Occupational Standard: CROP PRODUCTION AND MARKETING

MANAGEMENT - LEVEL IV

Learning Guide #4
UNIT OF COMPETENCE: BUILD RELATIONSHIPS WITH CUSTOMERS
MODULE TITLE: BUILDING RELATIONSHIPS WITH CUSTOMERS

Unit Code: AGR CPM4 14 0715

LEARNING OUTCOMES:

LO1: ESTABLISHING RAPPORT WITH CUSTOMERS

LO2: APPLY EXPERT KNOWLEDGE
LO3: PROVIDING POST SALES SUPPORT
LO4: PLANNING SALES PRESENTATIONS
LO5: IMPLEMENTING SALES PRESENTATION
LO6: MAINTAIN AND UTILIZE A CUSTOMER DATA BASE
LO7: DEALING WITH DIFFICULT CUSTOMERS

Edited by: Feleke Philipos (BSc)

Mebratu barata (MBA

March, 15 2022

Wolaita sodo agricultural college

 Instruction sheet-4 Learning guide-4

Competence description
This educational unit aims to equip students with the basic tools of various businesses to use
advanced sales techniques in building relationships with customers and interacting with
customers, applying expert product knowledge as it relates to the customer, dealing with difficult
customers, establishing and maintaining a customer database, and conducting sales
presentations.

This learning guide is developed to provide you the necessary information regarding the following
content coverage and topics:-
 Establishing rapport with customers.
 Apply expert knowledge
 providing post-sales support
 planning sales presentations
 Implementing sales presentation
 maintain and utilize a customer data base
 dealing with difficult customers
At the end of this learning guide; students will be able to: - Demonstrate knowledge and skill of:
 Store policies and procedures, in regard to:
 establishing, maintaining and utilizing customer records
 updating and maintaining customer mailing lists
 methods of maintaining customer confidentiality and secure storage of customer details
 price negotiation and payment/credit options
 resolving customer complaints
 Relevant industry codes of practice
 Occupational health and safety requirements such as:
 manual handling
 plant and equipment
 hazardous substances and dangerous goods
 workers compensation
 Customer types and needs including:
 customer buying motives/customer behaviour and cues
 individual and cultural differences, demographics/lifestyle/ income

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  types of customer needs, eg functional, psychological
 Pricing procedures including Goods and Services Tax (GST) requirements

Learning Activities
1. Read the specific objectives of this Learning Guide.
2. Read the information written in the “Information Sheet 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 &7”.
3. Accomplish the “Self-check” exercises
4. If you earned a satisfactory evaluation proceed to “the next information sheet”. However, if
your rating is unsatisfactory, see your teacher for further instructions or go back to the
previous one.
5. Submit your accomplished Self-check. This will form part of your training portfolio.

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Introduction

Building customer relationships is something every company must do to succeed. After all,
without customer relationships, there are no sales; without sales, there is no business.

But that doesn’t mean that building customer relationships should solely be about the
transaction! Since it’s often the service and aftercare which truly makes a difference with how
people feel towards a company, it’s critical that customer relationship management (CRM) is an
ongoing focus.

Because of this, how you create your relationship marketing matters. It’s no longer all about
customer acquisition; it’s about customer retention and what happens surrounding the sale that
makes you memorable to your market.

CRM: is a strategy to build long-lasting relationships with valuable customers. CRM is a

philosophy that puts the customer first every time he contacts the company via and channel. It is
the process of acquiring, retaining, and building a customer base. According to kinkaid, CPM is
the strategic use of information, process, technology and people to manage the custoemer’s
relationship with your company (marketing, sales, services, and support) across the whole
customer life cycle”(Kinkaid, 2003)

Lo1: Establish Rapport with Customers

1.1 Establishing Rapport/relationship with Customer and Expressing genuine Interest in

Customer Need/Requirement

Rapport is one of the most important features or characteristics of unconscious human

interaction. It can be described as a state of mutual trust and responsiveness between
individuals or groups of people. Rapport is “a relationship marked by mutual understanding and
trust. Rapport is all about highlighting common interests and establishing a mutual feeling of
friendliness. Building rapport is a critical component of successful client-trainer relationships, as
this process promotes open communication, develops trust, and fosters the client’s desire to
participate in an exercise program”
In every industry, it's important to know how to establish rapport with customers.
 Remember Their Names.
 Know More About Them.
 Make Them Feel Special.

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Three Basic Ways to Build Rapport with Customers
Most salespeople are naturally enthusiastic, positive, and outgoing people, but that doesn't
necessarily mean everyone will like you off the bat. Here are three ways you can increase your
rapport rating with prospects and customers.
1. Match your customer's style: Pay attention to how your customer prefers to communicate
and get in step. Does your customer prefer to get right down to business, or warm up by
engaging in small talk? What kinds of things does he or she find funny, interesting, or intriguing?
If your customer talks quickly and loudly, make an effort to match that energy.

2. Trust builds rapport: Your customers will learn to trust you if you do what you say. Keep
your commitments, call when you say you will, and always follow through. Be careful not to
make promises you might not be able to keep. Another way to build trust is to demonstrate that
you're interested in their well-being -- beyond your own profit potential. Know and appreciate
your customers' needs beyond your product. See what you can do to help them meet those needs.

3. Practice reciprocity (mutuality): when you treat people in a certain way, they tend to want to
treat you in the same way. Find ways to treat your customers as valued members of your
professional and even social circle. In life and in business, the little things make a big difference.
Expressing genuine Interest in Customer Need/Requirement

Your customers’ requirements will evolve from the Voice of the Customer (VOC). You can
define a customer as the direct receiver of your process’s output, whether it be a tangible product
or a service. You can have both internal and external customers. In all cases, your customers will
have wants, needs, and requirements.
Your customer will often say to you, “I want this.” You may reply, “What do you need this to
do?” In many cases, your customer’s wants will not achieve what they need to be done. Your job
is to understand the underlying needs of your customer. These are generally expressed in terms
of some qualitative statement such as, “I need my delivery to be faster.” But that does not
provide a very clear indication of what their need really means.

Good customer requirements are:

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  Specific, measurable, and define how you will measure them
 Related directly to some characteristic or attribute of your product or service
 Not biased to a particular solution
 Complete, clear, and lack ambiguity
 What the requirement is, not how it will be met

Here is an example of the process.

Ways to express genuine interest in your customers:

 Offer personalized greetings:

 Use names:
 Practice assertive hospitality:
 Ask questions:
 Cosset/cherish:
 Anticipate needs:
 Remember preferences:
 Pay attention to details:
 Display a sense of urgency:
 Solicit feedback:
 Offer personal farewells:
 Follow up on service:
1.2 Maintaining Professional Ethics with the Customer

When discussing the relationship between ethics and customers, you first have to ask yourself, “Can an
organization really influence customers with the way that it conducts its business? Influence does not
mean attempting to muscle a customer into behaving one way or another. Rather, influence comes from
integrity and trust. Integrity is the foundation of trust, and trust is the grease of commerce. In order to
build and maintain trust with your customers you have to first develop a strong, company-wide reputation

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for integrity. Accomplish that through clearly established, internal ethical principles Establish strict
ethical processes for the customer facing teams and their support folks, all with appropriate checks and
balances.

Professional ethics encompass the personal, organizational, and corporate standards of behavior

expected by professionals.
Business ethics (also known as corporate ethics) is a form of applied ethics or professional
ethics that examines ethical principles and moral or ethical problems that arise in a business
environment. It applies to all aspects of business conduct and is relevant to the conduct of
individuals and entire organizations. These ethics originate from individuals, organizational
statements or from the legal system.
Business ethics refers to contemporary organizational standards, principles, sets of values and
norms that govern the actions and behavior of an individual in the business organization.
Business ethics has normative and descriptive dimensions
Ethics are the rules or standards that govern our decisions on a daily basis. Many equate “ethics”
with conscience or a simplistic sense of “right” and “wrong.” Others would say that ethics is an
internal code that governs an individual’s conduct, ingrained into each person by family, faith,
tradition, community, laws, and personal mores. 
Business Ethics Benefits
The importance of business ethics reaches far beyond employee loyalty and morale or the
strength of a management team bond. As with all business initiatives, the ethical operation of a
company is directly related to profitability in both the short and long term. Companies have
more and more of an incentive to be ethical as the area of socially responsible and ethical
investing keeps growing. The increasing number of investors seeking out ethical operating
companies to invest in is driving more firms to take this issue more seriously.
1.3 Accurately clarifying Customer Needs and Preferences

A business needs customers to survive. With fierce competition to capture buyers’ attention, it
can be difficult to develop products and services that stand out and appeal to the market. What
makes a product unique is its ability to meet customers’ needs better than other offerings, rather
than new features and a sleek design. Whether you’d like to improve your existing products and

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services, or you’re looking for a new idea to expand your offerings, understanding customer
needs will help you deliver the most value to your buyers.

What Are Customer Needs?

To deliver value to your customers, you must have a clear understanding of their needs. A
customer need is a problem that a person is trying to solve, which motivates them to seek a
product or service to do so. There are several types of customer needs, including functional,
social, and emotional needs.

Ways to Identify Customer Needs or Jobs to Be Done

There are a number of ways to learn about your customers’ jobs to be done. Whether you have
an existing product or service you’d like to improve, or you’re looking for a new, innovative
idea, you can gather valuable insights from several sources, including:

 Yourself
 Current customers
 Non-customers
 Former customers
 Compensating behaviors, or inconvenient alternatives used when no product fulfills the
job to be done well

Here are three ways to develop an understanding of your customers’ needs so you can better
serve them with your products and services.

1. Reflect on Your Experiences

The first method for identifying jobs to be done is to reflect on your own behaviors and
experiences, identifying patterns in your decision-making process. You yourself are a customer
and, in the absence of other data sources, self-reflection can be a helpful starting point.

2. Observe Behaviors

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In addition to reflecting on your own experiences, you should observe the behaviors of those
around you. If possible, look for opportunities to observe people at each stage of the buying
process—from the time the job to be done arises to the final decision. Observe how people use
the product or service to understand what goals it helps them achieve or challenges it helps them
avoid.

3. Conduct Interviews

To learn more about the decision-making process and build on your observations, interview
current, former, and non-customers. Your current customers can explain why they chose to
purchase from your company, rather than a competitor. Former customers can share insights into
why they no longer use your company’s products or services, potentially highlighting
opportunities for improvement. Similarly, non-customers can shed light on why they didn’t need
a particular product or service, or why they chose to purchase from a competitor.

1.4 Maximizing Sales Opportunities

Whether that’s a service, a product, or a piece of valuable information — everyone has

something they can sell. But the only way a business succeeds is by earning customers and
growing sales from that service, product, or information. You can’t just hope someone will
stumble upon your product and purchase it, though.

An increase in sales doesn’t just happen, it’s the result of thoughtful sales strategies that are
planned and executed. In order to increase sales, you have to increase the number of customers
you’re selling to, enhance what you’re selling, improve your messaging, or all of the above.  If
you can improve every step of your sales process by even a little, you can increase sales by a lot.
Here are ways to boost sales and see better profits in your business.

1. Increase Sales by Increasing Leads

One powerful way to increase sales is to increase leads. The more people who have access to
your point of sales system or place of business means more people have the possibility of buying
from you and increasing your profits. Here are four ways to generate more leads to boost sales
and increase profits.

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 a) Clearly Define Your Customer 

First, you need to know who you’re targeting. Who is the person who would most likely buy
your product and buy it immediately?

b) Identify the Problem You’re Trying to Solve

When you’re sure you have a clear understanding of your ideal customer, their pain points, and
their desires, then you can understand how you can help. What problem does your product or
service solve? How does it address the pain point of your customer?

c) Try the 100-Calls Method 

If fear of rejection is what’s keeping you from starting sales conversations, I have an exercise
that will help you gain more confidence and generate more leads called the 100-call method.
Reach out to 100 customers as fast as possible, either by phone call or personalized email. The
goal is to practice talking to people, not necessarily to see results — though that may happen!   

d) Utilize Ads

Sometimes it makes sense to spend money in order to make money, but it doesn’t have to take a
lot. With the right ad, even a small budget can be effective and increase leads. You just have to
know who your audience is, where you want to reach them, and for how long. Consider Google,
Facebook, and Instagram ads, depending on where your customer is at. 

2. Increase Sales by Connecting with Your Customers

Establishing trust with your customers is key to ultimately persuading them to purchase what
you’re selling. Even in an increasingly virtual world, there are many ways to connect with your
customers, establish trust, and gain influence.

Here are three ways to improve sales by connecting with your customers.

a) Utilize Social Media

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Social media is a free space where you can connect with your customers daily. If your customer
is using social media, you need to be using social media. This will keep you top of mind when
they consider what they want or need to buy. As you use social media posts, such as photos,
videos, and captions, be sure to provide valuable information; avoid talking “at” your customers
and instead try to teach them or explain something to them that is in line with what your product
or service is all about.

b) Promote “Insider Information”

Everyone loves a good deal, and when they feel like they have the inside scoop on an upcoming
sale, or receive early access, your customers will develop greater trust in and loyalty to your
business. They may even buy more because of it. This doesn’t only go for sales and special
offers.

c) Maintain Relationships

“Once a customer, always a customer” — this should be your motto if you want to learn how to
increase sales in business. Once a customer has purchased your product, it should not be the end
of your interaction with them. Focus on maintaining a strong relationship with your customer by
making them feel valued so that they stick around, and get others to become customers as well.

d) Implement a Referral Program

Everyone wants to feel appreciated, and a great way to make your customers feel valued is to
reward them for referring their friends and family members. Use future discounts, rewards
points, freebies, special access, etc. to incentivize current customers to hold the flag for you.

3. Increase Sales by Providing Value

At the end of the day, you’re selling something that provides value to someone else in some way,
shape, or form. If your potential customers don’t know what that value is, they won’t buy from
you. By highlighting why and how your product offers value, you can boost sales and also
inspire confidence. This is how to sell a product. 

