The fact is, consumers are now even more savvy, they can fact-check our products and pricing on the Internet. In most cases they can buy the same products and services elsewhere. Customer Service becomes the defining factor.

In a closing keynote I attended at an EMS conference the speaker, Steve Berry, BA, NREMT-P, talked through 3 things needed in the sale of any product or service. Not only do I agree, but they make for an extraordinary company, one standing out and leading in their sector:

1. to be technically accurate- know your product or service and all its details
2. to shower your prospects with customer service- always
3. to leave them with a WOW-factor!

Being technically accurate is HUGE, make sure your sales reps know your products and services from every angle. Quiz them, train them, make them know it, or get them off your team. Your sales reps are your front lines, they are the ones out there in the trenches, either making you proud, or not. Equip them with every detail they need to be technically accurate, every time!

Showering your prospects and existing customers with customer service is a leadership issue. It starts from the highest ranks. If you don’t have a customer service policy, make one. Define what it means to your company specifically, and then tolerate nothing less. Insist on, and expect, every person in your company, to shower each person they come in contact with, with extraordinary customer service.

The WOW factor is my favorite! Steve Berry told a story of an ambulance company in FL which increased their sales instantly in a very large retirement community as a result of their WOW-factor. In the ambulance after medicating a woman injured in a car crash, the EMT was surprised she was still crying and asked where else it hurt. She said her quadriplegic husband had to have medication at 4pm and she was the only one who could give it to him, if he didn’t have it he could have a seizure and die. So after the EMT brought her to the emergency room, he went to her house and gave her husband his medication. WOW! You know she told everyone in the senior community!

What is your WOW-factor?
What makes you truly stand out from the competition?

Customer service is everything; serving is the new selling!