KAIZEN REPORT – DECEMBER 18, 2006

“Give me what I want, not what I ask for.” I had a customer tell me that about 11 years ago when I was just getting started in the printing business. I had done his job exactly like he had asked me to, but it didn’t turn out the way he thought it would. Anyone in sales (and we are all in sales of one form or another) has a responsibility to do what the customer desires. If you don’t meet his desires, he will go find someone who will give him what he needs. The customer won’t always tell you what he really wants and it’s the salesperson’s job to ask the right questions and be an invaluable resource.

I had an experience recently when I was preparing for my wife’s birthday where a store gave me what I wanted. We planned a simple party for just the kids and us with a small cake that I bought at the grocery store. But I wanted to do something to surprise her. I went to Smith and Rogers flower store off Franklin Pike in the Melrose area of Nashville. I walked in to the store where two workers were behind a counter waiting for the business to walk in. Smith and Rogers is a wholesale type of flower shop, so consumers generally have to help themselves. It may have been the look of desperation on my face, but they could tell I didn’t know what I was doing. I asked some questions about pricing and where I could find the roses and vases. I knew that I wanted a nice rose arrangement for my wife, but I didn’t want to pay for them to arrange the flowers for me. They could sense that too and helped me find some nice flowers and added in some free baby’s breath to make my arrangement look more professional. On the way out he told me that I had 45 minutes to get home and cut the bottom of the stems off at an angle and get them in water.

It was the extra little touch of adding the free baby’s breath and telling me to rush home if I wanted the roses to stay fresh that stood out to me. He did not have to do that, but it made a difference. He told me what I didn’t know and didn’t even know to ask. That is our job as sales people; give people what will make them most satisfied even if they don’t ask for it. People call you or come to your shop because you can do something for them that they can’t. They trust you to give them what they want. You must provide solutions to customers needs. The successful salesperson will give people what they ask for and what they want and know the difference when necessary.

Innovative Business Products is here to help you accomplish your goals as they relate to printing, mailing or promotional items. You can reach Greg Eubanks at 615-586-4466 or greg@gregeubanks.com. The web site address is www.GregEubanks.com. If you find this helpful, please forward it to others you know.

Reprint permission granted in part or whole when the following credit appears: “Reprinted with permission from The Kaizen Report, www.GregEubanks.com, (Copyright, 2006, Gregory D. Eubanks).