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 a) Offer a Freebie/free gift

One way to help potential customers see the value your business provides is to give them
something really great — for free. Freebies are a great way to build trust with warm leads who
aren’t quite ready to purchase your actual product. After they get a preview of what you offer,
they will be much more likely to buy. This freebie can be a taste of your actual product or
service, or it can be something that supplements it.

b) Sell the Benefit, Not the Product

People don’t buy products, they buy the results that the product will give. Remembering the
“help” not “sell” mentality when marketing and selling your product or service will help you
focus on its benefits. When you seek to first help others, it comes across as more genuine rather
than pushy and just looking to make a quick buck. Plus, it reminds your customers of the value
your product or service provides. 

4. Increase Sales by Presenting the Product Effectively

Presenting your product effectively will help you increase sales by increasing conversion rates,
the rate at which you convert leads into paying customers. Your conversion rate is the measure
of the effectiveness of your sales efforts. In order to help drive conversion rates, you need to
work on developing your pitch in a clear, effective way. Here’s how to do that. 

a) Develop Your Competitive Advantage

The odds are good that you’re not the only one selling your specific product or service. So it’s
critical to be able to explain the benefits or results your customers will receive from purchasing
your product or service that they will not get when purchasing the product or service of your
competitor. In order to develop your competitive advantage, you need to know: What are your

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competitors’ claims? What are the benefits they’re selling? How is what you’re offering
different?

b) Pick the Right Price

The price you set for your product or service is important. Not only does it affect your profits,
but it also affects the perceived value of what you’re offering. Before you determine it, you need
to fully understand the costs associated with producing the product and get a feel for what your
ideal customer would be willing to pay for it.

c) Make Sure Your Messaging is clear

When it comes to learning how to market a product or service, clarity is critical. Pick one to two
key benefits that your product offers and state them clearly in all the content that is part of your
sales and marketing strategy. This will ensure the story you’re telling about your product is
aligned across all of your marketing channels and your customers know exactly what it is you’re
selling. 

b) Market Content on Multiple Channels

As part of your ongoing strategy to increase sales, you should be continually seeking creative
ways to improve your advertising and promotional efforts to reach new customers.

5. Increase the Number and Size of Transactions

You already know that it is important to retain your customers and maintain your relationships
with them, so once you have them, how do you get them to buy from you again? This is an
important question to ask yourself when developing a sales strategy plan. If you can increase the
frequency of purchase by ten percent, you can increase your sales and thus profits by the same
percentage.

a) Apply Increasing Savings

In order to get your customers to buy more, consider applying discounts to larger purchases, such
as free shipping on orders over $100.When promoting a sale, consider offering an increased
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amount off on larger purchases, i.e., 15% off orders of $250 or more and 25% off orders of $500
or more. The more they spend, the more discount they receive.

b) Look for Opportunities to Upsell Customers 

You should be continually be looking for ways to up-sell customers so that they buy more each
time. What products or services will complement what they are already purchasing? Once you
prove your value and have loyal customers, they will likely say “yes” to you more and more. 

c) Raise Your Prices

In some cases, raising your prices is a viable option that could help generate more sales, after
trying many of the other sales tactics on this list. You should thoroughly analyze your costs,
compare your prices to your competition, and understand the demand for your product or service
first as well. In many situations, though, you can raise your prices by 5 or 10 percent without
experiencing any market resistance. If your products and services are of good quality and your
people are friendly and helpful, a small increase in your overall prices will not drive your
customers away.

6. Increase Sales by Investing in Yourself

Improving your ability to sell and convert interested prospects into paying customers is one of
the most important things you can do to boost sales. There are many parts of the selling process
and improving in even one of them can have a dramatic impact on your results.

a) Attend Sales Trainings

Some people are naturally good at selling; they can easily connect with a customer, find common
ground, understand their desires, and persuade them to purchase their product. These skills don’t
come easily to everyone, though. In fact, the majority of salespeople have to learn, practice, and
hone these skills over time to become successful.

b) Learn How to Negotiate 

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At some point in your sales journey, you’re going to run into someone who wants a lower price
or additional benefit, or a situation where you’ll have to compromise.  Learning how to negotiate
can not only help you improve your relationship with your customers but can also help you drive
more sales? The best negotiators look out for their customer’s best interests and find a solution
that works for both parties.  

c) Develop a Prospecting Strategy

The best sales people have a plan to develop the highest quality and quantity of prospects that
can and will buy within a reasonable period of time. Prospecting is an essential part of successful
sales strategies and something you need to prioritize if you want to increase sales.

1.5 Giving space and time for Customer to evaluate purchase decision

What Is the Consumer Decision Making Process?

The consumer decision making process is the process by which consumers become aware of and
identify their needs; collect information on how to best solve these needs; evaluate alternative
available options; make a purchasing decision; and evaluate their purchase. Understanding the
consumer decision making process is important to any business, but e-Commerce businesses
have a unique opportunity to optimize it.

Stages of the Consumer Decision Making Process — and How to Optimize

It’s important to note that the consumer decision making process has many different names,
including but not limited to the buyer journey, buying cycle, buyer funnel, and consumer
purchase decision process. But all the names essentially refer to the same thing: The journey a
customer goes through when making a purchase.

So, here’s a breakdown of what happens in each step:

1. Need recognition (awareness): The first and most important stage of the buying process,
because every sale begins when a customer becomes aware that they have a need for a product or

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service. The need recognition stage of the consumer decision making process starts when a
consumer realizes a need. Needs come about because of two reasons:

a) Internal stimuli, normally a physiological or emotional needs, such as hunger,

thirst, sickness, sleepiness, sadness, jealousy, etc.
b) External stimuli, like an advertisement, the smell of yummy food, etc.

Even if the core cause is vanity or convenience, at the most basic level, almost all purchases are
driven by real or perceived physiological or emotional needs. The causes for these stimuli can be
social (wanting to look cool and well dressed) or functional (needing a better computer to do
work more effectively), but they speak to the same basic drivers.

2. Search for information (research): During this stage, customers want to find out their
options. As soon as a consumer recognizes a need and begins to search for an answer, you must
be there to help! And where do consumers generally go to look for answers today? Google!

The amount of information a customer needs to search for depends on how much he already
knows about the solutions available, as well as the complexity of choices.

3. Evaluation of alternatives (consideration): This is the stage when a customer is comparing

options to make the best choice. Now that the consumer has done research, it’s time to evaluate
their choices and see if there are any promising alternatives. During this phase, shoppers are
aware of your brand and have been brought to your site to consider whether to purchase from
you or a competitor.

Consumers make purchase decisions based on which available options best match their needs,
and to minimize the risk of investing poorly, they will make sure there are no better options for
them. Their evaluation is influenced by two major characteristics:

1. Objective: Features, functionality, price, ease of use

2. Subjective: Feelings about a brand (based on previous experience or input from past
customers)

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4. Purchasing decision (conversion): During this stage, buying behavior turns into action – it’s
time for the consumer to buy! Alright, now it’s money time. This is the stage when customers are
ready to buy, have decided where and what they want to buy, and are ready to pull out their
credit cards. But wait! Not so fast. You can still lose a customer at this stage. This is the stage
when the purchasing experience is key – it’s imperative to make it as easy as possible.

5. Post-purchase evaluation (re-purchase): After making a purchase, consumers consider

whether it was worth it, whether they will recommend the product/service/brand to others,
whether they would buy again, and what feedback they would give. In this stage of the consumer
purchase decision process, consumers reflect on their recent purchase. They think about how
they feel about it, if it was a good investment, and most importantly, if they will return to the
brand for future purchases and recommend the brand to friends and family.

Types of Consumer Decision Making

Consumers are faced with purchase decisions nearly every day. But not all decisions are treated
the same. Some decisions are more complex than others and thus require more effort by the
consumer. Other decisions are fairly routine and require little effort. For example, students give a
lot more thought to buying college education or a vacation trip than they do to buying cheese or
car wash. In general, there are three types of consumer decision making; routine decision
making, limited decision making and extensive decision making.

To purchase low cost goods and services, consumer typically applies routine decision making,
require little search and decision time. Consumers do not consider this type of purchase an
important one and are not highly involve in it. Limited decision making usually occurred when
consumer has previous product experience but is unfamiliar with current brands available.

1.6 Demonstrating Effective Methods of Closing Sales.

The goal of every company is to make the most of their sales opportunities by developing solid
strategies that will produce results efficiently every time. A good plan needs to be in place in
order to succeed. Success relies on the whole sales team, not just any particular individual. There
are three strategies you can follow to get the most out of each and every sales opportunity.
Sales techniques include:

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1. Selling up or down
Up-selling is a marketing technique where you try to convince a customer to purchase a more
expensive product. A down-sell involves a reversal of the up-sell. If a customer does not want
the product you want to sell, you suggest a cheaper alternative. Cross-Selling: Related to up-
selling and down-selling is "cross-selling." Using the cross-selling technique, you offer related
products and services to the initial purchase. Warranties are a common cross-selling technique.
2. Suggestive selling
Suggestive selling is a sales technique where the employee asks the customer if they would like
to include an additional purchase or recommends a product which might suit the client.
Suggestive selling is used to increase the purchase amount of the client and revenues of the
business.
a) Engage in back and forth conversations

b) Treat your customer like they’re your best friend

c) Equip yourself and your staff with industry knowledge

d) Be subtle when necessary

You don’t always have to be explicit with the products you’re suggesting. Depending on the
customer, you could be a bit more subtle with how you recommend things.

Best times:

 After you’ve gotten to know the customer

 When addressing an objection

Worst times:

 As soon as a customer walks into a store

 When a shopper tells you (verbally or nonverbally) that they’re not interested

Methods of closing sales

One of the most important stages of selling is closing the deal, which are the actions taken by the
sales person to gain agreement to the sale. There are many closing techniques in sales, which are

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prescribed actions that sales people take to persuade the customer to make the necessary
commitment. 
Closing is a sales term which refers to the process of making a sale. The sales sense springs
from real estate, where closing is the final step of a transaction. In sales, it is used more
generally to mean achievement of the desired outcome, which may be an exchange of money or
acquiring a signature. Salespeople are often taught to think of targets not as strangers, but rather
as prospective customers who already want or need what is being sold. Such prospects need
only be "closed. “Some of methods of closing sales are:
 Direct close: in which the salesperson simply directly asks the prospect to buy.
Salespeople are discouraged from using this technique unless they are very sure the
prospect is ready to commit.
 Indirect close: also known as the question close, in which the salesperson moves to the
close with an indirect or soft question. "How do you feel about these terms" or "how does
this agreement look to you?
 Alternative choice close: also called the positive choice close, in which the salesperson
presents the prospect with two choices, both of which end in a sale. "Would you prefer that
in red or blue?
Self-check questions

Name: _________________________ Date: _______________

Directions: Answer all the questions listed below. Illustrations may be necessary to aid some
explanations/answers.

1. Define to rapport?
2. Discuss importance of understanding customer preferences?
3. Discuss Sales techniques?
4. How to Maintain Professional ethics with the customer?
5. Discuss the ways of Maximizing Sales opportunities?

Note: Satisfactory rating - 25 points and above, but Unsatisfactory if you score - below 25
points. You can ask your teacher for the copy of the correct answers.

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Lo2: Apply expert knowledge

2.1 Providing accurate information to customers in accordance with legal

requirement
Important considerations taken in to account when providing accurate information are:
 Use reliable sources and double check them.
 Whenever possible use primary sources.
 Use industry and government sources when possible and appropriate
 Be able to cite your sources.
 Never exaggerate or mislead.
 It’s okay to say “i don’t know.”
 Tell them “don’t take my word for it.”
 Admit when you’re wrong.
Legal requirements include:
 Trade Practices Act
 environmental protection legislation
 occupational health and safety requirements
 transport, storage and handling of goods
 pricing procedures including Goods and Services Tax (GST) requirements
 privacy laws
 liquor laws
 tobacco laws
 sale of second hand goods
 health and welfare law specific to federal legislation

2.2 Providing detailed Knowledge of Supplier and Manufacturer Information according to

Customer needs

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The definition of a supplier is ‘the organisation from which a business buys their stock’. A
manufacturer is ‘a producer or maker of goods’. In some cases, a ‘supplier’ and a ‘manufacturer’
can be the same.

In addition to product specific information, some customers seek and require additional
information. Often customers will seek this information in order to compare it with previous
experiences or prejudices.

Knowledge management is to promote business success through a formal, structured initiative to

improve the use of knowledge in an organization, in which an effective organizational memory
information system plays an increasingly important role.

Suppliers represent a critical resource to a firm Providing both direct and indirect materials and
services, which are inputs to the organization’s product offerings. The quality and cost of a
product or service offered in the Market is a function, not only of the capabilities of the firm, but
also of the network of suppliers who provide inputs to the enterprise.

Knowledge management and customer relation management (CRM) both emphasize on finding
resources for supporting commercial processes of a firm. CRM sees the past, present and future
customers as the success factor of the organization. Therefore, combining the two theories, CRM
and KM, which is named CKM, is a reasonable approach for achieving knowledge from
customer and delivering the best and most appropriate knowledge to him.

The buyer–supplier relationship is a key factor in manufacturing strategy when the environment
is uncertain and dynamic. In the mid-1980s, transactions between buyers and sellers tended to
rely on arms-length agreements based on market prices, while relationships in the 1990s were
based more on trust derived from collaboration and information sharing. Hence, buyers used to
play at a large number of suppliers.

The information that customers may require includes:

 Policies and procedures for warranties and guarantees

 Delivery lead times
 Ownership of manufacturer/supplier
 Country of production/manufacture
 Methods of production/manufacture
 How long the company has been in business
 How long the product has been available in Australia
 Whether the product has been tested on animals

Also, it is important that you bear in mind ‘commercial confidentiality’. This means that the
information is not for general release.

