?This business would be so much tidier without customers! ?

I am sure someone has whispered that in your organisation - but, out of ear-shot of management. But, let's be honest, customers are a pain and they are expensive to attract; let's eliminate them and make life easier for everyone.

You can't afford to have customers? turn your customers into clients

Companies use interruption marketing techniques, such as newspaper adverts, TV commercials, billboards etc. to attract customers, some may be enticed into your door, you serve them and they go. You then repeat the whole process again. It is an expensive exhaustive way of making a living.

Is there an alternative? The answer is yes. You don't have to have customers to grow your business and many businesses do not have customers, they cannot afford them.

Successful businesses have clients. Yes, they use interruption marketing techniques to get them in their front door, but then use permission marketing to change them from customers to clients. A customer buys a commodity; a client is in a caring relationship with your business. We are going from a process to a relationship.

With the above in mind, do remember the old slogan from South West Airlines? ?Customers are not No. l, they are No. 2- our team members are No. 1?.

If you work on your business culture with your team you will stop having customers and you will start having clients. People who want to deal with people and enjoy the experience.

The way your employees feel is the way your customers are going to feel. - Karl Albrecht

Having a customer philosophy could also be the demise of your business. Big retailers can afford to have customers because they can drive their business on price. Medium to small business, not-for-profit or service industries often do not have the buying power or marketing dollar to compete at this level. A change in thinking is essential for many to grow their business.

How do you get clients?

Potential clients are already walking into your door, but often they remain in customer mode, due to the indifference of team members.

This is more common than we would like to admit. A recent headline in the ?Strait Times? newspaper in Singapore was entitled ?Rudeness - It's all part of the service?. This is not unique to Asia. In the USA the ?Orlando Sentinel? newspaper had a headline ?Lousy service, get used to it?. We all have a rat-bag member of staff, someone who thinks they are doing the right thing but aren't ? someone who causes the team to cringe with embarrassment when they are on the desk. Sadly, it is often these staff members that the whole team is measured against.

This, along with research. indicates customers believe they are receiving worse customer service these days. Another reason to eliminate customers and get clients into your business.

Work with your team to improve your business culture, not only your processes and your team will start building a client-base that will grow your business. Hold a team meeting and use these rarely asked questions.

Are we recruiting for attitude and behaviour ? or only skills?

How do we handle poor performers?

What type of business would we like to work in?

What can we do to grow our business?

How can we change what we do to have more fun?

How can we share that fun with our clients?

What can you do

Training the team has to be an essential part of your strategy to compete with the box stores. Someone once said to us that they don't train their staff in case they left to work somewhere else. What scared us was the staff staying with the business as an untrained team. Investing in your team is essential for the success of any business.

The rules of the game

Firstly as a manager, you have to recruit staff with personality, provide technical knowledge to ensure they have confidence and then empower them to make decisions. Assuming you have the right team member and the right culture, you then have to introduce a consistent skills level that can be measured. The team member has to be much more than a sales person ? they have to be a host, consultant and seller, it's very complex.

Winning host attributes

Company wardrobe

Name badges

Positive body language

Pleasant tone of voice

Verbal welcome and farewell where appropriate

Winning consultant attributes

Is a good listener

Use open questions to start a conversation

Have technical knowledge

Paraphrase to confirm customer needs

Finalises transactions by asking customer if they require further information or help

Can communicate their knowledge

Think FOR the customer in anticipating their needs

Use the language of the consumer, not industry jargon

Can turn features into benefits

Winning seller attributes

Sells something then sells something ( offers more than the customer expects)

Promotes your brand

Top teams have relationships

The top sales teams form relationships; they don't have customers, they have their own clients and those clients on-sell your business to potential new clients.

What secret do they hold? The general rule of the game is they ask three questions about you as a customer: your life, your hobbies or your plans, prior to moving into the consultant role. These team members instinctively know when it appropriate to do this, as some customers are purely ?hunters? and only want a simple transaction. These people are excellent at forming appropriate relationship with customers and their average performance is higher than anyone's.

Remember the rules of the game: create an innovative business culture, recruit people with personality and then develop their skills. The key is really valuing your team and the role they have in your business, if you don't, they could be costing you dearly.