research

ABG – Always Be…Grateful

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Cornucopia of autumn produce

Did you send a Thanksgiving greeting to your customers? When was the last time before that, that you said “Thank you”?

When prompted, we remember to let customers know that we’re grateful for their business. When they actually make a transaction, we thank them. But oftentimes, they don’t hear from us otherwise. Especially if they are infrequent purchasers (even if those are large purchases), gratitude can be a bit of a case of “out of sight, out of mind”. This Thanksgiving, you’ve probably got some spare time on your hands. Why not use it to say thank you to everyone who has supported your business this year? And then, make a plan to do so with regularity. It will engage your customers, and keep them thinking about you.

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Can’t You Always Get What You Want?

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Courtesy of Gerd Altmann via Pixabay
One of the most challenging things you may face with your customers or buyers, is when they push back and say they want to pay a different price, or have different delivery terms, or change what you were hoping to receive. In a business-to-business or account-based-selling environment, this can be a frequent occurrence, so it’s useful to learn how to deal with it. 

The difficulty, or risk, is that if you counter with another option, they may walk away. You might damage the relationship. So the first thing to consider, is the lifetime value of that customer. Are they likely to purchase again and again over time? If so, you need figure out how to be more accommodating, without “giving away the store”. How can you do that?

If you’re familiar with “how-might-we” thinking, you’ll know that it is most often used in idea generation. But at its heart, the ideas you are trying to generate are solutions to problems. That means when you encounter other types of problems, you can use the same approach to excellent effect. Instead of thinking, “that customer is so demanding!”, consider thinking, what can I offer them so they get some of what they want, and I get some of what I want? 

Over time, if you exercise the how-might-we muscle to deal with challenging customer requests, you’ll find it becomes easier, and you get better at preserving customer relationships while still feeling like there was plenty of pie for everyone (and there is).  What can this help you tackle today? 

I’m Megann Willson and I’m Partners with Steve Willson here at PANOPTIKA. We help our clients see everything they need to know (and realize what they don’t need to know) to make #betterdecisions. You can find us here on our blog, and also on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn. Or you can sign up for weekly updates delivered direct to your inbox, by clicking the orange button below.