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Matters usually deemed commercially confidential include:

 Purchase prices
 Profit margin and profit levels
 Commercial discounts
 Sales incentives

2.3 Evaluating Product/stock range and Demonstrating features and benefits of

Products/ Services

Evaluating Product/stock range

Product evaluation is the process of assessing a manufactured product’s suitability and safety for
use by consumers. Product evaluation is conducted for two main reasons: 1) to ensure product
follows relevant standards, and 2) to identify and remove manufacturing or design defects.
Guarantee product success by ensuring the safety and quality. Failure to secure products from
both manufacturing and design defects can result in product recalls and lawsuits under product
liability.
When evaluating a product you first need to consider if it is an existing product, one you are
considering developing or one that you have made yourself.  You should evaluate the following
aspects of the product:
 Aesthetics
 Cost
 Customer/Target Market
 Environmental Impact
 Size
 Safety
 Function
 Materials
To do this you may want to consider the following questions or use these sentence prompts to
help you …
Aesthetics – What does the product look like?
 The product appeared …

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  The product looked …
 The appearance was good because …
 It could have been improved by …
Cost – How much does the product cost to make and/or sell?
 The product cost…to make.
 The product cost …to buy.
 The cost of the product could be reduced by …
Customer – Who is the product aimed and does it meet the needs of the target market?
 The product is aimed at …
 The product could be made more suitable for the target market by …
Environment – What is the environmental impact of the product, its packaging,
transportation and disposal?
 The impact the product makes on the environment could be reduced by using …
Safety – How is the product made, stored and used safely?
 The product was made safely by …
 It could be improved by …
Size – What is the size or weight of the product?
 The product measured …
 The product weighed …
 The products will/will not to fit into …
 It could be improved by …
Function – What is the product supposed to do and what should it be used for?
 The product is/is not able to ….
 The product is/is not suitable for …
Materials – What materials is the product made from?
 The product contains ….
 The product is made from …
 It might be better if it was made from …
Demonstrating features and benefits of Products/ Services

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The distinction between the terms benefits and features is an important concept in developing
and marketing a product or service. Features are characteristics that your product or service does
or has. A feature is something that your product has or is.
Benefits are the reasons customers buy the product or service. Benefits are the outcomes or
results that users will (hopefully) experience by using your product or service – the very
reason why a prospective customer becomes an actual customer.

When Do Features Matter the Most?

Features always matter because they provide your customers with hints about how well your
product or service will deliver its benefits. Although benefits are generally more important than
features, there are some times when features make all the difference:
 When all the products in a category provide the same basic benefits, a unique feature may
provide a competitive advantage.
 When products or services can be easily compared with competitors.

2.4 Maximizing Customer interest in Product/Service through Price Negotiation

To create a successful business, company managers must be able to attract the interest of
potential customers. If customers are not aware that a product exists or are not informed of its
benefits, they are not likely to be interested enough to buy the product. Businesses can use a
variety of different methods to generate interest in the company's products and services.
Ways to make customers interested includes market research, demonstrations and samples,
media advertising and pricing. The details are discussed as follow:
Market Research
Market research is an essential first step in the process of enticing customers to purchase
products and services. Market research involves gathering information about the needs of
potential customers and using that information to design products and services to meet their
needs. Written surveys and telephone surveys are common forms of market research that allow
business managers to collect data on a variety of topics. Conducting market research can help
businesses identify a specific group of customers that are especially interested in buying a certain

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product or service. Managers can then target future marketing efforts toward generating interest
among that group.
Demonstrations and Samples
Demonstrations and samples are two common methods businesses use to generate interest in
products. Demonstrations involve showing off products in public places, like malls or stores to
inform customers of the product's benefits. Giving out free samples of products to potential
customers allows them to experience these benefits personally. Samples help eliminate the
misgivings customers may have about spending money on new products.

Media Advertising
Advertising through media channels such as television, radio, newspapers, magazines and the
Internet are additional ways to make customers interested in your products or services. Media
advertisements have the potential to reach thousands or even millions of potential customers.
Companies typically target advertisements toward specific groups of customers to increase its
effectiveness. For example, a company that sells cutlery might advertise on a TV station with
food-related programming, while a company that sells sporting goods would better served by
placing advertisements on channels that air sporting events.

Customer interest is crucial to the sales process. Gaining attention can be done in the initial stages but
interest in the product needs to be maintained throughout the sales process. Once you have gone through
the process of gaining customer attention, maintaining customer interest and then kindling desire is
important. There are numerous techniques for maintaining customer interest towards the product mainly
depending on the technicality of the product.

1) Present yourself as a professional – Besides the basics of personality and communication of a sales
persons, the most commonly used techniques is to maintain catalogues, brochures or some presentable
material. In highly technical products, sales persons carry their laptops along with presentations as well as
technical data to answer any queries on the spot. This helps in maintaining customer interest.

2) Catch hints – The prospect himself drops hints during the opening stage and a smart sales person
should catch those hints. Such as if you have a portfolio of 4 products, the customer might ask a question
on 1 of those products. This might mean he has an above average interest in that 1 product and the sales

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person can than start the pitch by showing the advantages of that single product. A sales method used
especially by a shoe salesmen.

3) Probe / ask the prospect questions – Probing is a very important technique. Clear out his attitude
towards you product and then proceed with your presentation. Your questions should be smart and should
answer basics like does he need your products? Does he have a preference for any specific product? Has
he used your kind product before? Has he heard about your product? Etc. These questions can help you
determine how much convincing you need to do.

A sales person needs to understand basics such as customer motivation, body cues, hostility,
understandability as well as customer preferences to maintain interest towards the product
Pricing
No matter how well a company advertises, it won't generate sales unless it sets prices that
customers are willing to pay. One of the most important aspects of conducting market research is
determining how much consumers are willing to pay for products and services and how much
they currently pay for similar products or services. A company must be able to cover its expenses
with the revenue generated by selling products and services at a price that consumers are willing
to pay to be profitable.
Price Negotiation
The final price for a deal is determined through Negotiation between the buyer and seller. The
effect of Negotiation on pricing depends on the negotiating skills and positions of both parties, as
well as the commitment of both parties to pursue a long-term business relationship.
In a price negotiation or other distributive (single-issue) negotiations, it can often seem as though
the buyer has limited options: accept the price or lose the deal. But sellers also face the dilemma
of losing the sale. In both cases, the obvious BATNA (best alternative to a negotiated agreement)
is to walk away from the deal. 
2.5 Accurately calculating Prices and discounting according to pricing determinants
The goal of business is to make a profit. Many small businesses fail at this because they don’t
know how to price their products or services, but pricing is the critical element to achieving a
profit, a factor that all firms can control.
Price is the assignment of value or the amount the consumer must exchange to receive the
offering. Pricing strategy is one of the most difficult areas of marketing decision making. It deals
with the methods of setting profitable and justifiable prices.

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Pricing Objectives of Profit-Seeking Organizations:
Companies set prices for a variety of reasons. Price affects and is affected by the other three
elements of the marketing mix:
 product,
 promotion, and
 Place (distribution).
While pricing can vary from firm to firm, pricing objectives can be classified into six major
groups:

1. Profitability Objectives when pricing strategies are determined by profit objectives, the focus is on a
target level of profit growth or a desired net profit margin. A profit objective is important to firms that see
profit as what motivates shareholders and bankers to invest in a company. These objectives serve as tools
for evaluating performance; and they satisfy desires to generate “fair” profits as judged by management,
stockholders, and the public.

 2. Sales Volume Objectives Some economists and business executives believe that pricing behavior
actually seeks to maximize sales within a given profit constraint. Companies following this approach
continue to expand sales as long as their total profits do not drop below the minimum return acceptable to
management. Sales maximization can also result from non-price factors such as service and quality. If a
company’s product has a competitive advantage, keeping the price at the same level as other firms may
satisfy sales volume objectives.

 Another volume-related pricing objective is the market-share objective. Volume-related objectives such
as sales maximization and market share are important to most firms’ pricing decisions.

3. Competition Objectives: In many cases, firms set their own prices to match those of established
industry price leaders. Pricing objectives tied directly to meeting prices charged by major competitors
deemphasize the price element of the marketing mix and focus more strongly on non-price variables.

 4. Prestige Objectives: Prestige pricing establishes a relatively high price to develop and maintain an
image of quality and exclusiveness that appeals to status-conscious consumers. Such objectives reflect
marketers’ recognition of the role of price in creating an overall image of the firm and its product
offerings. In other words, pricing and positioning are intimately related.

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5. Customer Satisfaction Objectives: Many quality-focused firms believe that profits result from
making customer satisfaction the primary objective. These firms believe that by focusing solely on short-
term profits a company loses sight of keeping customers for the long term. Saturn’s one price and one
price only (no haggling, no negotiation, no “deals”) value pricing strategy is one example of a customer
satisfaction pricing objective.

6. Flexibility of Price Objectives:

It is important that pricing objectives be flexible. Often it is necessary to develop pricing objectives
tailored to different geographic areas and time periods. When there are varying levels of competition in
different parts of the country, it may be necessary to lower prices in the areas with the heaviest
competition.

Factors to Consider when determining you’re pricing. 

 You’re Cost. 
 Your Profit
 Market Demand
 Industry Standards
 Skill level
 Experience
 Your Business Strategy
  Your Service
 Who are Your Clients
The Determinants of Product Prices are: 
 Quantity Demanded 
 Quantity Supplied 
 Costs of Production [inputs] 
Self-check test
Name: _________________________ Date: _______________

Directions: Answer all the questions listed below. Illustrations may be necessary to aid some
explanations/answers.

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 1. Define Pricing and feature of the product?
2. List out important considerations taken in to account when providing accurate
information?
3. Discuss the types of pricing objectives?
4. Discuss techniques for maintaining customer interest towards the product ?
Note: Satisfactory rating - 25 points Unsatisfactory - below 25 points

You can ask your teacher for the copy of the correct answers
Operation sheet
 Product benefits and features
 Price negotiation
 Determining/calculating product price

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LO3: PROVIDE POST-SALES SUPPORT

3.1 Accurately providing Evidence of on-going support

Definition - What does After-Sales Support mean?

After-sales support is a service that is provided after merchandise or services have been sold.
Most after-sales support involves a guarantee, warranty, upgrade or repair service. Some of the
after sales customer supports include an ongoing relationship with the original equipment
manufacturer (OEM) throughout the life cycle of the product or service, while other warranties
are under time constraints. 
After-sales support encompasses a wide array of services that cater to consumers. It is designed
to assist a customer in using a product correctly, which could generate repeat customers, develop
brand loyalty among customers and ensure customer satisfaction.
The customer support industry is in the midst of a renaissance. Customer support as a specialty is
coming into its own, offering companies a competitive advantage that’s difficult to copy.
Modern customer support isn’t the same thing as customer service, although it employs customer
service techniques.
Product support can be as simple as a set of instructions and a throwaway wrench that comes
with an assemble-it-yourself child’s bicycle or as complicated as warranty programs, service
contracts, parts depots, and equipment on loan to replace a defective machine while it is being
repaired. All of these constitute product support; they are designed to ensure that customers
obtain the most value from use of the product after the sale. Such factors as heightened customer
awareness and higher expectations about support levels, reduced ability to perceive product
differentiation through superior technology and/or features, and improvements in support
methodology have greatly increased the importance of product support in company strategy.
When making purchases, customers often believe they are buying more than the physical item;
they also have expectations about the level of post purchase support the product carries with it.
This support can range from simple replacement of a faulty item to complex arrangements
designed to meet customer needs over the product’s entire useful life.

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To maximize the marketing impact, managers need to have an accurate idea of customer support
expectations and how to measure them. They can then use this information to segment existing
markets in a new way or, in some cases, even to define new markets.
In developing a support strategy, it is necessary for managers to make trade-offs between
effectiveness and cost. Our studies show that this trade-offs is often quite complicated and need
to be evaluated carefully. Managers need to understand the nature of each trade-off and to
develop a suitable framework for choosing among competing alternatives.
To many people, product support means parts, service, and warranty. In the early stages of
market growth, customers concentrate more on technology and features and are concerned with
only a few aspects of support, such as parts and service. As the market starts to mature, customer
needs become more sophisticated. Product support encompasses everything that can help
maximize the customer’s after-sales satisfaction—parts, service, and warranty plus operator
training, maintenance training, parts delivery, reliability engineering, serviceability engineering,
and even product design.

Providing a range of support options is key to ensuring customer satisfaction, even if fee based. If
customers fail to understand the product sufficiently to solve the problem for which they made the
original purchase, they are going to have an unsatisfactory experience. If the aim is to sell additional
products to the same customer, encourage them to repeat buy or to recommend the vendor to others,
ensuring they gain maximum benefits from their purchase is critical.

After sales support is an important conduit for customer relationship building. A customer who is
engaged through the after sales program is connected to the vendor and periodically reinforces the
original purchase decision. When the customer has a positive support experience, they reconfirm their
original decision. This positive experience will positively influence their decision to buy again or to
recommend.

Types of service to offer after sales

 Cards
 Quality and unique packaging
 Coupons 
 Personal phone call
 Tutorials

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  Periodic surveys
 Birthday email or gift
 Holiday announcements
3.2 Explaining Accurately Back up Service and Customer Reassuring

Once the customer has used various forms of customer support and understands how to most efficiently
use them, they have built up knowledge of how to optimize their relationship with the vendor. If this
works for them, they will be reluctant to move to a new vendor and have to go through that learning
experience again. This switching cost effect can be very beneficial to the vendor. Customers who are
engaged in after sales support activities and have a positive experience are more likely to be receptive to
cross-selling or promotional offers and are more likely to recommend the vendor to others.

