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CURRENT NEWSLETTER
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Lindemann Chimney Supply sells wholesale only to the chimney and hearth industry.
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 February 2006
February 12th, 1809
 Wow, a lot sure has happened in the last 197 years since Abe Lincoln was born dirt poor in a log cabin in Kentucky. He was largely self-educated and taught himself law. He was the first Republican President, and was President
during the entire four year long civil war in which over 600,000 Americans died. He himself was killed by an assassin's bullet less than a week after the surrender of Confederate forces.
While he issued the Emancipation Proclamation during the middle of the war, he also delivered his famous Gettysburg Address. Then he gave our country many other valuable contributions, but most of us remember him as just plain old “Honest Abe.”
When it comes to customer service, honesty isn't the best policy, it's the only policy. Lying to or misleading a customer invariably leads to far worse problems than looking them straight in the eye and telling them something unpleasant they need to hear right now.
There are two real good reasons for being as honest as Abe with your customers, even if it is bad news.
First, being anything less than honest will inevitably catch up with you, often in the most unexpected way, and usually at the worst time too, not to mention what it will do to your reputation.
The second reason for always playing straight with your customer is that - this is not a news flash-customers respect honesty. No, it's never fun to tell your customer that there is a problem or what your thorough inspection has uncovered. But when you have to, make it clear that you will do all in your power to make things right again.
Your customer will appreciate your honesty and being a straight-shooter. They'll know that they can depend on you to tell the truth whether it's good or bad.
There is actually a third reason for always being honest with your customers: the way you feel about yourself. How you feel about yourself in your job is as important to your self-esteem as the way you feel about yourself as a parent, a spouse, or a friend. No job is important enough to lie for.
Perhaps the most important reason to be honest with your customer is that it allows you to be honest with yourself.
Remember, if you always tell the truth, you don't have to remember what you said!
I Know How You Feel
Sometimes, even when you've been as “honest as Abe” with your customers, you still might not be able to “close the deal.” There still may be objections you need to overcome. Most objections appear when, during your initial presentation, when you have failed to show how your products meet their needs, solve their problems, and/or fulfill their desires.
In most instances when your customers give you an objection, what they really want is more information on what you are selling. Think of their objection as them saying “I'm not sold yet with the information you have given me.”
While giving your customer additional information, you might want to incorporate what famous sales trainer Zig Zigler stated: “When an objection occurs, always use the fundamentals of feel, felt, found. An example is: I see how you feel! Others have felt the same way, until they found….” This gives you a little extra time and allows your customer to identify himself with others. This type of response will soften any objection at the start because you customer will feel you really understand.
The dictionary defines close as “to put and end to; to finish.” Or to you as the seller it means getting your customer to make a decision. In getting them to make a decision you need to overcome a basic human instinct that we are all aware of and that is to “put off” until tomorrow. We've all heard, “I'll have to ask my husband or I'll get back to you” too many times. Another basic instinct is that people fear making the wrong decision.
You can always “assume the close” with a question like; Would a weekday or a Saturday be more convenient for you? Remember the best close is always enthusiastic.
“Whoever is careless with the truth in small matters,
cannot be trusted with important matters.”
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