Clash Between the Brain and Customer Service!
We’ve all been there. We’ve bent over backwards to provide the best customer service humanly possible and yet still it hasn’t been enough. The customer has left without making a purchase or worse, has complained about “poor service.”
You stand there wondering what else you could have done to satisfy the customer.
Actually, the solution lies in the way the brain works, and what we are finding is that the typical approach to customer service is not triggering the reaction we want from our customer’s brains.
The big promise.
An article by Dr Jack Lewis & Adrian Webster tells us that “when it comes to delivering great customer service – perception is everything.” You only need to look at TV advertising to see that most businesses focus on the ‘big’ promises but Lewis and Webster found that concentrating on the big things while overlooking the ‘little’ things may be a really big mistake.
Remember that all our actions are triggered by connections within the brain. Our senses translate what’s happening against previous experiences in which the same sensation were triggered. Our present dealings are mapped against what we’ve learnt in the past.
So when a business offers a you-beaut bonus, that’s nice, but it’s not what triggers a buying decision. Creating the right atmosphere and meeting sensory expectations is much more important. For example, a juice store needs to be clean, bright and colourful, and give a sense of energy through its music and happy employees. All the customer’s expectations of “health and vitality” will then be met so they will be quite likely to make a purchase. It promises a reward and that’s what the brain is leading you towards.
Think about it. When was the last time you chose to buy something purely because of a big promise? A bonus? In truth, you had probably already made the decision to buy because your sensory requirements had been met. The bonus was just a – well, it was a bonus!
The disappointment.
Lewis and Webster also tell us that the reward pathways in our brains over-react disproportionately to losses in comparison to gains. That tells us that people will do much to escape the pain of loss and disappointment and it explains why talking about benefits is much more convincing than showing off the features of your product. Who cares if it has shiny buttons? All we care about is that it does what we want it to so we can relieve ourselves of one more worry.
If you can minimise the chance of disappointment, you reduce the chances that the customer will complain and possibly damage your business reputation. Don’t make big promises. Just tell them what it will do and how.
When you can influence the perception of the customer by showing how the product will solve their problem, you are much more likely to make the sale and gain a satisfied customer. You are allowing the customer to take your information, process it in their brains and build a connection between what you offer and what they need.
Most of us will be happy if the thing does what we want it to do, easily and as promised. You don’t have to do a hard sell; you just need to provide the right information and the customer will build his own personalized sales pitch.
Everyone is involved in customer service and in the sale.
Because customer service is a sensory experience, it means that the sale is not made by the salesperson alone, but by everyone, the customer meets, and by the atmosphere your business offers. The customer’s opinion of your service will be influenced by the way he or she is greeted as they arrive, by what they see and hear other salespeople doing while they are with you and by details such as overly loud music or having to stand in a hot/cold environment. It really is a holistic process.
Take a look at the sales process within your organization and ask yourself how it could be improved.
- Are you making big promises that actually don’t mean much to the customer?
- Does your environment reflect the message and benefits you want the customer to recognise?
- Are you giving yourself the best chance to meet your customers’ sensory and emotional expectations?
It’s possible that a few simple changes in your environment and the sales process will bring you some exciting new sales results.
Contact the team at LHQ if you want to build a high performing sales and customer service team and find out more about our Neuro-selling program!
Phone 1300 719 665 or +61 424 447 616
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