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Excerpt
Bruno: A win-lose agreement doesn’t only mean win-lose within this client. First of all, when this client is losing and on the other hand, you’re winning. You will definitely lose this client, and might even lose the potential clients that could have come if this client was satisfied. If the client was satisfied, they could have brought to your company additional customers through referrals. So you’re not only losing this client, you’re losing prospected clients or the chance of widening your network. So remember that every customer has a network, And when you satisfy a customer, these customers are more prone to recommend your company to their network. The opposite happens when you have them dissatisfied.
I always use a very interesting quote from Tom Peters that who always observed the famous management gurus and said that, “always under-promise, and over-deliver.” This means being humble with your approach. Try to show your products in a humble way, be not boastful about it.
And then try to surprise them in a positive way, try to exceed their expectations because satisfying their needs is basic, that is the standard procedure. But exceeding their expectations means going beyond your agreement or the signed contract. I always tell my clients a very simple example, here I’ve been based in London for many years.
I always say that little gestures make a lot of difference. Because you are generous when you’re focusing on them, because you are serving them, and not trying to sell them this or that. You are serving them, you’re making them feel comfortable about the purchasing experience.
Because customers want to feel comfortable, not only when they get the product. Even before buying the product, during the buying process, and after buying the product, we call this touchpoint. During the buying process, customers should be comfortable with asking questions, when checking the condition, when asking about usage of the product, or the risk involved with the product.
All these questions should be clarified before buying the product, the customer should have enough information to make a very well-educated decision. So after they buy your product, they should be also given a chance to ask for clarifications, on how to use the product or even a guide on how to return the product or get a refund if they are not satisfied.
So companies should always provide positive emotional experiences all over the process. Satisfaction of needs has an emotional basis. So when you satisfy a customer’s needs, this means that they feel well about your product, your service, and your company. So it means that they love your product, they tend to love your company, and they’re more likely in recommending your company to their friends and family.
On the other hand, when customers feel dissatisfied, they experience negative emotions. They will feel the anger, they will feel resentful, and it is all negative feelings. And these will drive customers to look for other products, and might even leave negative reviews online, or negative word of mouth. And this is very bad for the company and also pushes away all the potential customers that might have come in the future.