Customers are normally willing to provide feedback on their customer experience and satisfaction level
if it is made easy for them to give their feedback. In fact, customers like to know that you value their
feedback and that you are willing to take their opinions into account. Customers have a different view of
your business. They are on the outside looking in and therefore their perspective is very different from
that of your staff and your managers. They are likely to experience problems and situations you don’t see.
Their comments will reflect their experience with your firm, whether that be seeking help or buying and
using your products and services.

It is always worth asking ‘How could we do better?” If you don’t ask, you don’t always find out. Even
customers who have had a very good experience may think of ways in which you could improve your
products and services and they will appreciate being asked.

Reassurance is the act of removing someone’s fear or doubt. It’s important, as it helps customers
feel confident that their questions and issues will be resolved as efficiently as possible.

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Types of service to offer after sales
 Cards
 Quality and unique packaging
 Coupons 
 Personal phone call
 Tutorials
 Periodic surveys
 Birthday email or gift
 Holiday announcements
Holidays are great excuses for re-engaging past customers with your brand. Even if your
message simply announces a closure during a holiday season, wishing the customer an enjoyable
holiday, it’s a reminder that your brand exists. Holidays are also a common time to run
promotions and sales.

3.3 Providing Customer with Store/Salesperson’s Contact details and Following up

Customer

Ensuring your follow-ups are consistent and effective, however, is as much an art as a science,
and it involves overcoming the inherent challenges of customer support, which can be relentless
(consistent inbound volume, meeting service level agreements, having a constant pulse on latest
product releases). Agents can sometimes feel the need to just get through it and move on.

Following up with a client after a sale can help your business provide great customer service.
Customers may be more loyal to companies that not only sell quality products or services but
also treat their customers with respect. There are multiple tactics you can use to reach out to a
customer after a sale and continue their engagement with your business.

Following up with your customers may help improve your customer's experience and satisfaction
with your business operations. Here are some potential benefits to following up with customers:

 Showing you care: Following up with a customer may help show your care and
commitment to your professional relationship. Customers often appreciate businesses that
treat them as humans rather than just another sale.

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  Improve experience: If the customer had a negative experience, they might appreciate
the acknowledgment from your business that things did not go perfectly. Reaching out to
a customer who had an unpleasant experience can give you the chance to apologize and
ask how you can perform better.

 Address problems: Reaching out to a customer after a sale can help determine if they
have any lingering or recent issues with your product or service. When you proactively
follow up, you can address problems before they become bigger, which can damage your
relationship with your client.

 Deepen engagement: A customer follow-up message may lead that customer to engage
more with your brand, such as by subscribing to email lists or liking your company's
social media pages.

 Boost sales: Customers who feel a business has provided quality customer service are
more likely to make purchases from that business again. This can increase your revenue
and may also improve customer loyalty.

In many product and services situations, the post-sales support given to the customer is key to
the effective use of the product or service. These can take many different forms and be passive or
active. They can range from online self-help to intensive customer training. The vendor should
see after sales support as a means of assisting the customer to gain the most benefits from the
original purchase. That is, to enable the vendor to assist the customer to make the best use of the
product or service, solve their needs or problems efficiently and enhance the customer
experience in some manner.

Many products are not that simple or obvious to use and customers often need support to take
advantage of the various features and functions of the product. Many vendors provide user
manuals, Q&A webpages, help desk support, online videos, case studies and user classes to assist
customers to learn how to use their products or to apply them to specific circumstances. In most
cases, these support facilities are provided free of charge but those which provide training or
support beyond the basic usage of the product are normally fee based.

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 3.4 Accurately Entering Customer and Transaction details to Customer Database

The Customer Transaction History report lists sales, customer payments, and refunds. Before a
party is closed out, the report shows how much the party has booked, has paid, and still owes.
After a party is closed out, it provides you with a history to keep on file.

Depending on how the report is sorted, the report includes the following information:

 If sorted by account ID, it includes the account ID and account name for each listed
account

 If sorted by party ID, it includes the party ID and primary contact for each listed party

 If sorted by passenger, it includes the passenger name for each listed passenger

It includes the following information for each transaction, regardless of sort order:

 Transaction date  Traveler

 Branch  Provider

 Invoice or check number  Sales

 Transaction type  Payments

Customer personal details:

 customers name and contact details
 transactions records
 personal preferences
 anniversaries/special dates and details of items bought or returned
 details of items bought or returned
What is a Customer Database?
Customer database is the collection of information that is gathered from each person. The
database may include contact information, like the person's name, address, phone number, and e-
mail address. The database may also include past purchases and future needs.
Benefits of a Customer Database
Having a customer data base benefits a company in many ways. Having a database can help a
business keep in contact with customers. This helps build loyalty and repeat business. Consistent,
repeat customers can be identified and contacted with special offers that are targeted to active

34
clients. Conversely, the database can also help identify customers who have not purchased from
the company for an extended period of time or who only purchased once.
Self-check questions

Name: _________________________ Date: _______________

Directions: Answer all the questions listed below. Illustrations may be necessary to aid some
explanations/answers.

5. Define post-sales support?

6. Discuss different types of service offer after sale?
7. Discuss Customer and transaction to customer database
8. Discuss benefits of customer database?
Note: Satisfactory rating - 25 points Unsatisfactory - below 25 points

You can ask your teacher for the copy of the correct answers.

35
LO4: PLAN SALES PRESENTATIONS

4.1 Planning Sales Presentation

Definition: - Sales presentation is an advertisement delivered in person to the customer. The
sole purpose of it is to make the customer buy your product. The sales presentation is one of the
most important tools available. When done well, a sales presentation can help build a connection
with potential customers and distinguish your business from competitors. It can set the tone for
all the conversations that will happen as the sales process progresses. A good sales presentation
is therefore the one which entices the potential customer to make the buying decision. A sales
presentation is "what you say to the customer when you have the floor."

Do not go into your presentation unprepared. Planning the content and delivery of your presentation is
critical. Consider the following areas when you are planning and developing your presentation.

 Formulate the overall topic and theme of your presentation

 Think like the client and try to understand the needs of the audience , their knowledge level, their
attitude towards you, and there business challenge
 Create your opening position, and summary belief
 Select the top 3-5 main ideas you want to develop
 Gather your supporting facts, data, antidotal stories, and references
 Decide what resources you will require in the presentation
 Put together the flow of your priorities, progression, and timing of your presentation
 Develop the linkage of benefits to all areas of your discovery
 Expand your benefits to other people and areas of the organization if possible
 Provide proof and build value
 Create a competitive advantage
 Create an agenda for the presentation.

The basic structure of sales presentation should be as follows:

 Introduction. Preview what you're going to communicate.
 Body. The content you want to communicate, with supporting evidence.
 Conclusion. Summarizes what you just communicated.
 Close. Asks for the next step.
This basic structure is universal because it matches the way that adults learn and make decisions.

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Types of Sales Presentations
There are several different types of presentations you can make for your product, service or
company. It all depends on who your perspective client is, where they are located, what kind of
product or service you are offering, and what the client is most comfortable.
 Teleconference and Videoconference
 Seminar
 Customized, Problem Solving
 Team

4.2 Selecting Client Group according to Product Characteristics

The identification of what constitutes the “right client” will vary from firm to firm. A new firm
will have a different screening process compared to a mature and established firm. In addition,
not accepting a potential new client will often be based on current workload, location and
competition. Selecting the “right” client at the outset is essential to the firm’s success, as well as
for staff satisfaction and retention. Firms should have a formal process in place for the
acceptance and continuation of clients.

Whether your bank is large, small, regional or international, it is imperative to have a stated
client selection strategy. A strategy will define which clients are appropriate to engage and retain
based on the institution's risk assessment. The strategy will contain attributes such as desired
industries, acceptable geographies and range of products which are offered. By developing a
client selection strategy, executive management can clearly define which clients fall inside and
which fall outside the acceptable range. In addition, the strategy guides sales and relationship
management, informs operations and underwriting, and supports the efforts of compliance and
audit. This article is a guide for sales management, but can be informative to those who are in the
role of compliance or audit since their partnership is critical to the sound development of the
strategy.

Designing a Client Selection Strategy

A well-designed client selection strategy has several components that drive line of business
growth. These components define the parameters of a desired client. Each component parameter

37
includes a score which, when compiled, provides an overall score. For example, each parameter
is measured using metrics such as high, medium or low risk. Prospective clients who fall outside
the acceptable range when scored should not be pursued by the sales teams.
Components may include the following:
 Client size (sales, revenue, asset size)

 Client segment (small businesses, middle market, large corporate, international)

 Products used (varies with treasury management products available, credit, investment
banking)
 Country where the client is headquartered and has additional operations (identifies
countries which bank policy may not support)
 Client location (in footprint or out of footprint)
 Credit rating (from industry rating agencies as well as internal bank credit ratings)
 Risk rating (as determined by the bank's internal risk rating process)
 Industry (limits industries to those which conform to the bank's risk appetite)
 Reputational risk to the bank (identifies clients who have civil or regulatory violations,
offer unusual product, are part of a risky industry or may have underdeveloped policies or
inadequate regulatory controls)
Implementing a Client Selection Strategy

Once a client selection strategy has been developed, it is imperative to quickly implement it.
Sales management uses this opportunity to communicate the importance of the strategy, develop
the tools sales will use to identify clients and define an escalation process for policy exceptions.
Reporting tools will be developed to show adherence to the strategy.

Sales management begins by developing a project plan and a high-level communication

document. Use this as an opportunity to identify the key stakeholders to include representation
from sales, compliance, legal, marketing, audit and sales support. Set a timeline that includes
check point meetings with the key stakeholders to measure and report on progress of the
implementation. At the end of the project timeline, include steps to review the effectiveness of
the implementation and a step to fine-tune the strategy's parameters and scoring tools. The audit
teams, as the third line of defense, can request the client selection strategy document prior to
launching a review.

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4.3 Accessing Promotional Materials where required

Promotional material a message issued in behalf of some product or cause or idea or person ori
nstitution; "the packaging of new ideas"
All types of businesses use promotional materials to market their products and services.
Promotional materials can include sales collateral material, advertisements and even small,
everyday products that contain the name and phone number of a business. Promotional
products can serve many purposes before or after a sale.
Different Types of Promotional Materials
There are a wide variety of different promotional materials providing companies
and organizations effective ways to reach out to their customers. We can help with providing
well-designed promotional materials that mesh with your company’s current branding. Take a
look at some of the promotional materials we provide our clients.
Brochures:-Brochures are used to introduce a company’s products or services to their targeted
audience and potential customers. They can be designed to fit on one folded sheet or as a small
booklet.
Flyer: - is a relatively inexpensive form of advertising and are intended for mass distribution.
They are produced on a single sheet of paper and tend to inform or promote more specific
information such as a sale, special promotion or new service/product.
T-Shirts:-is a unique way of advertising a specific product, service, event or just your company
in general.
Posters:-Posters are beautifully designed pieces promoting a specific product, service or event.
They can vary greatly in size, shape and style; providing as much or little information desired.
Custom Packaging
Package design conveys the most important aspects of your product to customers and allows it to
stand out from the rest.
Direct Mail/Email Campaign:-Direct mail campaigns are a form of advertising providing
customers with a wide variety of information on your company, products and services offered.
Mailings can be sent out monthly, bi-weekly or even weekly.

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Custom Postcards:-using an interesting image on one side to spark interest, postcards can easily
is mailed to provide customers with a quick bit of information promoting a specific product,
service or event.
Benefit of using Promotional materials
 Recognize the achievements of your staff with elegant certificates and promotional
products they will be proud to display
 Colorful brochures and handouts can attract new business at trade shows and exhibitions
 Bold designs and custom folders can impress shareholders at the annual meeting
 Promotional materials can help you eclipse your competition with standout designs and
appealing color schemes.

4.4 Selecting and Preparing Range of Products/Services for presentation

A product range refers to variations of a single product that are made in order to create similar
yet distinctly different products. Each version of the product is designed to attract a different
market segment with the intention of maximizing sales and building the customer base.

A look at the product mix vs product line discussions shows two types of product assortments.
These include the "product range" (or product line) and the "product mix". A company may have
a strong product mix in several categories, and a comparable product range within those
categories.

Understanding the Product Range

A product range (or product line) is a group of products (mobile phones, laptops, microwaves,
etc.) that have these similar characteristics:

 are closely related in form and/or function 

 are similarly priced

 are marketed and sold through similar customer groups

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When a company develops a strong core product range, the product range allows the company to
focus on those product lines while still offering enough variety in size, color, taste or
functionality to appeal to a wide range of potential customers.

Advantages of Product Range

When companies roll out a product range, they are seeking to attract customers in a certain
demographic, with common aspirations, income and purchasing behavior patterns. For example,
a company may offer an excellent shampoo, like these on display at Matrix, and then develop
alterations to the original formula for common audience targets.

Product Range Examples

Examples of a product range can include a peanut butter maker, offering its peanut butter in a
variety of similarly priced versions of crunchy, creamy, and no added sugar peanut butter. A
television manufacturer might offer its TV components in a basic 32-inch version, then offer
increasingly larger versions for more demanding consumers. At its top end it might offer a 4K
version of its TV technology. The products may have more features in each of the larger sizes,
but the core TV product remains the same.

Product knowledge is an essential sales skill. Understanding your products' features allows you
to present their benefits accurately and persuasively. Customers respond to enthusiastic sales
staff who are passionate about their products and eager to share the benefits with them.

Get to know your products or services

Customers are more likely to trust sales people who show confidence in themselves and what
they are selling. You can build this confidence by increasing your knowledge of your products or
services.

Use conventional and creative sources of information to learn about your products or services,
including:

 your own experiences using the products

 product literature such as brochures and catalogues

41
  online forums
 feedback from customers
 trade and industry publications
 internal sales records
 your team members
 visits to manufacturers
 sales training programs
 Competitor information.

