One size will never fit all. You need to see all prospects as individuals who need a program custom tailored for their needs. Great prospectors don't have rigid policies and procedures. Instead, they empower their people by giving them flexible guidelines to follow.
ACTION ITEM
Tailor everything you do to individual buyers and you'll win a lot of customers. Do you have rigid guidelines, rules, or regulations that you can't adjust to fit your customer's needs? Remember that one size does not fit all.
The more Mary Anne called on Charlie, the more she realized he had the potential to be a high-volume customer. But so far, all she had been able to get was an occasional sale. Walking into his facility one day, Mary Anne noticed a piece of equipment that she had sold him several months before stuck under a workbench. When she inquired about it, Charlie explained that, while there was nothing wrong with the equipment, it simply didn't work for his application. She immediately went over, pulled it out from under the workbench and told him she was going to take it back and give him a credit. He quickly explained that she really didn't owe him a credit, because the sales period had run out. He admitted that he had bought it in error and not returned it early enough. Because Mary Anne's company offered her guidelines and not hard-and-fast rules, she knew it would be smart to take the item back and give Charlie a credit. That one gesture pushed him over the edge, and he immediately became one of her highest-volume buyers and a most loyal customer.
TAKEAWAY
So many people are afraid of being taken
advantage of that they fail to realize that
98 percent of customers just want a fair
deal and to be treated as individuals.