Have you ever felt like when you walk into a long dark hallway, call someone and hear only the echo of your own voice? Have you ever felt left to your own devices after buying a product? Have you ever sent an email asking for assistance with a product you purchased and they responded after several days, even weeks? Has your request ever been left unanswered?
I am particularly struck by the difference in service before and after the sale. NOTE: Again, it is not a question of generalizing, but unfortunately it is something that happens too often not to comment on it.
Before the sale, and depending on the product you buy, of course, generally everything is smiles, energy, positivism. The seller strives to make sure that you are going to make a good decision, because it is the best product for you and shows you, to your satisfaction, how his product will satisfy your needs, from top to bottom; He even got you a great financing plan that eases the burden of the initial outlay… Great! Reasons to complain? Well, you don't have any, because until now, everything is going great.
You make the decision, you buy the product and you already have it at home. Now what? Where did they all run? Is there still the same energy and positivity between you and the company as before? Usually not, and it's unfortunate. Just at this moment when you have the opportunity to share with the company your satisfaction (or not) with the use of the product, because now there is no energy, enthusiasm, or contact.
What changed? Is it that the transaction is already done, the payment has been discounted from your bank account, the seller has already generated his commission and one more sale for the month, and until then everything remains? Is it that the objective of the company was simply to sell you the product, to generate its profit and nothing else?
Businesses spend 90% of their budgets on reaching out to customers rather than listening to them. And we have the problem there. Once the sale is done, little effort is made to continue with the customer. Sometimes out of fear of the customer who complains, sometimes out of fear of the customer who changes his mind and no longer wants the product… and you can continue citing reasons, some better than others, but ultimately they are only excuses that justify the little importance that is given to after-sales service.
A few days ago I was with my mobile phone company making a query and I was very struck by hearing a message that said something like the following: "At the end of your query, we will give you the opportunity to rate our service", and although the initiative is It is great, really different that the company allows me to assess how I was treated, the fact that they will give me the opportunity to assess the service I received is still interesting.
It should not be something like "At the end of your consultation, we will have the opportunity to know your opinion about our service", because really the opportunity is not for me, but for them.
If I don't have the opportunity and the service is bad, I go to the competition and that's it. It's very simple, isn't it? If you, as a company, think that my opinion about my experience with you is an opportunity for me, I think you take it badly. Or at least, there is something that you are not interpreting in the correct way: the after-sales service is not a favor that the company does to the customer, it is an obligation.
Only through the after-sales service will you as a company have the opportunity to know what the customer's experience with your product is like, if they like it, if they don't like it, if they would recommend it to their friends, if they would buy it again, etc. Anyway, that opportunity is for you, not for your client. At the end of the day, your client will not care if, after calling your 902 number for the umpteenth time, his request is not answered.
If he gets a little upset, he might give you a chance. If he gets too upset, you lose the customer and that's it. A satisfied customer usually discusses it with 1 or 2 people. A dissatisfied customer communicates this to at least 10, and usually with more emphasis. Anyway, you don't know! Your client leaves with your competitors and nothing else. It is very simple and has no major complications.
I think it is important to understand that a satisfied customer is not generated before the sale, but after. If this is well understood, the after-sales service will be given the value it truly has and you will stop thinking that serving your customers well is a favor that you do to them.
It is the other way around, it is the opportunity you have to win a client for life.
Do you agree? Do you make a real effort to offer a better service after the sale and not before? Have you ever noticed how important after-sales service is?
