Three Steps to Get Referrals from Your Clients

This is one of a series of articles by Mónica Arias, Excellence Expert specialized in Sales & Customer Service for luxury brands based in Buenos Aires, Argentina. These articles will focus on ways that sales and marketing professionals in the jewelry and luxury industries can improve their techniques.

Have you ever made an “all of a sudden,” unexpected sale just because you were referred to by one of your clients?

If you never experienced this exciting emotion, I highly recommend you take into account and put into practice these three simple steps that will add value to both your work and your income.

I cannot stress enough the importance of counting on a strategy like this in today’s business environment. It is crucial because there will always be moments when, for whatever reason, you just cannot reach your established sales goal. Yes, I have been through that, and I know how frustrating it can be: no matter how hard I tried, how much energy I devoted to my work and how connected I was with my clients, my efforts were sometimes not showing any results … or so it seemed.

So one day I decided I wanted to change that. I knew I loved what I did and was pretty good at it, I also knew my clients trusted me and the products and services I offered, so I concluded I needed to ask them for referrals.

But, how do you start doing this without sounding like it’s a burden for them or without making them feel obliged or uncomfortable?

You can do this by applying these three techniques:

1)    As soon as you have closed and cashed your next sale, invite your client for a brief informal conversation where you can talk about the great times he/she is going to enjoy with the piece/s they have just purchased from you. After the talk, ask them the following question: “I am so happy you are already enjoying your new XXX, and, as you know I really love to offer this beautiful pieces to as many people as possible, is there any person you can think of that I could send an invitation to come over for a drink? It would be lovely to receive them and of course you could also accompany them….”

2)    Call up your clients every so often and ask them for referrals (you can use a similar question as the one above). Hard as it seems, if you have worked out your relationship as I have shown you on my past articles, this will be a natural step to make and, more often than not, your clients will be delighted to give you some contacts. Be ready to get eight “No, I am sorry” answers out of 10 calls (on average). It doesn’t matter, thank your clients anyway and follow up with the two new contacts collected.

3)    Go out, mix and network. Ahá! If a bell is ringing, it means you never considered events (social or business) as an option for getting more clients. Trust me, it is a fantastic source of acquiring clients and therefore, future referrals. Check on your local chamber of commerce, chances are you will find an event or two where you could find some possible ideal clients to interact with.

Today´s world is evolving towards a new understanding of the nature of human communication. It is really a must to be able to do it frankly, adding value and offering help as much as you can. Your customers will be your best allies when you need them if you have planted the seeds of excellence in your relationship with them throughout the years.

Learn to develop this strategy and enjoy a stable forecast of your sales conversion, no matter how difficult or complicated the economy around you may be.

Mónica M. Arias
Excellence Expert: Helping you discover how to reach your next level through excellence.
contacto@monicaarias.com.ar
Copyright 2012

Your Most Remarkable Emotional Tool: Surprise

This is one of a series of articles by Mónica Arias, "Excellence Expert" specialized in sales and customer service for luxury brands based in Buenos Aires, Argentina. These articles will focus on ways that sales and marketing professionals in the jewelry and luxury industries can improve their techniques.

If you are a good, experienced salesperson, chances are you love to continue your sales education. In fact, I believe that reading more and attending seminars and courses improves the quality of your customer service. However, it is not enough. Today, you need to learn more strategies. The main reason why you will be remembered by customers is what I call the emotional tool of surprise.

What do I mean? I will answer this question with some questions (after all, you already know of my passion for making them). How would you feel if you got something unexpected from a salesperson? Wouldn´t you agree that in such occasion your mind would probably make an effort to go back through its files and find the memory attached to the person who sent the surprise? Wouldn´t this simple act of being surprised make your day a happier? And because of that, wouldn´t you immediately attach this gesture with excellent service? Absolutely, is my answer.

Let me clarify. To send a surprise to your customers does not mean counting on a huge budget to do it. Nor does it mean hiring a detective to find out what each of your customers prefer (Once more questions are your best allies when it comes to learning about them).

Essentially, customers love surprises, and surprises can be strategically crafted for each of them. The more you know about them, the closer you will be to send the right surprise.

For example, years ago I used to have a client who loved dogs. She was single, lived on her own, and had two lovely dogs she bragged about all the time as if they were her own kids.

A few weeks after one of her purchases—and after having sent her my email acknowledgement to express gratitude for her acquisition—I decided to surprise her with something that would emotionally ring a bell in her brain and heart: I sent her two dog toys for both her “babies.”

Her response was amazing: She called me immediately to thank me for the presents, expressing her joy at watching her little pets playing around the house. She became one of my best customers for many years ever since. Budget? I believe I spent around 20 dollars for both toys (maybe less). Result? Outstanding: I managed to offer her my help for many years as a salesperson, closed fantastic sales, and build a strong and trusting long-term relationship that she still honors today.

Your surprises can also include beautiful crafted letters of acknowledgement you can enclose into lovely envelopes the color your customer adore, nicely arranged bunch of season flowers sent to office or home and useful desk accessories.

If you are the shop owner, your gifts will have to reflect this. Do not send 20 dollar gifts if you wish to make an emotional impact to your customers. I have met jewelry owners who did this (reputable, very well known ones, mind you) only to get logical, horrible responses from clients. I would suggest for example an original accessory like a fine pen—the one-of-a-kind- like that people adore—with your company´s logo and, if possible, the name of your customer engraved on it.

Love your customers. Make them feel they are special for you with surprises here and there and enjoy long-term happy clients and great results.

Mónica M. Arias
Excellence Expert: Helping you discover how to reach your next level through excellence.
contacto@monicaarias.com.ar
Copyright 2012

Crafting a Customer Database: Have Fun With It!

