I needed to slow down the other day and was able to slip away from the world headquarters of Castain Training Systems to have lunch with my wife.
We decided on a Greek place a bit out of the way, but a great place nonetheless.
The food and the service were fantastic, I thought it was a tad pricey, but felt content, until . . .
I went to pay with my credit card and they told me (word for word) “We don’t accept charge cards. We’re a cash business”. Meanwhile, this wasn’t posted anywhere in the restaurant. Having seen Lord Of The Rings, I even looked for secret Elven markings and there were none!
Luckily, I had cash, otherwise I would have left my wife for collateral which would have served them right for the dickey attitude.
They Made The Customer Experience Difficult
I can tell you that I won’t go back there. It was out of my way to begin with and there are a million other places to eat in my neighborhood . . . and they all take credit cards.
They really weren’t that good for me to have to stop by an ATM every time I want to eat there!
Sounds rather juvenile of me but I have no need to carry cash, nor do I want to, because I have this crazy habit of spending what’s in my pocket. Go figure!
As a business owner who accepts credit cards, I can see their side of it and hate having to give up a percentage of my sales to PayPal but then again, I love making it easy for my clients. I have this crazy notion that it inspires them to continue doing business with me.
But wait . . . there’s a much bigger point . . .
From time to time, ALL of us are guilty of having policies that (unintentionally) make things difficult for our customers!
It’s Critical That You Do This Exercise
Mentally fire yourself from your company and then rehire yourself as your customer.
Take a look at every customer touch point (as your customer) and make sure that they can’t say “Well that sucks” at any point of that journey.
Note: Make sure you take a close look at the people who represent your company at each step of the customer journey. You might have great, customer friendly systems in place but a real ass hat interacting with your customers.
If You Find Things That Are Broken
Then you have a choice . . .
Fix them and make it customer friendly or
Run the risk of people taking their business up the street!
And stop kidding yourself into thinking they won’t!
What are your thoughts?
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