MODULE I - Communication & Customer advisory Page 6

MODULE I Communication & Customer advisory Page 6

For these reasons one has to use totally different arguments for the customer advisory today than twenty years ago.

In general, one should accept the customer and his wishes as they are and one should prepare oneself accordingly. One should not try to deliberately "re-educate" the customer.

4. What expectations does the customer have ?

Even if it is not always easy to understand the customer with his own ideas and wishes, this has to be accepted because:

The customer has an individual life-style and likes to enjoy his spare time according to his own ideas.
The customer is very discriminating and expects for his money tidy products and an appropriate service.
The basic need in our modern society is "living" and not "surviving". So, the general behaviour of people nowadays is strongly influenced by entertainment, sports, nature and the striving for personal health and fitness.
The prosperity of the customers also makes an individual treatment and appropriate handling necessary.
However, this does not mean that the customer does not pay attention to the price anymore, rather the opposite is the case.

Very often the price specified by the service technician or the customer advisor is subject to negotiation again. In this situation the service technician has to be able to present the advantages of his company, of its products and of his work in a way that no overproportionally large losses of profit in the form of big price reductions must be accepted here. In such negotiations often the size of the company does not matter but the consistent customer orientation. If this is consequently taken into consideration a well trained customer advisor or service technician will get the customer order even if competing companies might be larger.

5. How is a customer relationship developing ?

Customer relationships are developing through different kinds of communication. They can result from mere coincidence, from advertising, from a telephone contact or from an advisory conversation. A few general recommendations shall be given here one should consider in regard to the development of customer relationships:

At the first encounter it is not always possible to tell the other person what one really wants.
Very often it is not important what one says but what the conversation partner understands.
Clear statements and good formulations make the understanding easier.
The conversation should be conducted in a way that the conversation partner is encouraged to engage in a dialogue.
Only give understandable and useful information.
The establishment of contacts should not always be done following the same pattern. One should be open to new and original ideas in this regard.