This is one of a series of articles by Mónica Arias of Excellence Consulting, a luxury sales and marketing consulting firm based in Buenos Aires, Argentina. These articles will focus on ways that sales and marketing professional in the jewelry and luxury industries can improve their techniques.

Your own sense of style, a smile and your creativity are the keys to crafting one of the greatest tools imaginable in your sales repertoire: the customer database.

It is no news that today more than ever customers in the worldwide luxury market are experts at searching the web for companies that match simplicity and excellence and offer superior items on a consistent basis. Moreover, luxury market customers have been networking through social media for years now and have learned to use social media to interact with those companies that get them inspired, effortlessly clicking the button to say “Yes” to the products they find irresistible and to recommend those products to their peers.

In this digital age your job as a salesperson has radically changed, as I have explained in previous articles. You now must move from the mindset “I know how to do my job pretty well” to “I need to learn more in order to serve my clients best.”

Don’t worry, though, there is no great mystery to this process. This is the secret: You must serve your customers in such a way that they feel and experience your excellent service during the sales process. More important, you must develop the ability to revive that experience of excellence long after the moment the customer visited your store or decided to purchase with you on line.

Start by asking each of your clients many questions (my favorite sales trick). Then, use the answers to craft a focused customer database that will help you immensely in providing superior customer service in the future.

An Excel or Word sheet will do as the place to store your data, but you might instead opt to hand write your own database on a beautiful and colorful notebook, probably posting there some encouraging phrases, shiny stickers or simply highlighted texts that can easily be retrieved when needed.

Let me share another secret: whatever means you use to craft your customer database, do it with grace and color; our brains work much better when our eyes are treated to lovely and beautiful images, especially if we create these images based on our own taste. Also, while you create your database, smile, even if you don´t want to. A key concept to remember and use: our brains do not distinguish between fake and real smiles, they just work much better the more we smile, even for no reason whatsoever (this of course is no news to seasoned sales reps).

Your Customer database is your best asset. Once you have crafted a list of each client’s information and have divided this valuable information into specific topic areas—name, address, language, likes, dislikes, family, product preferences, etc.—you will have an amazing tool enabling you to shine as the excellent service provider you are.

This gorgeous list, full of color and relevant information, is now your staunch ally, helping you to successfully pursue your unique "Emotional Strategic Campaign."

While enjoying the pleasure of crafting your unique customer database, think beyond the present moment to your of future fantastic sales. Fun guaranteed!

Mónica M. Arias

Excellence Expert & Consultant: Helping you discover how to reach your next level through excellence.

contacto@monicaarias.com.ar

Copyright 2012

Excellence: The Experience Your Customers Deserve

This is the first in a series of articles by Mónica Arias of Excellence Consulting, a luxury sales and marketing consulting firm based in Buenos Aires, Argentina. These articles will focus on ways that sales and marketing professional in the jewelry and luxury industry can improve their techniques.

So much has been said about improving customer service during the past decades that, given the global exposure of firms on the Internet and the world economic turmoil, one could easily assume this issue does not exist anymore simply because in theory, companies should have learned enough from the tough lessons associated with a poor customer assistance in the past.

Unfortunately, the problem not only persists but it has also become a real challenge to overcome, especially in the retail arena, and more specifically, in the luxury retail industry where excellence is non negotiable.

Customers are Kings (and Queens!). These words should be repeated like a mantra every day, all day long, by anyone trying to do business nowadays. And, more importantly, they should be put into practice just for the sake of business survival. Whether small or large, a company that provides luxury services or products that does not excel in customer service, even through small details, is paving the road to hell.

Let me give you an example: let´s imagine you may be inclined to get a lovely piece of jewelry for your beloved. The idea warmed up for a while in your head and the decision is finally made to visit a renowned jewelry store. You step in, confident that you will be received like a King—after all this is a shop you do not put your feet into everyday as it is the supermarket or any retail store you visit with certain frequency. Instead, you just get what I call “a scanning look” and someone with unforgettable body language clearly indicates you are not especially welcomed, even with a slight smile on their face. Believe me, you do not actually “see” this, but you clearly feel it.

You may think this is unusual in the luxury industry. It is my duty to tell you it is not. Reality shows that many luxury companies judge their clients either by their aspects, their race, their origin, the way they speak or move, they way they are dressed, and the list is endless. Moreover, they “rely” so much on their brands, reputation, tradition and marketing campaigns that they generally forget self-criticism and/or periodic research to understand what kind of feedback they receive from clients, how are they being perceived and, most importantly, if their customers  really like them.

Prejudice, unwillingness, lack of enthusiasm, poor or inexistent customer oriented training, payment systems that do not work properly after the sale is done, salespeople who are not trained in the appropriate way to offer a service of excellence to customers, the lack of a system to build trust and loyalty is only part of the problem.

Business owners and salespeople in the luxury segment have countless excuses not to address this lack of attention to their business core. Excuses come in all sizes and colors, and of course the matter of “budget” is one of the most common ones. However, excellence in customer service has more to do with small details, attitude and care than huge budgets.

People need to feel the great experience of having purchased with you, and you need to acknowledge that the sales process has evolved, so you need to learn how to transcend your clients` expectations by providing the excellence service they deserve. Always.

Mónica M. Arias is a luxury sales and marketing specialist and a Spanish and English translator. She has spent 15 years experience working in a variety of sales marketing positions for several multinational companies. She is skilled in advanced sales techniques and is a proven expert in person-to-person interaction—both commercial and personal. She can be reached at contacto@monicaarias.com.ar.