Practice Unconditional Support

The customer is not always right. But their problem is always valid. Fix it.

In my first book, Zero-Time Selling, I described the bond of unconditional love that new parents immediately forms with their newborn infant. They love this small person and will do anything to protect and support him or her without question and without condition. This is unconditional love. You should treat your customers the same way by practicing unconditional support. They should be loved and supported without question or condition.The fact is that practicing unconditional support is easy to do. It’s mostly a matter of prioritizing doing the right thing for your customer. And it becomes a critical opportunity to build trust, loyalty and create raving fans who will happily recommend your product or service to others.Here are a few simple rules for practicing unconditional support.Rule #1: Customers identify more with great support than with great features.It’s so rare, and difficult, to be able to actually speak to a live customer support person these days that customers’ appreciation of great customer service has grown. In fact, no matter how good a salesperson you are, what happens after the sale is more influential in determining the probability of getting repeat business from a customer than anything you can do.If your customers' experience with your company during the post-sale phase is substantially different than it was during the pre-sales phase, then you, and your company, have a problem.Rule #2: The customer always has a valid problem. Much as horses sense fear in people, customers innately sense resentment and reluctance in customer-support people. Your company must treat customers and their problem with respect. Their calls are a not a bother. They did you the favor of buying your product. If you take care of them cheerfully and professionally, you will get even more orders.What if the customer is “wrong”? The customer doesn’t care about right or wrong. All they know is that they can’t use your product or service. If you let that condition stand for any number of hours, let alone days, because you are waiting for them to acknowledge that they were at fault, then you’re not going to get another order from this account.Rule #3: Do whatever it takes to fix their problem in the shortest time possible.Don’t burden the customer with your baggage when trying to fix their problem. If a customer calls and says the unit you sold them has failed and they have an important customer meeting the next day and need your product to be working. What do you do? Fix the problem. Send them a loaner immediately. Don’t get hung up in your internal processes, approvals and procedures. Make it right for the customer.Rule #4: Put your best people on support. Your customer-support people have to be problem solvers. They have to enjoy communicating with the customer. In many respects, a customer-support person must have qualifications similar to those of the salespeople you would hire to sell your product or service. They should be thoughtful, empathic, knowledgeable about your product and service, and aggressive in reaching closure on a problem.Insightful managers know that customer support people make great salespeople and view customer support as a stepping stone to an inside sales position. In fact, a good customer-support person will often sell more product than most of your salespeople.Rule #5: Be humble. Sometimes a product you sell just doesn’t work the way you expect or advertise. It could be an issue with just one unit, or it could be a shortcoming in your product line. Don’t try to bluff your way through these situations. If your product doesn’t work for the customer, take it back. Send a refund check. A simple admission of fault and a little humility can be powerful coming from a seller and will go a long way toward building brand loyalty.Rule #6: Great service starts at the top. The commitment to practice unconditional support has to come from the CEO and senior managers. It can’t just be talk. You have to talk the talk and walk the walk. Management needs to lead by example and practice it themselves. Think about it like this: If you were a customer of your own company, how would you expect to be supported? Make certain that your customer-support processes and staff are supporting your customers with the same level of care that you'd expect if you were in their shoes.Orders from existing customers are the least expensive orders to capture. Practice unconditional support to build your customer base and ensure that you receive even more repeat business.