Use a Range of Information Sources to Identify Range of Products and Services in a

Designated Area of Business

Knowing at least the basics about your product is critical to selling it effectively. However,
understanding your product is even more helpful. The difference between product knowledge
and product understanding, the difference between product knowledge and product
understanding, is that ‘knowledge’ refers to the facts and figures, whereas ‘understanding’ is
how the facts and figures affect the product owner.

Often, we tend to deal with the same specific products and services, while the broader range of
them are used less frequently. We become so familiar with the same specific products and
services that the less frequently used ones are not thought about when speaking with customers.

This is not a good practice because it disadvantages the business (through potential loss of sales)
and the customer (through not meeting their needs with a more appropriate product or service).
Product knowledge vs. product understanding is quite similar to the contrast between features
and benefits. And just as ‘features tell, benefits sell’, focusing on product knowledge without
product understanding, misses the mark. Product knowledge is absolutely essential but must be
coupled with product understanding and it must include the full range of products.

The best way to make the leap between the few and the many products or services is to try for
yourself, then the next best option is to do a little market research. Set up short phone
appointments with a few of your best customers and ask them to tell you about their experiences
with your company’s products. Try to make it clear that you want brutal honesty, since there will
almost always be ways in which your products are both good and bad and the more you know
about both aspects, the better.

Having a thorough understanding of all the products or services available can allow the use of
different techniques and methods of presenting the product to customers. Stronger
communication skills will allow the adaptation of a sales presentation for the various types of
customers.

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If a customer isn’t fully committed to completing a sale, the difference may simply be the
presence (or lack) of confidence that you have toward the product. Becoming educated in the
product and its uses will help cement that confidence.

Objections made by customers may be struck down with factual information regarding the
product. That information usually comes in the form of product knowledge. Being well versed in
not only your products, but similar products sold by competitors, allows you to easily counter
objections.

You can gain reliable product knowledge from:

• Marketing literature
• Sales reps
• Training sessions
• Testimonials
• Role playing
• Practical use.

It may take a while to easily articulate your product knowledge, especially when you are trying
to cover all products or new products, but over time you’ll become comfortable and confident in
providing the correct information to customers. That confidence will pay off in improved results.

Compare Features, Benefits, Strengths and Weaknesses of Range of Products and Services
Available

The ability to compare the products or services is important to be able to accurately match the
customer need and product, or service available. Often many products or services will closely
resemble each other and understanding the purpose and benefits of each is very useful in
assisting others to make good choices.

We covered evaluating the product or service in Element 1 and looked at the broader range of
products in the first section of Element 2. Now you must compare them. Comparison is actually
another part of the learning process.

‘Compare’ is defined as estimating, measuring, or noting the similarity or dissimilarity between

given items. We compare items for two reasons:

1. To Explain

You might compare and contrast kinds of food, for instance, to help someone understand which
food needs to be refrigerated and which can be stored in a cabinet or in a bowl on the counter.

2. To Evaluate

You might compare and contrast kinds of food to show why one kind of food or brand of food is
better than another. For example, apples are a better snack than butter.

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When you choose items to compare and contrast, make sure that you choose items that have
similarities. You have to choose things that will make sense for comparison and contrast. For
instance, it wouldn’t make sense to compare a toaster with a washing machine. Be sure to
compare things that belong together.

When you compare items, you look for their similarities – the things that make them the same.

For example:

• Apples and oranges are both fruit

• they’re both foods
• both are made into juice
• both grow on trees.

When you contrast items, you look at their differences. For example:

• Apples are red, oranges are orange.

• The fruits have different textures
• Oranges need a warmer place to grow.

You probably use comparison all the time. Maybe you want to buy a magazine, so you go to the
store and look at all of the magazines that are available. You can’t buy all the magazines, so you
have to narrow down your choices.

You compare and contrast the different kinds of magazines so that you can make your decision.

It’s important to make sure that you balance the information about the items that you’re
comparing and contrasting. You need to be sure that you give them equal time.

Understanding the Product Mix

A product mix consists of a company's product lines and all the items in each of those lines that a
marketer has for sale. For example, a tire manufacturer may sell a mix of tires and then specific
products within each of the tire markets (trucks, cars, jeeps, motorcycles, etc.). A product mix
usually involves the entire range of goods offered by the company.

Product Mix Examples

A good example of having a solid product mix is companies may be able to earn more customer
loyalty. When a customer trusts one item from that brand, that customer is more likely to trust a

44
different product from the same brand. For instance, a golf products manufacturer can encourage
its customers to buy its athletic apparel, like shoes, socks, workout wear, baseball caps and golf
shirts. A small business that makes kitchen equipment can diversify its product mix to include
cooking pots, frying pans, carving knives and cutting boards.

Product presentation is the process of introducing a new or rebranded product to your audience.
During product presentations, you'll dig deep into how your product works, how it will address
customer pain points and the specific benefits it will bring to them.

It often involves using visual aids like videos, images and slideshows to describe product
features, benefits, market fit and other relevant details.

Presentations could take place at different stages of the product development process. But when
introducing the product to potential buyers, the stakes are never higher.

In many organizations, product presentations happen at different levels. For example, top
management and executives could unveil a new line of products to the board of directors,
investors and potential partners.

Product managers may present a beta or gamma version of a new product to the entire team. In
addition, the sales team would have to make product presentations during sales visits to
prospects.

There are tons of competing products in the market like yours. Your competitors could be
offering similar products or substitutes. This means that creating useful products may not be
enough to set your brand apart or bring in sales. You need product presentations that produce
eureka moments for your audience. Getting it right with your presentations will not only win
over your audience, but it'll drive product sales over the top.

But that's just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the benefits of creating product
presentations.

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Sales presentation

In a presentation to a prospective client, prepare a sample of the product they would eventually
use in their program. After a preliminary discussion, hand prospect the item to team would be
using on a daily basis – instead of telling him/her about the item I placed it in his/her hands. He
or she could then see exactly what the finished product would look like and was able to examine
it in detail. He/she was able to ask questions and see how his team would use it in their
environment.

Also, remember to discuss the benefits of your products, not the features. Tell your customer
what they will get by using your product versus your competitors.

During the Presentation. Consider these content and delivery issues during the presentation.

 Set the stage and expectations

 Provide and opening and introduction that will grab the audience's attention
 Focus on their key business issues and requirements
 Be aware and sensitive to the personal agendas of the attendees
 Link to their issues and provoke productive thoughts and questions
 For each of the customer's key business issues
o Present the business challenge
o Provide a customer story about the challenge
o Briefly tell them what you will show them
o Provide detailed proof
o Link the features and proof to benefits for the users, managers, and executives
 Close
o Review your solution and benefits
o Provide a call to action and next steps
 Exit with a memorable impact that they will remember

Other Considerations

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  Get to the point and be respectful of other people's time
 Be appropriately animated, enthused, passionate and energetic
 Use voice modulation, movement, gestures, expression, showmanship, props and resources to
keep the presentation upbeat and interesting
 Practice your presentation in front of others or on a recorder prior to delivery

Self-check questions

Name: _________________________ Date: _______________

Directions: Answer all the questions listed below. Illustrations may be necessary to aid some
explanations/answers.

1. Define post-sales support?

2. Discuss different types of service offer after sale?
3. Discuss Customer and transaction to customer database
4. Discuss benefits of customer database?

Note: Satisfactory rating - 25 points Unsatisfactory - below 25 points

You can ask your teacher for the copy of the correct answers.

Operation sheet idea

 Sales presentation styles
 Demonstrating promotion materials

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LO5: IMPLEMENT SALES PRESENTATION

5.1 Adequately briefing Numbers of Support Staff sufficient for Presentation

Sales presentation is an advertisement delivered in person to the customer. The sole purpose of it is to
make the customer buy your product. A good sales presentation is therefore the one which entices the
potential customer to make the buying decision. A successful sales presentation has two parts.

1. Presentation Planning:

First step in developing a sales presentation is to write out your presentation plan. The best preparation in
developing a sales presentation plan is to know a lot about the potential customer themselves: Who they
are, what market segments they serve, who their competition is, what are the major challenges facing
them etc. Another important thing that must be taken into consideration while developing the sales
presentation is the objective of the sales presentation. If the sales presentation is being delivered on the
very first meeting, then the sales presentation must do the following:

 Establish rapport
 Discover needs
 Match your product features &benefits with customer need
 Get commitment for the next action step.

In most business-to-business sales, the first meeting will not result in closing the deal or winning the
order. So the objective for the very first presentation must be set accordingly.

2. Structuring sales presentation

A good selling presentation focuses on a few key points that you need to get across to support your
overall message. Whether your customer buys from you or from the competition depends on how good
your presentation is. Here are seven strategies that will help to create a presentation that will differentiate
you from your competition:

1. Make the presentation relevant to your prospect.

2. Create a connection between your product/service and the prospect.
3. Get to the point.
4. Be animated.
5. Use showmanship.
6. Use a physical demonstration.
7. Lastly, believe in your product/service
A sales process refers to a systematic progression of steps that are undertaken from the moment
you identify a potential customer to the point when you make the sale and build on the
relationship formed with the customer. A well-implemented sales process ensures increased

48
productivity, greater market penetration and better customer service. Here are some
considerations on how to effectively implement a sales process.
1. Build a sales team to be charged with implementation of the sales process
2. Identify the sales process that best responds to each customer's buying process. This
enables you to respond to your customers' needs efficiently and effectively.
3. Outline the sales tactics that your sales team will employ in the sales process. Engage the
team in identifying suitable sales tactics to ensure they support the sales process.
4. Identify the sales tools that you will use to support your sales tactics.
5. Train your employees on the implementation of the sales process since every employee in
your organization is a potential client source.
6. Set up a compliance system by creating checkpoints in the sales process

5.2 Applying Communication Skills to Effectively Create interest Customer interaction

Developing good communication with customers aids rapport and results in retention of clientele
or purchasing of goods and services. Learn more about communicating to customers, speaking
clearly and efficiently, being polite and empathetic listening.
Business communication relies on the ability to write well-developed, effective sentences. Learn
about four different types of effective sentence structures, including simple, compound, complex,
and compound-complex sentences.

Effective Sentences

In order for business communication to be effective, it is critical that the message has a well-
developed sentence structure. Poor writing skills are a detriment to communication and will
cause employees to have difficulty in moving up the corporate ladder.

Communicating with Customers

It is incredibly important that you develop the best communication skills possible with your
customers. Some of these skills include speaking clearly, effectively, efficiently, and politely.
You also need to employ empathetic listening in your customer service setting. Excellent
communication skills are important because communicating in this way shows customers that
you understand what they actually mean instead of what they are simply saying.

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 a) Speaking Clearly and Effectively

Speaking clearly and effectively with your customers is an extremely important skill. You want
to be able to explain procedures, policies, and other aspects of your company to your customers
so they walk away without any questions. Clear and effective speaking also gives the customer a
good impression of you as well as your company. Customers do not want to speak with someone
who mumbles or cannot articulate points clearly. Lastly, speaking effectively leaves no room for
error. Both you and the customer have a solid understanding of the company or the issue that you
are fixing for them. This sort of understanding will lead to a long lasting relationship with the
customer.

b) Speaking Efficiently and Politely

Customers want their questions answered as quickly as possible and in a polite manner. Doing
this shows that your company appreciates their business. Speaking efficiently shows that you are
knowledgeable on the topic or problem you are speaking to the customer about. It is all about
getting right to the point instead of going off on a different subject. As mentioned earlier,
customers want the answer fast! Speaking politely to your customers is extremely important, as
this is a sign of respect and a reflection of the company and its reputation. I am pretty sure that
everyone can remember a time when they dealt with a rude employee. It doesn't exactly make
you want to return to that place of business again.

c) Employing Empathetic Listening

Empathetic listening also should be integrated into every customer service situation and
department, and it shows the customer that you are listening and understanding what they are
saying to you. You put yourself in the customer's position and make it a judgment-free zone so
they feel comfortable talking with you. Make sure you are maintaining eye contact, nodding
when appropriate, and apologizing. The goal of empathetic listening is to have the customer
know that you understand exactly what their problem is and that you have a clear understanding
of what happened. The customer should feel that you are just as upset as them about the issue
and that you will do everything you can to correct it.

5.3 Demonstrating Products/Services to create a Buying Environment

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Product demonstrations are defined as a promotional tactic to advertise a product to potential
customers. Whether it be web-based, video demonstrations or in-person presentations, product
demos are a great way to feature your product and interact with your buyer’s market. This
strategic method to showcase your merchandise will give consumers the complete scope of your
product.

Six steps for product demonstration

1. Engage the customer: connect customer, and create an experience through your demo.
2. Find your angle: Focus on the unique features of your product and differentiate yourself
from the completion
3. Focus on the buyer: dress the problem or concern customers are facing and present them
with your solution.
4. Prepare and practice: Run through your demo and anticipate any curveballs. Have a
clear message and mission going in
5. Look at the bigger Picture: express your vision for your product and the long-term
benefits it can bring to customers.
Be personal: Demos can be used to network and better understand your audience while
building strong customer relationships

1. Engage the Customer

Customers want to feel connected to a product. To achieve this link between customer and
product, people must relate to what you are trying to sell. In-person demonstrations present an
easy opportunity to allow potential customers to get a feel for a product. Allowing people to test
the products helps validate the promise of the producer who is trying to sell. Seeing the product
in action reassures individuals of its function while guiding them to a more accurate decision of
whether or not the product is for them. Create a sensory experience to engross the audience by
appealing to visual, tactile, and auditory faculties.

Make sure, however, to avoid talking about the product alone. As the product demonstrator, it is
your mission to also connect with the audience and act as the mediator between customer and
product. Open the dialogue of the presentation to the audience. Ask them questions and retain an

51
atmosphere that facilitates discussion. It is important to draw people’s focus to the demonstration
and one of the best ways to do this is involving them in the conversation.  

