Surface Ripples

If Only…

I had a memorable episode which showed me the importance of “covering all the bases".

For some time, I’ve been looking for one of those adjustable desks that moves up and down at the touch of a button.  I don’t like to bend over a computer if I only have a quick bit of work to do but equally if I have a lot, then I prefer to sit at a desk.  

I finally found my “dream desk” in one of our local stores.  It looked good, had the correct electronics, a wire holder under the desk for holding things like power strips and a hook for holding a pair of headphones.

So, what went wrong?  I asked the salesperson to show me the desk “in action” (i.e. make it go up and down on its electric motor).  The desk wasn’t plugged in to an electric socket, as the nearest one was about 3 m away.  Luckily, the store had an extension cable which it was easy to plug into that distant socket and then move closer to the desk.  We plugged in the desk, but nothing happened.  We looked for the instruction manual and here was the second problem: it was all in Chinese characters and no one could read it.

Where I live and work, three languages are spoken, one of which is Chinese.  Unfortunately, they couldn’t put their hands on manuals in the other languages.  So, there we were needing a “troubleshooting guide” and not being able to do anything about it…

I was more disappointed than annoyed.  After all the desk looked right, had everything I needed and if they had had one that worked and/or a troubleshooting guide, they could have made a sale. Unfortunately, it looked like they now simply had a desk.

We need to make sure we get the details right.  There’s no point in putting something on display if you can’t sell it (how many times have we said we wanted to buy a particular item in a store only to be told “Sorry, that’s just a display model.”)  If it’s a display model, and you have no other stock, then take it off the display.

Equally if something is on display and stock is available, sales staff need to know how to make it work, where to find the manual and the manual needs to be in the appropriate language.

In retrospect, all of this seems “common sense”.  However, it’s surprising how often we encounter cases where the “sense” isn’t so “common”.

What can we as business leaders do to make sure we cover as many of these little details that could lose our business as possible?

I’ve spent more than half my life delivering change in different world markets from the most developed to “emerging” economies. With a wealth of international experience in international financial services around the world running different operations and lending businesses, I started my own Consultancy to provide solutions for improving performance, productivity and risk management.  I work with individuals, small businesses, charities, quoted companies and academic institutions across the world. An international speaker, trainer, author and fund-raiser, I can be contacted by email. 

Labels: Customer Care, Selling, Teamwork

posted by William Martin @ 14:14