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You are here: Home / Blog / Sales Problem? Solve it The Right Way and Keep Your Customer

Sales Problem? Solve it The Right Way and Keep Your Customer

October 14, 2022 By maurasf

solve sales problem

It’s only a matter of time when you have a sales problem. There is a right way and a wrong way to solve a sales problem. Do it the right way and you keep your customer. Do it the wrong way and you can not only lose a customer, but you might lose other business as well. Here’s how to solve your sales problem and keep your customer. 

Here’s the wrong way to solve a sales problem

You might think the prospect or customer might not notice the problem. You’re thinking that maybe you can ignore the problem.  Don’t even think that. Your problem is not going away.  There’s a big difference between patience and waiting for something to happen versus knowing something wrong occurred and it needs to be corrected.  

You might not have a sense of urgency to solve the problem. You might think instead you could respond slowly.  That is just as bad as ignoring the problem because your customer will probably get angry when he realizes you could have acted sooner.  

Connect with your customer the most effective way.

Above all, decide how to communicate with your customer. Do you want to email your customer to address the problem? Email is especially a poor option to handle a problem. Your only options are telephone or face-to-face. Email presents so many barriers to effective communication. The reader can misunderstand your emotions and think you lack empathy.  The problem becomes worse if the reader misunderstands the problem and thinks it’s worse than it is. 

Meeting your customer face-to-face isn’t always in the budget or a realistic alternative. Instead, the next best option is to get on the phone and talk with your customer. He can hear your voice and you can hear his to make decisions about how the message is being understood.  Focus on using your listening skills to the best of your ability. Listen for volume or pace increases which might mean anger. A customer might pause before answering which might be processing your message or even misunderstanding what you’re saying. Check often for understanding.  Misunderstanding is something you don’t need when you have a problem! 

Apologize and acknowledge the problem.

Offer your apology for the mistake. State what you know to be the problem. Include how it happened. Here’s an example. You sent a proposal with a quote to a prospect. You realize the quote is wrong.  

Explain to your prospect that you made a mistake because you didn’t include some costs. You can be even more specific about those costs if you can. Whatever you do, don’t blame someone else even if that’s the case. You are responsible for the work you send to prospects and customers. You missed the error. You’re now responsible.  

Give the customer some options about what you can do. You might have to honor what you offered and ask if your prospect can accept that for less than the contract duration. Consider all the options you could offer and present the three (if you can create them) best ones.  Realize that a prospect or customer might be unhappy with all your options and end the relationship.  You must be prepared for the worst. I’ve found that many customers will accept mistakes if there’s a sincere apology and the alternatives are reasonable  

Malcom Forbes once said, “If you have a job without aggravation then you don’t have a job.” In sales you’ll have aggravation. Now you can deal with sales problems and keep your job and customers. 

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Filed Under: Blog, Sales Success, Sales Success Tagged With: sales problem

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About the principal

Would you take auto mechanics classes when you buy a car? Maura did because she wanted to be able to work on her car. She takes that same approach to selling. She can show you how to get below the surface of selling to learn why and how different strategies work. She will show you which skills to implement that will shorten your sales cycle and increase your sales. She was Mobil Oil's first female Lubrication Engineer in the United States and one of Chevron's top 5 salespeople in the country. She knows what works for sales.

"I would recommend your work to other sales organizations who want to get better results from improved selling strategies."
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Sales Expert at Allbusiness.com

Selling is the easiest job in the world. Just ask anyone who is not in sales. Read Maura’s ideas on “more brain…less mouth” selling to make your selling easier and more successful.

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