2. Find Your Angle

Chances are, your product has competition. Consumers want the best product and at the best deal
possible. To make your product dazzle potential customers, hone in on the components that make
it unique. Research your competition to find the strengths that your product has that others might
be lacking. Find your stand out feature and highlight it in the demonstration to go for the “wow”
effect.

Creativity is your best tool when creating an angle to market your product. The more inventive
you are, the more you can differentiate yourself. Think of novel ways to present otherwise
‘ordinary’ products by constructing fun demos that spin your product in a new light. Tell the
story behind your product to strengthen its individuality and frame it around your company. 

3. Focus on the Buyer

Although your product demonstration is about your product, it's not really about your product.
It's about the customer. One of the first things that should be addressed in the demo is the
problem or concern that drives the consumer to the product. This will catch their attention by
cultivating a need as opposed to a want. Be relevant to the current needs and circumstances of
your audience, as well, to keep your presentation engaging. Maintain a tight time frame to
maintain your audience’s attention. Define your point concisely and don’t let it drag on. Be short
and concise to not beguile your audience. Straightforwardness is key.

When crafting your product demo, use language that someone unfamiliar with your product will
understand. While your presentation may make perfect sense to you, it may not to someone with
no background knowledge. Simplicity makes for an approachable demonstration that customers
won’t shy away from 

4. Prepare and Practice

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Before you go into your product demonstration, you should know the demo inside and out,
forward and backwards. You should adapt your presentation to each demo depending on how
your audience interacts with you. It is necessary to define your target audience first in order to
tailor your product demo to make the best fit possible.

The materials and devices you decide to use in your presentation should be tested to check for
any errors. The last thing anyone wants is to have a malfunction in the middle of their demo. A
few run-throughs will prevent technical issues that may distract from the star of the show – your
product! Script your product demo beforehand, so you have a clear idea of exactly what you
want to say and the message you want to deliver. This will eliminate any unnecessary tangents or
side stories that might derail your focus.  

5. Look at the Bigger Picture

During your product demonstration, acknowledge the long-term scope of your product. Assess
the bigger picture that applies to a wide range of potential customers, then narrow it down to
your more specific audience. Try and foreshadow potential concerns, questions, and
opportunities that may arise during your presentation. This will create a smooth product demo
that can acclimate to the idiosyncrasies per each audience.

It is up to you to create the vision for your product that extends beyond its basic function. As
your produce personifies your brand’s mission it will reimagine the way consumers view their
need or desire for what you are selling. The way you structure your product’s philosophy and
purpose will be the determining factor in whether someone decides to buy. Give potential
customers a reason to buy through a convincing and appealing demo that seamlessly integrates
your product into your customers’ lives.

6. Be Personal

Product demos are a golden chance to put a face to your product. More than a feature of your
product, it is a chance to interact on a personal level with customers and establish lasting
relationships. Networking provides valuable insights to your industry and who your target
customer is.

53
Take the time to get to know attendees of your product demo. Be in touch before, during, and
after the event to strengthen the relationships essential to constructing a strong foundation for
your corporation.

5.4 Measuring Results of sales presentation according to predetermined criteria

How to Evaluate the Sales Presentation Opportunity

As a salesperson, you may have a knee jerk reaction to say yes to any opportunity to present your
product or service to a potential customer. With the amount of time and energy that go into
pursuing many business opportunities today, you need to make sure that the prospect is qualified
and the opportunity is viable before you start to commit limited resources. Being a top sales
performer requires being smart about where you spend your time and energy as well as having a
clearly defined outcome.

1. Qualifying the prospect

A prospect is someone who has expressed an interest in your product or service and seems like a
good fit for your business. Whether you've had an initial conversation or meeting with your
prospect or just been handed a lead, before you begin planning, make sure that you have
thoroughly qualified your prospect. That means your prospect should meet the following criteria:

1. The prospect has a need or desire for the solution that you provide.
2. The prospect has the authority to influence or make the purchase.
3. The prospect (or the prospect's organization) is financially capable of making the
purchase.
4. The prospect is likely to take action within a definite time period to resolve their problem

2. Qualifying the opportunity

Even if your prospect is qualified, you want to determine if the opportunity is worth all the time
and effort you're going to put into it. It's always better to find out before you've spent two weeks

54
preparing that your product or service isn't well-aligned with your prospect's needs. Here are two
guideposts for determining if the opportunity is a viable one for you and your company.

 You have a favorable chance. Being the odds-on favorite from the start isn't always
realistic, but it's best if the odds are at least even. Not every deal is in your wheelhouse. If
your product or service isn't an ideal match, you can't compete on price, or if you don't
offer deal-breaking features, you must decide whether to invest the time and energy into
pursuing a long shot. Reserving your resources for those opportunities where your
chances of winning are more favorable is better in many cases.
 The outcome is worth it. If you're going to invest a significant amount of time and
resources in pursuing an opportunity — true in many complex sales — you need to know
with some certainty that the payoff is worth the effort. Before you commit, factor in what
it takes to win the deal and maintain the business as well as less measurable
considerations, such as whether the partnership will be good, whether it can lead to
additional business opportunities, or whether it will simply be more work that keeps you
from pursuing more profitable business

Defining your actionable goal

Every presentation needs a clearly defined outcome. When defining that goal, the outcome must
be measurable and specific. Otherwise, how will you know if you've achieved it? Actionable and
measurable goals give your presentation focus, direction, and a clear call to action.

For example, a goal of "letting a prospect know what we offer" is neither measurable nor
specific. In fact, it's not so much a sales presentation as it is public service announcement
because no selling is actually taking place. A clearly defined goal would be, "to convince the
prospect to recommend our solution to the financial decision makers within two weeks."
1. Determine what the next step is in the sales process after your presentation.
For example, scheduling a product demonstration.
2. Identify the action your prospect needs to take at the end of your presentation.
For example, setting a date and inviting attendees to the demonstration.
3. Create your call to action around this actionable goal.

55
For example, "For next steps we recommend setting up a demonstration to key parties within the
next three weeks. Bill, if you agree, can you come up with a list of names of people who you
think would benefit from attending?"

Self-check questions

Name: _________________________ Date: _______________

Directions: Answer all the questions listed below. Illustrations may be necessary to aid some
explanations/answers.

1. Define post-sales support?

2. Discuss different types of service offer after sale?
3. Discuss Customer and transaction to customer database
4. Discuss benefits of customer database?

Note: Satisfactory rating - 25 points Unsatisfactory - below 25 points

You can ask your teacher for the copy of the correct answers.

56
LO6: MAINTAIN AND UTILIZE A CUSTOMER DATA BASE

6.1 Maintaining Customer confidentiality according to Legal Requirements.

Customer confidentiality means keeping information about people who use your products and
services private. When a customer patronizes a business, he may have to give information such
as his name, address or financial accounts. Certain services or products may also be
embarrassing for a customer to admit he uses. Keeping customer records confidential establishes
trust between the business and the client. Certain types of customer information should always
be protected, especially social security numbers and credit or checking account. 
Client confidentiality is the principle that an institution or individual should not reveal
information about their clients to a third party without the consent of the client or a clear legal
reason. This concept is commonly provided for in law in most countries.

Client confidentiality is an essential part of business ethics. Serious consequences may occur
when there is a breach of trust from disclosing secure information. Client confidentiality plays a
significant role for professionals, such as psychiatrists, attorneys, and health care workers.
Fortunately, there are several measures you can take in order to protect your clients'
confidentiality.

When private information falls into the wrong hands, it may be used to perpetrate illegal
activities, such as discrimination or fraud. Defending these lawsuits can be extremely expensive
for employers. Several states have passed laws that protect the confidentiality of particular
workplace information. Disclosing sensitive management and employee information can cause
significant damage to a company, including:

 Loss of productivity
 Increased expenses
 Loss of employee loyalty, trust, and confidence

6.2 Accurately Developing Customer Records

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A customer account record is the basic unit of information about a customer that resides in a
CRM, or customer relationship management system. A customer account record holds critical
data about a customer, including the standard data, such as name, order data, billing information,
interaction information, and credit information. The main reason for creating a customer record
is to store relevant, and personal information about your clients, so that you can maintain a fluid
relationship with them, and essentially, so that you retain them as a customer.

Having a strong archive of all the files should become the focal point of your marketing efforts,
as well as external communications and advertising of all kinds. This is especially true if you are
running an e-commerce business, even if you only have a limited amount of customers, great
management of these records can help you plan, more intelligently, the future of your business.

Customer record model

So, how should you set out your model of a perfect client file? What should you be including in
this sheet to make it really useful? There are three areas that you must include, let’s take a look at
them below;

 Any basic data: Pretty simple start, every file must include the data of the client you’re
creating the record for. This means you need information like; name, surname, postal
address, and company they work for, contact phone number, email, and finally, the
preferred payment method.

 Further information: Within the file you should allow room to add any other relevant
information you find out about your client, this will help you deliver a more personalized
service to that specific client. Do you know when, in the year, they are most likely to
purchase? Find out as this is a good example of something that should live within the
further information field. 
 Trade data: The most important part is that of the commercial data, you should have a
history of your commercial relationships with the client, based on the expected data, the
sales made, and the difference between the two. You can record this history based on a
monthly or annual basis.

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By using the above information and including it in your customer record, you should have a solid
file on record. By creating a document that has the basic fields to complete, then you should be
able to store all the information in an easy-to-read record. Now you know what must be included,
you should begin creating and/or updating your customer records, as soon as possible to drive
your business forward.

There are many ways to collect information on your customers, including:

 customer satisfaction surveys
 feedback cards
 customer competitions
 Your website
 order forms
 enquiries
 complaints
 warranty cards
 customer rewards programs

By using simple software you can create a basic knowledge management program that revolves
around the availability of customer information. Have all the information about your customers
in one place.

 Using database to solve customers’ problems.

Get into the routine of bringing up client information as soon as you establish contact. By having
your customer's past history right in front of you, you will be in a better position to assist them.
By understanding the particulars of your customer's business you will be able to offer assistance
and recommend your organization's products/services. You might find your customer
complaining of difficulties in a specific area and be able to suggest they try a new product your
business is offering. By showing that you have the ability to access and use information dealing
with past orders, an organizational profile or other helpful information, you are proving to your
client that service comes first.

 Using database to improve sales processes.

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Create a special field and instruct each employee to input even the smallest complaint into the
database.

Database marketing is a form of direct marketing using databases of customers or potential

customers to generate personalized communications in order to promote a product or service for
marketing purposes.

There are two main types of marketing databases,

1) Consumer databases, and

2) Business databases
Consumer databases are primarily geared towards companies that sell to consumers. Business
marketing databases are often much more advanced in the information that they can provide.
This is mainly because business databases aren't restricted by the same privacy laws as consumer
databases.

6.3 Accurately identifying and following up Regular Customers

Customer Relationship Management is really important for many businesses, in particular, small

ones, as it is the focus point of sales and marketing strategies. At the center of a business’ CRM
is their customer database, which is a really helpful tool enabling them to; identify customer
trends, create customer loyalty and increase their customer communication. All businesses have
a customer database, whether it is a computerized system or a piece of paper with names and
details written on.
Ways on how to create and maintain your database in order to get the most out of
it.
 Setting Objectives:
As with many business operations, it is always a good idea to start by setting objectives.
Thus provide yourself and your team with a target to focus on, and a time scale in which
to measure your progress against. Setting objectives for your customer database will also
help you identify what data you need to collect from your customers
 Creating your Database

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When creating your database it is important to remember that it must be easy to add and
update files. Therefore ensure your database has a clear and easy to use structure and is
stored in an accessible area for all database users. Also, make sure that all database users
receive adequate training on how to use and maintain the database, to reduce the chance
of errors.
 Updating your Database
Under the Data Protection Act, you are legally responsible for ensuring that any data
you store is accurate and up to date. It is also important that you ensure your data is up
to date so that you are not wasting time and money using incorrect data.  To keep your
data up to date, regularly ask customers if their data has changed from that which you
already have. You should also encourage employees to also make updates and train them
to correctly make these updates.
 Protecting your Database
Protect your database; ensure yourself or whoever is in charge, takes frequent backups.
These backups should then be labeled clearly and stored in a safe location, so that if an
error does occur you do not lose all your data.
 Filling your database
To fill your database you will need to collect your customer data, this is best done when
customers begin using your business. The type of data you collect from your customers
will depend upon your objective or objectives that you initially set. Examples include;
name, date of birth, contact information and their likes and interests. Remember to fill
your database with correct and up to date data in order for it to be successful.
 Reviewing your Database
Measure the success of your database by reviewing the data it contains and the activities
you have used it for, at regular intervals. Keep an eye on the rest of the market as well to
see if there are any other activities you can use your database for, and generally offer a
better customer service.
There are several ways a customer database can be used by companies.
 Identifying prospects  
 Which customer should receive promotional?
 Increase customer

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  Reactivating customers 
 Avoid common database pitfalls 

6.4 Accurately Utilizing Customer records to Advise Customers

The following guidance is designed to assist businesses that are required to collect contact
information by Orders or Directions:

1. You should only collect the personal information required under the Direction or
Order.
You are not permitted to collect any additional personal information for contact tracing
purposes.
2. You should notify individuals before you collect the personal information.
You must clearly inform an individual of the matters set out in APP 5, including what
information you are collecting, that the collection is required by law, the purposes of
collection, who the information will be disclosed to and the consequences of failing to
provide the information. You can do this by displaying a prominent notice on your
premises and website, and reiterating the information when you talk to your customer or
client.
3. You should securely store this information once you have collected it.
Do not place the names and phone numbers or other details in a book or on a notepad or
computer screen where customers may see it. You should restrict access to the
information to only those staff in your business who need to see it and ensure that the
information is secured and protected at all times. It may be best to record the personal
information you collect for contact tracing purposes in a separate record (rather than
recording all details in your booking system, for example). This will ensure that you can
keep the information secure and destroy it once it is no longer needed.
4. You should only provide this information to relevant health authorities who
undertake contact tracing activities, when requested to do so.
Contact tracing is undertaken exclusively by State and Territory health authorities, and
you should only disclose the information to health authorities when they request it for
contact tracing purposes.

