection with frequent flyer programs, which are dubbed loyalty programs. But not more than five percent of travelers are loyal to any airline, and the majority are dissatisfied.
Relatively few companies have truly loyal customers. I've enjoyed the pleasure of working with one that has perhaps the most loyal customers: Harley-Davidson. The test of loyalty, ultimately, is how many people have your brand name tattooed on their biceps?
But that kind of passion is rare. You see it in well-established and iconic products like Fender Stratocasters, Tony Lama cowboy boots and some others. I'm loyal to Nike, but that's largely because I am loyal to its home, which is mine, too: Oregon. But true loyalty is rare. We are loyal to people, not to companies.
Evangelism? Evangelism was a term coined by people anxious to sell books. Businesses should worry about improving a lot before they worry about whether they're attracting religious fervor.
KL@TG: Now please share your thoughts about your most recently published book, You, Inc. that you co-authored with your wife Christine. For whom did you and she write this book?
HB: Everyone. I'd be delighted if several people each learned one thing from the book that enhanced their lives, and spared them a costly mistake. If you read it at all carefully, I'm certain we've provided that information.
We wrote it with our oldest boys in mind, however, because all four were on the edge of the Real World, and we wanted them to know everything important we had learned about winning friends, influencing people, swimming with sharks, and the things they didn't teach at Harvard Business School.
Find out how to get a newsletter for your own company.
 | ||||
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
Harry Beckwith is the Director of Beckwith Partners, an internationally regarded branding and marketing firm. His classic trilogy on marketing a service -- Selling the Invisible, The Invisible Touch, and What Clients Love -- has sold over 900,000 copies in 22 translations, and the first book has been named one of the ten best business and management books of all time. He has been a keynote speaker for 14 Fortune 200 annual sales meetings and the National Speakers' Association convention, and has made presentations in Europe, South America and Asia. He is cited regularly in |
|
national media including CNN, The Wall Street Journal, Business Week, Entrepreneur, Crain's New York Business and numerous American, European and Asian newspapers. A Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Stanford University, Harry resides in Minneapolis with his wife Christine Clifford Beckwith. He is the father of six children. Beckwith Partners' clients include Wells Fargo, Fidelity Investments, Microsoft and Target as well as many venture-capitalized startups worldwide. |
|
| ||||
| ||||
Logos Success Stories Project Gallery Request an Evaluation Contact Us
E-mail questions and comments for Harry Beckwith to invisble@bitstream.net.