Retail & Distribution Management

Building Customer Engagement

Selling Technique

Only one selling technique works and that is

Customer Relationship, CRM and therefore
Customer Engagement.
Kotler :
“The successful salesperson cares first for the
customer, second for the products”.
Selling is all about customer engagement.
Building Customer Engagement

Questions:
1. How many customers are satisfied with you
and your company ?
2. How many of those customers are engaged ?
3. How do great people develop engaged
customers ?
Customer satisfaction

Companies work towards customer satisfaction :

1. By providing best service
2. Higher margins
3. Fast-selling products
4. Caring relationships …

Question: Is that going to be enough ?

Customer Satisfaction

Gallup’s research demonstrates:

“Customer satisfaction is merely the foundation
for a continuing relationship”.
 Satisfaction therefore is an unreliable standard
for gauging relationship.
 Customer satisfaction is simply the entry point
for achieving a deeper foundation.
Customer Satisfaction

 Company’s most important asset is its customer base.

 Engaged customers are most valuable

Expectations from Sales People:

 Not just generating sales
 But generating loyal engaged customers
Because
 Engaged customers assure sustained profitable
growth.
 Engaged customers help you sell to other accounts.
What leads to customer engagement ?

Is it products + marketing + services + follow-up….

Yes, all of that and most importantly:
“How they feel about their interactions with sales
people or company people”.

Interactions should lead to

 Customer becoming more confident
 Gaining a greater sense of you and your company’s
integrity
 Developing pride in doing business with you.
 Developing a passion for your products.
Customer Satisfaction & Growth

In the 1970s:
 Quality and Customer Satisfaction were the buzz
words.
 US Car manufacturers were getting killed by the likes
of Toyota and Honda
 Intense interest in TQM.
In the 1990s
 Companies attained 80 % level of customer
satisfaction.
 As customer satisfaction level reached 80 %, they
became less valuable as a predictor of growth.
Success in Sales

 Customer dissatisfaction is a surefire way of loosing

business.
 But customer satisfaction is no guarantee for business.

Because:
You and your competitors will have close ratings.
Therefore:
Customer loyalty represents strength in customer
relationship.
What builds loyal customers

Gallup’s research on factors that cause customers to

stop buying your products:

 Dissatisfaction with product performance

 Customers severe when basic expectations – promise
that brand communicates – are not met,
 Freedom from defects is a minimum requirement and
no assurance for repurchase.
What builds loyal customers

Loyalty Components:
1. Likelihood to repurchase
2. Likelihood to recommend to others.

Customer Response:
1. Products high on quality ratings found favour on
repurchase.
2. Customers who felt strongly positive about sales
representatives were as much as twelve times more
likely to continue.
What builds loyal customers

Loyal and engaged customers have an attachment that

extends beyond “a good deal”

 Attachment
 Customer engagement is not a function of economics.
 It is personal and emotional
 People play a very important role.
Customer Engagement

While
Brands / Image / Reputation builds a Customer Base
People build customer engagement.

While
Each rupee spent on branding adds to brand equity
Each interaction by people adds to customer engagement.

Therefore
Customer engagement like brands leads to sustainable growth
and enhanced profits.
How do great sales people create customer
engagement
How tough it can be:
Gallup’s research has shown that “fully engaged” customers has
ranged around 6 to 8 percent to as high as 35 to 40 percent. –
compare this with 80 % Customer Satisfaction discussed earlier.

Four dimensions that comprise customer engagement

1. Confidence
2. Integrity
3. Pride
4. Passion

These are therefore building blocks of customer engagement.

Indicators of emotional connection

1. ______ is a name I can always trust.

2. ______ always delivers on what it promises.
3. ______ always treats me fairly.
4. If a problem arises, I can always count on ______ to
reach a fair and satisfactory resolution.
5. I feel proud to be a ______ customer.
6. ______ treats me with respect.
7. ______ is the perfect company for people like me.
8. I can’t imagin a world without ______.
Notice the word “Always”

 Building customer engagement is not a “sometimes”

thing.
 Trust has to be there all the time or there is no turst.
 The same is true of respect, confidence, fair treatment

Everytime we are having an interaction with a

customer, we are either building engagement or
eroding it.
Customers engagement is different from
friendship.
 It is not simply a matter of liking the salesperson.
 Customer engagement relates to the company and its
products and services and not only to the salesperson.
 Customers are different from friends and salespeople
should not try to be too friendly.
 There is no saying “The friend is always right”.
 Customer engagement is different from friendship.
Building Blocks

 Given that People are our most important asset as

companies seek to differentiate themselves.

 TQM & reengineering have squeezed defects and

costs.

 Technology has increased productivity and capacity.

 Now customer engagement is going to be the leading

edge.
Dimensions of Customer Engagement
1. Confidence:
Customers feel that the brand or company is
trustworthy and that it keeps its promises.
Software Salesperson:
“I never say that our software can do something unless
I am positive that it can. If I am unsure, I check with
our systems engineers and have them demonstrate
that functionality to me. I won’t sell it untill I see it
work.”
Building Trust with another person:
 Highly individualistic process – requires “effort”
 No simple formula but it is the first step in customer
engagement.
Dimensions of Customer Engagement
2. Integrity
When customers feel that the company treats them fairly.
 Customers are fair in their expectations.
 Therefore customers seek fair treatment
 They want salespeople to take their side and that sales
people work for them instead against them.

How an organisation and its people react to the

problems can be more effective developer of customer
engagement than problem-free delivery.
Dimensions of Customer Engagement
3. Pride
Customers feel good about the product or service and also feel
that using the product reflects well on them.
 What kind of car do you drive ? / What wine do you drink ?
Your answers to these questions will reflect the way you feel.
 How does the company treat me
 A Taj restaurant where you are a regular starts calling you by
name
What is he actually saying, “Look what a smart choice I made”. It is
indeed inspirational …like brands…
“I drive a Lexus”, “I stayed at Taj Westend at Banglore when I last went
there”……
Dimensions of Customer Engagement
4. Passion:
A strong relationship that exists between a company and a client
when the latter views the former as irreplaceable.
 When you bring new ways to do business.
 When you innovate on your customer’s behalf instead of waiting
for his request.
 Relent on Conflict of interest. Delivery at a time when it would
mean for your warehouse to be open late till 10 p.m. – If you do
not do this, you are competing with the customer.
Key Learnings
 Sales is about people who are trustworthy, diligent,
consultative and inspiring.
 Customer satisfaction + Emotional Bond = Customer
Engagement.
 Customer Engagement leads to sustainable growth.
 Customer engagement is tied with your own
engagement and degree of your fit.
 Using own talents at building relationships.
 Thinking about customers problems is key to customer
engagement.