Customer Service with Prospects and Customers
You Begin as a Prospect
You walk into a store as a prospective customer, a prospect. You are not a customer yet. Once you commit to their product or service, you become their customer. You have certain expectations. You expect honesty—in what you are told, and what happens throughout the relationship.
A mistake, too often made by sales and customer service people, is courting the prospect with great attentiveness, but treating them like just another number once they become a customer. Customers need to be treated with reverence, just as they were when only a prospect. Here’s an example:
Jo, St. Peter, and The Devil
Jo was treated like royalty as a prospect, but things changed once Jo made a commitment and transformed into a customer. He was raised Catholic, so when his time came, he found himself standing at the Pearly Gates. There was St. Peter sitting behind a large desk directly in front of what looked like an elevator door. Across from St. Peter, sitting at a large desk of his own, and another elevator door, was the Devil.
“Jo, you have been given a choice based on how you have lived your life,” St. Peter explained. “You will have a chance to take a peek at Heaven by riding up in my elevator. Then you can ride the Devil’s elevator and go down to see what Hell is really all about. You cannot go beyond the elevator door. When you have seen both, we will expect your answer to this question: Where do you choose to spend eternity, Jo?”
With the wave of St. Peter’s hand, the elevator door opened. There was a heavenly smell, like every flower in the world. Soft harp music filled the air. When the elevator reached heaven, the door opened to reveal a world of soft, fluffy white clouds. Jo saw people dressed in white in the distance. They looked so happy. There were smiles on every face as they bathed in soft starlight. It was heaven!
Jo thought, “This is awesome, so peaceful. I think I could spend eternity here.”
Not a Customer Yet- Still a Prospect
Jo returned to the Pearly Gates and the Devil was smiling as he gestured toward his elevator. Jo got in. The door closed. There was no harp music. Jo could smell steak grilling on a barbecue. His mouth watered. The elevator stopped. The door opened. Music filled the air. It was country rock—Jo’s favorite. People were dancing, singing, and drinking. People were making love. It was a festival—an orgy! Even the most outlandish New Year’s Eve celebration he had ever attended did not come close to what he was witnessing here in Hell.
“This is more like it,” Jo thought. “This is me—the party animal!”
The elevator door opened back at the Pearly Gates. Jo reached out, shook the Devil’s hand and said, “I’m with you.” Jo signed the ledger on the Devil’s desk. There would be no going back. Once done, it cannot be reversed. Jo didn’t care. He was excited!
The Devil himself escorted Jo back to the elevator and took him down to Hell. When the elevator door opened, Jo screamed in horror. “Wait, wait!” he yelled.
Now Jo is a Customer!
People were everywhere, screaming in pain, enveloped by flames. The smell was not like before; it smelled of burning flesh. He felt the sting of a thousand knives piercing his eyes. “Devil,” he cried. “This is wrong! This is Hell! Before there was an amazing party. People were dancing, drunk with debauchery. This is wrong!”
The Devil gave Jo that devilish grin we have all heard about. In his deep, resonating voice, the Devil said, “Before? Before, you were a prospect. Now? Now you are a customer!” Then came that repulsive, haunting Devil’s laugh that echoed in Jo’s brain. Jo broke down. He fell to his knees in tears.
The Lessons
There are two clear lessons here:
- In customer-service and in sales, be honest with all your prospects. If you are not, and they become a customer, the truth will eventually emerge. If that truth does not match what you told them, they will be disappointed and disgusted, and your credibility will be gone!
- Don’t ever get in an elevator with the Devil!