How to Impress Your Customers

The Magic Question

By Holly Buchanan, co-author of the best selling book, The Soccer Mom Myth.

I recently met with one of the best salesmen I’ve ever seen (male or female). He owns his own house cleaning company. Many things impressed me about him, but what really got my attention was one specific question he asked.

"If there’s one piece of cleaning that must be done in order for you to feel completely happy with the service, what would it be?"

He went on, “I talked with a woman who said, ‘my stovetop is really hard to clean, but when it’s really spotless, I am a very happy woman. Even if you don’t do a perfect job on the rest of the house, that’s ok, as long as that stove top is look terrific.’ Is there anything like that we should know?”

I hadn’t really thought about it til he asked, but, yes, there was something I was really particular about – mopping the bathroom floors. I told him so.

What a terrific question – and I loved that he gave a specific example. Imagine if you could get this information from your customers. What’s the one thing that really matters to them that you must get right. Even if you don’t do a perfect job, what’s the one criteria that must be satisfied in order for them to feel really good about doing business with you?

I don’t know about you, but I’m going to work that question into the introduction call of every engagement from now on. I hope you will, too.

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