Revenue Journal®

True story, happened this month.

A man has recently taken up the game of golf. He is working hard on perfecting his swing, visiting the driving range every few days to hit a bucket of balls as straight and as far as he can.

As the fall has turned to winter, he has found it necessary to wear some sort of winter gloves while practicing his swing at the driving range. Normal cold-weather gloves are either too thick or not "grippy" enough to hold a club properly. So the man decides to make a special trip to a "golf warehouse" store. It's a bit of a drive, but he goes there because he knows it has a large selection of golf clothing and accessories. He is expecting to find all of the different models of winter gloves, and try them on.

Let's stop this specific, real-life story for a second and look at the broader implications. Here we have someone with a definite need. Someone who has decided what would meet that need, and is going out of his way to purchase the best solution to that need.

This is the beginning of the buying process, a moment in time that happens literally billions of times a day across the globe.

At this very moment, someone has decided they need your kind of product or service, and they are looking for you. They are searching for you online, or by asking others. Or, even in this day and age, by looking in the phone book. Once they've found you, they will probably decide that you should be able to provide what they need.

No matter what the product or service, no matter how complex the buying process, it all starts here - with a moment of need, followed by the search for a solution, and the decision that a particular store or vendor has the right solution.

If this is your customer, this is your sale to lose. The buyer is ready. The buyer is coming to you, money in hand, with the full expectation that you will have what is required, and you will make it easy for him to buy it. The buyer has done his part. He's looked for you, found you, and is coming to you.

Now let's go back to our golf glove example.

The man arrives at the large golf warehouse store. He goes in, and walks over to the golf glove section. There are dozens of different gloves there, but he can't find any winter gloves, even though it's December. He goes to the salesman at the counter.

First he has to get the salesman's attention. The salesman doesn't seem at all interested in helping the man. The salesman is always looking in another direction and moving away. This is irritating, but the man did make a special trip, after all - so he persists. He finally corners the salesman, and asks, "Do you have any winter golf gloves?"

"No," the salesman answers, and turns away.

Now the man is really irritated. So he says, loudly, to the back of the salesman's receding head, "Will you have any coming in soon?"

"No, they were supposed to order some, but they didn't," the salesman says, over his shoulder.

The salesman not only doesn't care, but is now hostile because his bad attitude has been exposed. He is also playing the victim card. "They" didn't order the gloves. More importantly, "I" don't care. So what are you going to do about it, Mr. Pitiful Customer? Why can't you just go somewhere else, and leave me alone?

Sale lost. More importantly, many sales lost.

This same man will be making many more golf-related purchases over the years. As he walks out of the store today, he makes a firm decision to avoid this store in the future.

The man drives to another, smaller golf store, closer to home. The selection is limited to only two brands, but both are well-designed and well-made. The store had made careful decisions about what to stock. The man finds a great pair of winter gloves. This smaller store has just gained a customer that the larger store literally threw away.

Meanwhile, the owner of the rude-salesman golf warehouse store is running ads on the radio and in newspapers. He is busy buying merchandise and meeting payroll. He's doing everything he can to bring new customers into the store. But, when they get there, the salesman's attitude is driving them away.

There are numerous ways to analyze this interaction, but it boils down to one thing: The salesman didn't give a damn about the customer and the customer's need. Imagine if he did…

"Winter gloves? Oh, I'm so sorry. They were supposed to come in, but they haven't arrived. Let me check on the computer and see if they're coming in over the next week. I can call you when they come in."

Or, "Winter gloves? Absolutely. They're in the storeroom, they just haven't been put on the shelves yet. Let's try on a pair of summer gloves, and once we've determined your size, I'll go in the back and get a pair for you to try on."

Or, "Winter gloves? We don't carry them. But we should. Another customer came in the other day looking for a pair. Let me call the buyer right now and find out how soon we could get some in here. If you give me your address, and we try on a pair of gloves here to get your size, I could call you when they come in and send them to you after we've made payment arrangements."

Yes, or No?

I recently interviewed the owner of a retail store. This man owns a very successful small boat dealership. He's bright and driven. He has a rule, one that he drills into his employees over and over. The rule: Every interaction with the customer begins with YES. No matter what. Every interaction. Yes, we can do that. Yes, we have them, and here they are. Yes, I can help you solve that problem. Yes, that's a good idea, let me see what I can do to institute it.

No wonder he's so successful.

When your customers interact with your company, what message do they get from your people and your website? "Yes, I can help you"? Or…"No, go away and leave me alone"?

Want more sales? Focus on this aspect of your business.

• If you own a retail store, hire a couple of secret shoppers and take action based on what they learn.
• If you sell a business-to-business product, call some customers just after they make a purchase and ask them about the experience. In addition to open-ended questions, ask them to rate that interaction in terms of helpfulness, on a scale of 1 - 10. Call 10 customers a month, and keep track of their responses. This will tell you if you are making progress as your people are making it easier for your customers to buy.

• If you sell by phone, randomly listen in on customer calls (with appropriate legal warnings, etc.). If you discover that one employee routinely treats customers rudely, fire that person - and make sure everyone knows why you did it. Make sure the rest of the employees know that you will be randomly checking on their treatment of customers, because it matters to you.

Lou Gerstner's famous statement is true: "People don't do what you expect but what you inspect." You can't assume that your employees are saying "Yes."

Make it clear that every transaction must start with "Yes." Check - continually. Fire if necessary; it won't take much to get the point across. And keep checking. Someone who was good in an interview might be a bear behind the counter. One surly employee can cost you a lot of business.