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 5. You should destroy this information once it is no longer reasonably necessary for
the purpose of contact tracing.
You should destroy the information once you are no longer required to keep it. If there is
no set period for which you must retain the information under the Order or Direction, you
should destroy it after a reasonable period of time. 

6.5 Implementing Customer clubs and Reward Schemes

Understanding the basics

The Regular Customer: The frequently returning customer that actively and consistently
chooses your products and services over the competition.

The Loyal Customer: Your brand ambassadors, the customers that are not only regular, but
actively recommend your brand to their friends and family.

It is these two groups that sit at the heart of your business growth, and it is these two groups that
will form the core of your Customer Club. As we discuss in our article about Customer Loyalty,
building that loyalty is essential to your continued success and research collated by Small
Business Trends makes this abundantly clear:

 The probability of selling to an existing customer is between 60-70%, whilst to a new

prospect it is only between 5-20% (Marketing Metrics)
 80% of future profits are likely to come from 20% of your existing customers (Customer
Thermometer)
 65% of a company’s business comes from existing customers
 Repeat customers spend at least 33% more than new ones

If your data reveals a consistent pattern of both regular and loyal customers visiting your shop,
you’ll know that you’re already doing the right sort of things to generate loyalty. If not, then a
Customer Club is not the solution. Alone, it will not solve the issues you are facing – you need to
find out what else it is that you are not doing first in order to make your business fly. 
A Customer Club is a brilliant tool and implemented well it will help immensely with your

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bottom line and your brand reputation, but it is not the answer to a poor product, poor marketing
or poor service.

Keep on keeping on

All that said and done, a Customer Club is the logical extension of the very best of your existing
marketing efforts. You will use it to further optimize engagement with your most loyal
customers, to further nudge your regular customers into this loyalty niche, and together with
all your other wares to catch the eye of the casual passer-by that’s popped in merely to have a
nose around. Your Customer Club can draw on any number of ideas, depending on the nature of
your business and the products or services you provide. 

How you combine them to create a successful club of your own is entirely up to you, and as with
all things, this will necessitate a certain degree of trial and error. But, as the old adage goes,
“nothing ventured, nothing gained”. 

There are many tools at our disposal that you can use in building your Customer Club, such as:

 Club Points – for a variety of redemption purposes.

 Unique Club Rewards
 Club Coupons
 Invitations to “Exclusive Brand Premieres”
 Club-only nights/events at bricks and mortar outlets
 Privileged early access to new products
 Free merchandise
 Unique Club-only merchandise
 Birthday deals
 Brand ambassador opportunities
 Affiliate programme opportunities

You don’t have to use all of these; your business and your available resources will dictate what is
appropriate. Nor is this a definitive and exhaustive list of the tools available to you – you will
find your own twist and “flavor” to make your club perfectly reflect your users. What is always

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important to bear in mind – and make abundantly clear to all your prospects and existing users –
is that your Customer Club is not merely your contact list. 

It is something special, something unique, something worthwhile, and, critically, something

desirable. From a purely practical point of view, in terms of enriching and using your data
creatively, building a Customer Club is a first-class tool for gathering behavioral and qualitative
data, so from this perspective alone it is a very worthwhile use of your time. 

Never forget that loyal and engaged customers are much more likely to offer up their pearls of
wisdom and offer feedback on where you are going both right and wrong with your products and
services, and your sales and marketing efforts.

No two Customer Clubs are entirely the same

Of course they’re not, but that said, creating a worthwhile and successful club will always
benefit from following the same simple set-up guidelines:

 Plan your customer club

 Develop your customer club
 Test your customer club
 Optimize, adapt and improve your customer club

Plan

As with anything, having a plan is the foundation of success. Of course, this plan may change
over time, it would be amazing if it didn’t, and this plan may vary given the specifics of your
business, but you should include the following in your plan:

 Set goals for your Customer Club: Why do you want a Customer Club and what do you
want it to achieve? The benefits to you that your club could provide include (and are not
limited to):

– Preventing customer churn/mix

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 – Win-backs – encouraging lapsed customers to return

– Improving the profitability of existing customers’ transactions

– Collecting data to deepen your understanding of your customers as a whole

 Pinpoint your key customers: Who are your best customers? Bear in mind that just
being a regular customer is not necessarily the best criterion, this frequency needs to be
seen in the context of profitability. Use a CRM (customer relationship management)
solution to help you identify who your most profitable customer groups are, and how,
where and when you engage with them.

 Likes/Dislikes: Taking the time to understand what it is that you’re most loyal customers
like and dislike about your products and services will enable you to create genuinely
meaningful and relevant rewards.

 What kind of Club are you? This will depend upon your line of business and reflect
how you want your Customer Club to appeal to your most loyal customers. But things to
consider would be whether the club is open to all to join, if customers need to fulfil
certain criteria to join, if there is an “invitation only” exclusivity about it, or indeed any
combination of the above and other criteria.
 Will it include a points system, or is it driven by spend/profitability? The important
thing here is always to focus on your users’ needs, and what it is you have discerned from
their likes and dislikes that will encourage them to engage with the club.  
 Tracking engagement: How is your audience engaging with the club? Establish relevant
track able KPIs that will give you the insights you need to understand the effectiveness of
your Customer Club.

Develop

Getting practical, you will then need to fine tune your plan.

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  Club rules: Make them crystal clear for both participating and potential customers. How
do they join, what are the rewards, and how can they benefit from being a club member?
Do NOT over-complicate things.

 Club “currency”: Establish what it is that you will use to reward your club members,
will it be coupons and/or codes? Can they be redeemed only in your online or bricks and
mortar stores, or can they be used in both? Consider if you want to issue a reward that is
designed to increase in-store footfall to physical locations, or to drive traffic to your
online shop. Do your customers prefer to have a physical, tangible gift certificate, are
they happy to print-at-home, or are they more engaged with things like QR codes? 

Test (and test again)

This is absolutely vital and should form an on-going part of your club strategy. As with all things
commercial, something may change in the marketplace, or with the perception of your brand,
that will create challenges for your club, so be sure that your club is always providing your
members with something that reflects and rewards their wants and needs.

 Assuming this is your first club, start with a pilot version that engages and includes the
very best of your customers. Make them part of the success and let them know they are
vital to its development. Reward them with something extra for their engagement at this
stage.
 Keep your club fresh, optimize what works, and change what doesn’t, but most of all
ASK your club members what is and what isn’t working for them. They are your
ambassadors, engage them. 
 Use their feedback to identify and iron out the bugs. Make it simple and easy to give you
feedback, again, don’t put roadblocks in their way.
 Evangelize! When you’re ready to go, get your email marketing and other channels
buzzing with the story. Shout it from the rooftops, and keep the networks chattering about
it long after launch

Optimize, adapt and improve

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You’re live!

You’ve listened to, understood and included the feedback from your “best of the best” into the
Club. Your Customer Club is up and running.

Great job!

But this is only the beginning. It’s a truism, but the cliché that “you are only ever as good as the
last thing you did” still rings true. The point of a customer club is to mitigate this, of course, but
that does not mean that you can take your eye off the ball.

Do Rewards Really Create Loyalty?

Company interest is justified. The theory is sound. Rewards can and do build customers’ loyalty,
and most companies now appreciate how valuable that loyalty can be. With each additional year
of a relationship, customers become less costly to serve. Over time, as the loyalty life cycle plays
out, loyal customers even become business builders: buying more, paying premium prices, and
bringing in new customers through referrals.

In practice, however, rewards programs are widely misunderstood and often misapplied. When it
comes to design and implementation, too many companies treat rewards as short-term
promotional giveaways or specials of the month. Approached that way, rewards can create some
value by motivating new or existing customers to try a product or service. But until they are
designed to build loyalty, they will return at best a small fraction of their potential value.

A rewards program can accelerate the loyalty life cycle, encouraging first-or second-year
customers to behave like a company’s most profitable tenth-year customers—but only if it is
planned and implemented as part of a larger loyalty-management strategy. A company must find
ways to share value with customers in proportion to the value the customers’ loyalty creates for
the company. The goal must be to develop a system through which customers are continually
educated about the rewards of loyalty and motivated to earn them. Achieving sustainable loyalty,
measured in years, requires a strategic sustainable approach.

The Rules of Rewards

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Some of the best examples of building customer loyalty through value sharing can be found in
traditional small businesses. For many years, successful neighborhood merchants and
restaurateurs have understood intuitively the broader strategic purpose behind an effective
rewards program. Such businesspeople make it a point to get to know their best customers
personally and often reward them with special services and attention—notifying them when
sought-after merchandise arrives, for example, or giving them a free drink or a special dessert.
They know that delivering increased value to profitable customers turns them into loyal
customers; and that loyal customers become even more profitable over time.

But as companies increase in size and complexity, their ability to detect which of their customers
are the most valuable falls precipitously. High turnover of sales and customer service employees
exacerbates the problem. Personalized customer relationships and the accompanying keen
judgment on value sharing disappear.

Large companies striving for increased market share, scale, and efficiency try to compensate for
the loss of personal relationships by using database marketing or sophisticated market research
techniques to target valuable customers. For those investments to pay off, however, companies
must also keep in mind the following principles of effective value sharing.

Self-check question

Name: _________________________ Date: _______________

Directions: Answer all the questions listed below. Illustrations may be necessary to aid some
explanations/answers.
1. Discuss the ways of maintaining Customer confidentiality?
2. Who are Regular customers?
3. Discuss importance of Utilizing Customer records?
4. How to use your customer database?
Note: Satisfactory rating - 25 points Unsatisfactory - below 25 points

You can ask your teacher for the copy of the correct answers

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LO7: DEAL WITH DIFFICULT CUSTOMERS

7.1 Acknowledging Customer complaints/problems and reassuringly supporting customer

Running a company requires handling complaints about defective goods, poor service, and other
causes of customer dissatisfaction. Here's how your company turn such grievances into
opportunities to build your brand and increase customer loyalty. Sooner or later, every company
is bound to get complaints about a defective product, poor service, billing issues, or customer
dissatisfaction of some sort. Consumer complaints are the downside of running a business.
However, in most cases, you can successfully win over an unhappy customer by engaging in
actions that resolve the complaint.

Consumer complaints are expressions of annoyance by customers about anything involving your
company, such as a defective product or unsatisfactory customer service. It's up to you to
successfully alleviate the problem by listening to the consumer so you can resolve the complaint
to their satisfaction. The way you respond to consumer complaints determines whether your
company receives good or poor consumer ratings.

Resolving Customer Complaints

When you receive a valid complaint, your goal is the complete resolution to the customer's
satisfaction. There are many ways to do this, but the following steps best help to defuse the
situation—and possibly even turn the tables in your favor:

1. Remember that it's not personal. Handling customer complaints requires complete
detachment from any personal feelings you have about the criticism or the customer's negative
emotions. Their grievance isn't with you, so distance yourself from the complaint.

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2. Listen to what the customer says. Listen without interrupting and ask for more details when
the customer finishes explaining why they are upset.

3. Acknowledge what the customer says and feels. It's helpful to repeat what the customer says
so they know you're listening and taking their complaint seriously. Telling the customer that you
understand they're frustrated with the situation lets them know you plan to fix the problem.

4. Understand what the customer wants. Carefully interpret whether the customer wants to get
out of a contract, get a refund, receive a replacement, or some other resolution.

5. Offer a solution. If you run a hotel and a guest complains that management was rude and the
ongoing construction too noisy, you may want to give the guest a coupon for a free night's stay
so that the guest feels heard and is willing to give your hotel another try. Coupons, discounts,
replacements, and refunds go a long way toward customer satisfaction.

6. Apologize to the customer. If you provided less-than-stellar goods or service, apologize—

sometimes that's all the consumer wants. Other times, the consumer wants both a refund and an
apology, but don't underestimate the power of an apology alone. Your customer service may get
rave reviews if you acknowledge that mistakes were made but you sought to rectify them.

7. Send a follow-up letter. You can send a letter or make a phone call a few days later—or even
the following day—to ensure that the customer approves of the resolution. Your letter can
include an acknowledgement of the customer's complaint. Let the customer know you're looking
into the problem and are being proactive to avoid the same situation in the future.

Consumer complaints can actually improve your brand and customer loyalty by requiring you to
reexamine your products and customer service. When viewed this way, complaints can serve as
useful business lessons that can help you improve your business, protect your brand, and
improve your reputation.

Successful small business owners recognize that customer satisfaction is one of the essential
elements of organizational prosperity. After all, providing quality service that clients appreciate
not only ensures repeat business from them but also encourages future "word-of-mouth" sales.

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But virtually all small business operations will sooner or later encounter customers who prove
troublesome. Customer service experts counsel small business owners who encounter this
situation to:
1) Determine whether the difficult customer actually has a legitimate complaint;
2) Determine whether the business can take steps to mollify the client's concerns (regardless of
their legitimacy) and improve the relationship; and
3) In cases where the customer is being unreasonable, decide whether the customer's value is
sufficient to warrant continuance of service.

Difficult customers come in a wide variety. There are those whose personality rubs you the wrong way.
They may not be difficult for someone else, but they are for you. Difficult customers may
include:

 Angry
 Talkative
 Demanding
 Impatien
 Indecisive
 Intimidating

7.2 Encouraging listening actively Customer

Why Active Listening is the Best Customer Service Skill?

The key to any healthy human relationship is effective communication. This principle also
applies to the relationship between a customer and a customer service or sales representative.

What is active listening in customer service?

