Dave Kurlan is a top-rated speaker, best-selling author, sales thought leader and highly regarded sales development expert.
Alex Rodriguez, one of the greatest hitters, if not the greatest hitter in baseball, admitted that he used steroids when he was with the Texas Rangers.
Last year, it was Andy Petite admitting to using and Roger Clemens denying. Barry Bonds continues to deny while Jose Canseco was the first player to blow the lid off of the steroid scandal with his book Juiced.
The lesson here is that Andy Petite disappeared from the news the day after he admitted using steroids and apologizied. Rodriguez will be out of the news by next week too. Yet Bonds and Clemens, because of their repeated denials, will not only fail to make the Hall of Fame, they continue to be in the news despite no longer being active players.
Sales is just like Steroid use in Baseball.
If a customer attacks, complains, whines, demands or points fingers and you simply say, "you're right. I'm sorry," the issue goes away. However, if you get defensive, place blame, make excuses, deny the issue or fail to apologize, your customer will never forget and as a result, may no longer be your customer. The customer is always right - even when they're wrong.
How many times have you experienced the thick-headed customer service or sales person that simply didn't care about your problem enough to apologize and fix it? I've posted about these very issues with Verizon, United, US Airways, and Paychex over the last several years.
Many salespeople have a problem with doing this the right way. Their ego gets in the way. They cite principles. They won't allow themselves to take responsibility for something they didn't do. They let the truth stand in the way of the relationship and, in essence, ruin the relationship. While some people hold grudges, most people have a short memory and if you simply allow them to vent, it somehow clears the cache and then both parties are able to move on.
(c) Copyright 2009 Dave Kurlan
