Curing Customer Confusion

This course gives you a foundation for overcoming one of the costliest and most frustrating problems in the service industry, today: customer confusion. We're going to look at how to:

• Identify the effects of customer confusion: Understand just how costly this is, so you can help your customer understand just how costly it is. Learn how to describe and quantify the costs of not knowing and applying testing principles.
• Identify the causes of customer confusion: Understand the customer perspective and why the customer may place a lower value than warranted on testing.
• Cure customer confusion: Know how to counter customer misconceptions, apply facts appropriately, and persuade the customer to take the appropriate actions.
• Apply the principles consistently: Understand how to implement a program that drives repeat business.

This course approaches the customer confusion issue from the perspective of businesses that provide trade services, as opposed to professional services. But, the course is valuable to both camps.

Trade services involve specialized skills and knowledge, but not state licensing and board certification. Trades usually use tools. Professionals, by definition, have specialized training, state licensing and board certification; and they do not use tools. 

There are just a few professions—attorney, accountant, doctor, nurse, and clergy are the more prominent ones. Professions have less of a problem than other businesses do with customer confusion. The reason is state licensing regulates professions to such an extent that customers don’t have to choose between a low-priced, unqualified provider and a high-priced qualified one. Still, even professionals can benefit from this course because customers often don’t comply with recommendations and instructions. Further, professionals face legal dangers non-professionals usually don’t worry about.

So, a professional taking this course can apply the principles but must simply translate them to his/her own situation. Anyone else taking this course will have a more direct route to understanding.

Ten reasons to buy this course and know this material:

10. Most service people rely on their technical skills and lack the skills that maximize profits--you want to maximize profits.
9.   Confused customers create major stress.
8.   Having this knowledge allows you to focus on actions that benefit you, your employer, and your customer--rather than actions that may benefit none of you.
7.   This course is a lot quicker than sitting through a semester of college.
6.   This course focuses on what you really need to know, in a way you can understand.
5.   Customer confusion can leads to all kinds of problems, including loss of business. Curing that confusion improves your image and brings new opportunities.
4.   This knowledge helps you make the right decisions and reach the right people the right way.
3.   The right approach saves time and energy--and produces results.
2.   By taking this course, you gain insight into specifics of working with customers who don't understand what you do or the value of your services.

and the number one reason to buy this course and learn this material...

1.   You owe it to yourself to know this information. Why limit yourself to doing projects in a way that makes you a commodity vendor, when this knowledge can make you an indispensable asset to your most profitable customers?

Click here to buy this course

THE EFFECTS OF CUSTOMER CONFUSION............................................................. 9

LOST SALES UP FRONT....................................................................................... 10

LOSS OF CUSTOMER.......................................................................................... 12

PRESSURE TO COMPROMISE .............................................................................. 21

SHORT-TERM MENTALITY VS. LONG-TERM............................................................ 26

FAILURE TO COMMISSION ESSENTIAL WORK ......................................................... 29

EXPECTATION OF BAILOUT ................................................................................. 30

CUSTOMER DISSATISFACTION............................................................................. 36

CUSTOMER FEELS “CHEATED” ............................................................................ 37

LATE COMPLETION PENALTIES ............................................................................ 41

RESULTS DON’T EQUAL EXPECTATIONS ............................................................... 45

THE 80/20 RULE ............................................................................................... 46

DANGER!.......................................................................................................... 48

CUTTING CORNERS ........................................................................................... 49

UNSAFE WORK PRACTICES................................................................................. 54

NONSTANDARD TESTING .................................................................................... 60

REVIEW QUESTIONS.......................................................................................... 63

EDUCATION ...................................................................................................... 65

EXAMPLE #2..................................................................................................... 68

EDUCATION TIPS ............................................................................................... 71

ORIENTATION.................................................................................................... 73

COMMUNICATION .............................................................................................. 77

EXAMPLE #1..................................................................................................... 77

EXAMPLE #2..................................................................................................... 78

EXAMPLE #3..................................................................................................... 78

REINFORCING ................................................................................................... 79

COMMUNICATION TIPS ....................................................................................... 82

DOCUMENTING DEFICIENCIES ............................................................................. 84

REVIEW QUESTIONS.......................................................................................... 90

EXAMPLES OF TRIAGE SITUATIONS...................................................................... 92

TRIAGE RESPONSES .......................................................................................... 93

MORE TRIAGE RESPONSES................................................................................. 96

REVIEW QUESTIONS.......................................................................................... 98

UNDERSTAND THE CUSTOMER.......................................................................... 101

EDUCATE THE CUSTOMER ................................................................................ 104

MANAGE EXPECTATIONS.................................................................................. 105

ENGAGE IN CUSTOMER CARE........................................................................... 105

COMPLETE THE CONFUSION CURE ................................................................... 109

BE CONSISTENT IN APPLICATION...................................................................... 110

DEVELOPING THE SKILLS ................................................................................. 111

REVIEW QUESTIONS........................................................................................ 113