Active listening is the foundation of effective communication. Active listening in customer

service means being totally focused on the words that the customer is saying, understanding what
those words mean and responding in a manner that validates what they’re saying.

Why is active listening important in customer service?

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Behind every customer call is a real person, looking for guidance or a solution to a problem. It’s
critical to engage in active listening in order to make that person feel truly heard, understood, and
served. The more empathy you have with your customers — the more you listen to them — the
more they will value their relationship with you and the product and services you offer. People
just want to be listened to. And customers do notice — nearly 50% of customers believe
companies act empathy when delivering customer service.

Here’s why active listening is one of the best communication tools every customer service call
center representative should master.

Customers want to truly be heard and understood

Vocalizing our thoughts and feelings, regardless of our gender is an innate part of our human
experience. In fact, we even have a vocalization protein in our brains! As humans, we listen to
far fewer words than we think about. On average, humans are able to actively listen to 125 to 250
words per minute but can think about words at a rate of 1000 to 3000 words per minute.

Customers Will Tell You What to Sell Them

If you listen to your customers, even if that’s just on social media or basic feedback surveys, you
gather a wealth of information about how your customers view your product. And this may be
wildly different than you think.

Many companies have made a success of pivoting to meet customer demands (ourselves
included) and it is clear to anyone that the best way to grow your company is by implementing
customers’ feedback. When you do that, existing customers will appreciate you even more, and
that’s how you get raving fans. Actively listening to your customers is such a successful
approach that more and more companies have switched to it over older models.

Actively Listening Means Asking Follow-up Questions

One of the best ways to reassure someone that you’re really listening is to ask a lot of follow-up
questions. This keeps the conversation alive!

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I can tell right away when my husband isn’t really listening to me, because he’s completely silent
while I’m talking. Sometimes this means he’s taking in what I’m saying (rarely!), but usually it
means he’s only half-listening. Ironically, it’s actually when he’s being more vocal – asking a lot
of questions, following up on previous points, and engaging in dialogue, that I truly feel heard.

It can be really tempting to want to wrap up each customer call as quickly as possible and move
on to the next person or ticket in your queue. But, the customer service representatives who truly
understand effective communication know that each customer call needs time.

Customers shouldn’t be rushed. Asking follow-up questions makes customers feel that they are
being given the time they need to voice their concerns and even ask their own questions.

One of the best ways to not have to rush a customer call is by giving the customer the option of
receiving a call-back. This allows customer service reps to really take their time with calls, as
they don’t have to rush through their queues. And, it makes customers feel as though their time
is valued, rather than being wasted waiting on hold.

Active Listening Fosters Understanding and Empathy

Most people call or contact customer service if they’ve encountered a problem with a company’s
product or service. That means, more often than not, call center agents have to exhibit a great
deal of calm and patience as they navigate each customer’s concerns.

Active listening is especially critical in situations where customers are upset, frustrated, and
perhaps exhibiting some hostility. By asking follow-up questions, relaying back their situation,
and empathizing with their frustrations, customers feel truly understood and taken care of.

Considerations for Better Active Listening in Customer Service:

1. Focus on what the customer is saying, rather than what you’re going to say in response
2. Focus on what the customer isn’t saying – their tone of voice, body language and facial
expressions (if you can see them)
3. Don’t interrupt – nobody likes to be cut off in the middle of a sentence.

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 4. Give the customer your full attention, and tune out distractions; definitely don’t multitask
while talking to a customer
5. Take quick notes, but don’t let them distract you from what the customer is saying
6. Occasionally repeat what the customer has said back to them, to confirm you have the
correct information, and to demonstrate your attentiveness
7. Don’t take it personally when a customer is upset – often they just want you to validate
their frustration before you can move on to a solution
8. Check frequently that you are collecting the right information and understand the issue
correctly
9. Do something about it later. This might seem obvious but you can do all the listening in
the world and it won’t matter if the issue isn’t fixed.

7.3 Improving Customer’s confidence in the sales assistant and Developing

Product/Service

What is customer confidence?

Customer confidence is the foundation of lasting sales relationships. It supports customer

retention strategies when customers know they can count on your business to deliver quality
products or services in a timely manner.

Ways to build customer confidence and trust

Businesses that know how to increase consumer confidence are rewarded with long-lasting
customer loyalty that drives repeat sales. Brands are making bigger promises about the product
experience, the customer experience, and its social impact. But buyers want proof that companies
are following through.

It’s not enough to tell customers you’ll deliver. Demonstrating your commitment to building
trust starts with these 10 strategies.

1. Anticipate customer needs

How do you build customer trust? Thinking two steps ahead of the customer is a powerful way
to build customer confidence. Anticipating a customer's product or service needs before they

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arise makes shoppers feel understood and taken care of.

Customer service software tracks buying habits and preferences. Businesses can then send
reminders to reorder a product on a timetable that matches their habits.

2. Be transparent about product knowledge

There’s a degree of "faking it until you make it" that comes with learning a new job, service, or
product. However, recognize the clear distinction between summoning self-confidence and
providing inaccurate information to customers.

Here’s how you and your employees can be poised without being misleading.

 Don’t be afraid to say, "I don’t know."

 Immediately follow up "I don’t know" with "Let me find out for you."
 Offer a timeframe for follow-up. "I’ll get back to you by noon."
 Communicate when it takes longer than expected to gather information. For example,
“When we spoke, I promised to have an answer by noon. The manufacturer is working on
getting back to me, and I wanted you to know I haven’t forgotten about you.”
 Follow through by providing details.

3. Own your mistakes

The wrong product is sent. The customer is billed incorrectly. A shipment doesn’t contain the
ordered quantity. Any employee, even hardworking, high-performing staff members can make an
error. It’s the actions you take after the mistake that has the most impact on customer confidence
and trust. Most people can accept a blunder when it's acknowledged, and a reasonable solution is
offered. A genuine apology and solution that corrects the misstep is a central component of
customer communication.

4. Be clear

Increasingly, customers want to know where and how the products they purchase are being
made. Be transparent. It's an important strategy to instill confidence. Try these tactics to offer a

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behind-the-scenes look into your business.

 Invite customers for a tour.

 Share videos that show employees working on a process.
 Post "behind the scenes" images to social media that make customers feel connected to
the production process.

5. Share customer experiences

Think testimonials don't matter? Think again. More than 85% of shoppers search for online
reviews of local businesses, according to a 2020 survey by Bright Local. Reach out to long-
standing customers to request a statement, and invite customers to leave a review after a
purchase.

It’s human nature to trust a friend, peer, or person with similar interests more than a company’s
sales pitch. Ask satisfied clients for testimonials about their customer experience that you can
post on all your channels.

6. Make the buying experience easy

No one has time to search clunky websites. The harder it is to find technical information, product
details, or purchasing information, the more frustrating the process becomes. According to a
Gartner survey, 77% of B2B buyers lack confidence in a company because finding information
was too difficult. Use these tips to give customers a reason to stay on your site rather than shop
elsewhere.

 Ask for website usability feedback.

 Have a person available to answer questions.
 Listen to a customer’s pain points in the buying process, and analyze the feedback for
opportunities to streamline your information flow.

7. Be empathetic

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When customers have a problem, the experience can do major damage to brand loyalty,
decreasing customer loyalty by as much as two-thirds. Showing empathy in customer service can
help shoppers overcome disappointment in a purchase. Offering an apology is only effective
when it’s executed well. Help workers prepare to offer an olive branch with these strategies.

 Listen to the customer’s concern.

 Offer a sincere apology and an offer to correct the mistake.
 Create a process to deal with angry customers and how to escalate problems for
resolution.
 Leave the customer feeling they got a better deal than they started with, whether it’s a
refund or a replacement.

8. Teach rather than sell

The days of the hard sell are over. A 2017 study revealed that customers are 131% more likely to
buy when they are given educational content rather than sales material. When customers feel a
brand is committed to helping them better understand something rather than just asking them to
open their wallets, it builds confidence.

9. Add a personal touch

Small businesses can leverage the power of the personal touch to foster customer confidence.
Taking the time to make individual phone calls to check in and sending handwritten notes at
birthdays, holidays, or milestones offers an invaluable human connection.

10. Follow through on promises

Trusted brands take action on the promises they make. More than half, 56% of customers,
believe that too many brands leverage societal issues to drive sales without following through.
Companies that make good on promises stand out from competitors by honoring their word.

Dove, a Unilever company, is an example of a business that has delivered on promises made in a
marketing campaign. Their Dove Men + Care campaign celebrates dads. The company lives the
philosophy by offering and advocating for paternity leave.

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7.4 Establishing mutually acceptable Resolution of Complaint.

What is a complaint?

The first task facing an organization developing a complaint management system is to define
what constitutes a complaint. Defining a complaint narrowly will exclude less serious matters,
and matters raised by people who are unfamiliar with the complaint management system or
unwilling or unable to access it. Adopting a broad definition of complaints will give the
organization a much better understanding of the range of concerns held by the people they deal
with, and will provide staff with an opportunity to improve relations with those who have
expressed dissatisfaction about the services or products provided.

The Australian and New Zealand Standard Guidelines for complaint management in
organizations -
AS/NZS 10002:2014 (AS/NZS Complaint Management Standard) defines complaints as an:
Expression of dissatisfaction made to or about an organization, related to its products, services,
staff or the handling of a complaint, where a response or resolution is explicitly or implicitly
expected or legally required.

Based on this standard, a complaint includes:

 A complaint about conduct, service or product – such expressions of dissatisfaction may

relate to customer service, quality of service/product, failure to provide information,
competence or conduct of staff, errors of judgment or misinterpretation of information,
decisions being unfair, unreasonable or lacking in merit, poor administrative processes
etc.
 An internal review of a complaint – a request for a review of the merits of a decision on
an earlier complaint.
 An internal review about how a complaint was handled.
 An external review of a complaint or how the complaint was handled – for example, a
complaint to the Ombudsman or another oversight agency.

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An effective complaint management framework requires an organizational culture that respects
and values the rights and views of people the organization deals with and other key stakeholders.
A commitment to good complaint handling is needed at all levels of an organization. It is the
foundation on which all other components of the complaint management framework are built.
It is particularly important that the organization’s head and senior managers:

 send a clear message to staff that complaints can be a valuable source of feedback on the
organization’s systems, services and staff
 emphasize to staff and the public that the focus on complaint handling is on fixing issues
and improving systems, not apportioning blame
 foster a culture of disclosure when mistakes are made – e.g. that disclosed mistakes will
result in rectification action, not punishment
 are active in requesting and analyzing regular reporting of complaint information
 Implement changes to services, systems, practices, procedures and/or products if
weaknesses are identified through the management and analysis of complaints
 Communicate to staff and the public changes and improvements brought about through
the handling of complaints and their analysis, so that everyone can see the tangible
benefits flowing from complaints.

Other ways in which organizations can foster a culture that values complaints include regular
training for staff, internal communication reinforcing the value of complaints, strong support
from senior management, and emphasizing complaint processes during the induction of new
staff. Staff at all levels of an organization are expected to be committed to fair, effective and
efficient complaint handling.

The behavior of these difficult customers can lead to people becoming upset, lacking in self-
esteem and may also lead to people leaving a particular industry. However, there are some things
that you can do in order to deal with difficult customers such as:

 Always assume that the customer is being truthful.

 Respect the customer.
 Listen to the customer.
 Show empathy and understanding

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  Do not blame the customer.
 Ensure that you solve the problem.
 Follow up

Today, quality customer service may be what differentiates a company from its rivals. Retailers
with poor customer service risk losing revenues, profits and even going out of business. But
retail pros know there are some customers who make offering high-quality service difficult.
First, realize you can't control anyone else's behavior. You have control only over your own
actions. But you can influence how customers respond to you to some degree.
Tips for handling tough customers:

 Get Control of Yourself

 Listen and Let the Customer Vent: 

 Show the Customer You Care

 Don't Blame the Customer or the Company

 Try to Solve the Problem, or Get Someone Who Can

 Finally, don't make promises you can't keep. Get help from someone who knows
more, is calmer, or has more power and authority.

On the other hand, if you mishandle it, and you'll watch the situations dissolve into lost business
and upset people. You may find yourself upset for days.  So, how do you handle an angry,
complaining customer? Let's begin with a couple tools you can use in these situations.

 Respect

Empathy: Put you in the customer's shoes, and try to see the situation from his/her perspective.
Don't try and cut him off, don't urge him to calm down. Instead, listen carefully. If someone is
angry or upset, it is because that person feels injured in some way. Your job is to let the customer
vent and to listen attentively in order to understand the source of that frustration. When you do
that, you send a powerful unspoken message that you care about him and his situation.

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Often, as the customer comes to realize that you really do care and that you are going to attempt
to help him resolve the problem, the customer will calm down on his own, and begin to interact
with you in a positive way.

How to Handle Customer Complaints:

 Listen- Listen to what the customer has to say. Even if you can’t solve the problem, you
still need to listen.
 Body Language- The way you stand and look at a customer can speak more than words.
 Apologize- Remember that customer who was so upset over the long waiting line? Offer
an apology

Self-check question

Name: _________________________ Date: _______________

Directions: Answer all the questions listed below. Illustrations may be necessary to aid some
explanations/answers.

1. Discuss types of clients and how to treat with them?

2. Ways of Dealing with Difficult Customers

3. Discuss the characteristics difficult customers?

Note: Satisfactory rating - 25 points Unsatisfactory - below 25 points

You can ask your teacher for the copy of the correct answers

Operation Sheet for the competency for each learning outcomes.

LO1: Practice Consumer Decision Making Process and practice ways of closing sales.

LO2: Practicing Price setting, price negotiating and demonstrate product benefit &features

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LO3: Practice post-sales support and following up customers

LO4: Preparing promotional materials and planning sales presentation

LO5: Practice sales presentation and product demonstration

LO6: Develop customer Database and forming customer club

LO7: Role play on resolving customer compliant and handling difficult customer

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