Boarding my flight yesterday, I was reminded of a time long ago when Frontier Airlines served freshly baked (well, re-baked) chocolate cookies on their flights. I don’t like living in the past BUT, It was a sad day, on April 25, 2012, when my boarding inquiry about cookies, was met with this response, “We are, but I hear from catering that this is the last time.” What? I looked it… Read More »Daily RICHual #36: The Price of a Cookie
In his landmark customer service book, Selling the Invisible, Harry Beckwith offers a three stepm approach to marketing your product or service(s). Step One is where you are trying to get what Beckwith calls, “a basic, acceptably reliable product” (or service). Step Two is where competition has entered the scene. Competition creates a need to listen to the customer, listening creates refinements and improvements. Beckwith says answering customers needs is… Read More »Daily RICHual #34: Harry Beckwith meets Barney Stinson
Hockey great, Wayne Gretzky, once explained that the greatest players didn’t go to the puck, they went to where the puck will be. Anticipation. Proactive playing? No, he showed us something new. He gave us PREactive. Customer Service is like hockey. While it is better to react than to do nothing, it is much better to be proactive than to simply react. Being proactive was a great idea when it… Read More »Daily RICHual #32: Gretzky and PREactive Service
After attending the R4 RE/MAX convention, I am reminded of the number of real estate agents that are not aware of the tools at their disposal. Most of the major real estate brands have spent millions of dollars attempting to give their agents an edge in the marketplace through a plethora of tools, systems and resources. At the same time, agents everywhere complain that their companies take their money and… Read More »Daily RICHual #28: Use Your Tools
When it comes to customer service, do your people perceive you as giving more or taking away? As we know, a huge part of customer service is perception. What does the customer think they see or think they experience? A group noticed two candy stores in the same neighborhood that offered, pretty much, the same candy. Kids, however, preferred one over the other by leaps and bounds. When asked “WHY?”… Read More »Daily RICHual #26 Customer Service: Giver or Taker
When it comes to customer service, do your people perceive you as giving more or taking away? As we know, a huge part of customer service is perception. What does the customer think they see or think they experience? I got thinking about this after reading an article on the website www.customerservicemanager.com. The group noticed two candy stores in the same neighborhood that offered, pretty much, the same… Read More »Candy Store Service: Are You A Giver or a Taker?
Without naming names, there are quite a few entities in the real estate business focused on delivering products, services, and methodology to obtain more sales. Some sell programs and apps, some sell their services, and some “employ” agents. As a trainer of real estate agents, I have seen it all and see more every single day. And while some of it is great, some of it sucks and some of… Read More »Daily RICHual #25: Train People to be with People
If you’re in sales or LIFE, you have heard the following word before…… NO. According to Theo Williams, the word no originated around 900AD. It combined “ne” (not) with “o” (ever) to give us NO meaning not ever. The word has evolved through the ages to include new phrases like no can do (I guess denoting non action) no problem (which actually means yes), and NOOOO WAAAAY. Because the average… Read More »Daily RICHual #23: What does NO mean?
Who invented the perfect sales presentation? Tommy Hopkins? Zig Ziglar? Benjamin Franklin? Benjamin Franklin? Maybe, he pretty much founded the oldest insurance agency in America and insurance companies led the way in early sales techniques. Nope. Not them, and not Thomas Watson of IBM, and not Dale Carnegie. Fats Waller. Who? Fats Waller. Thomas Wright Waller, born 1904, died 1943 in his landmark musical “Ain’t Misbehavin’” from 1929, wrote the… Read More »Daily RICHual #22: Who invented the perfect sales presentation?
Long, long ago, someone in a meeting in Beaverton, OR raised his or her hand and said, “I’ve got it, Just THINK about it.” Immediately the group idea expander said, “NO, Just DO it.” And so they did. That slogan has been used billions of times by billions of people who either want to take action or want to get someone else to do the same. We, as a society,… Read More »Daily RICHual #19: Just THINK About it?