I have provided advice on how to treat your team, your peers and your employees correctly. One area we must not forget is our biggest boss – our customers. Coming from an Asian background, it is pretty much drone into us that it’s our customers who are paying us hence they are always right and they are to be worshipped at every step of the way.

To say customers are always right is taking things too extreme, anyways the current trend is educating your customers. What irks me the most are errant sales person especially being in the sales and customer service line myself. If I can provide the sales and give the best service at the same time, I don’t see why some can’t, it is all boil down to willingness of individual.

The following are some tips on how I would like to be treated the next time a sales person approach me to sell his wares. You want my business? Then read below.

1) Respect
Please listen and respect when I say no means no. I don’t know you and I am definitely not trying to play hard to get even you look like Tatum Channing. So when I’m saying no while shaking my head furiously, retain some respect for yourself and walk away.

2) Increase your Persuasion skills
The hint for you to tune up your persuasion talk is when I hemmed and hawed, when my body language moved inclined towards you and I’m not folding my arms. That’s when you should aim for the right button to push.

3) Stop repeating yourself
I really don’t get it when a sales person just drone on and on like a broken record on the limited sales information or when they passed you their brochures and they are easing everything off the brochures. Hmm, why pass the pamphlet to me in the first place? Keep it and save the environment.

4) Know your trade
Something is not right if I happened to know your competitors better than you are. If I can counter off your benefits with theirs, you need to amaze me with your know how about your biggest enemies too.

5) Don’t over promise 
You promise me the moon if I buy the stars from you, I’ll do it if you show me the moon first. The guide to my wallet and my heart is under promise and over achieve.

6) Surprise & Delight
A sure-fire way to returning customers are to always surprise and delighting them. Not sure where to start? You can read it here.

7) MIA
I just hate it when my sales person went Missing In Action. Or in fact, even the customer representatives in the hotline disappear into thin air. That will definitely guarantee me taking my business elsewhere.

8) Passing the baton 
Speaking of disappearing, another method that will get me pulling my hair is when you pass the baton around.

“I’m sorry but I’m not the right person to speak to, I’ll transfer you to Barry.” Alice exclaimed.

“Carrie will be the right girl for you. She handles your account. I’ll transfer her over to you” Barry said.

“I’m so sorry! Carrie is out on maternity leave and won’t be back in 4 months time. You will need to talk to Alice.” Danny apologies.

“Alice speaking.. What? Why transfer to me? I don’t handle Carrie’s work. Danny is the one who is covering her..”

Me “Groan!”

9) Company Policy
Similar to the broken record, this one is even more frustrating because you are already their customer. So instead of saying “Sorry, it’s our company policy.” over and over again, please fix my problem, think out of the box, delve deeper instead of waiting for me to ask to speak to your manager. And by some magical means, Voila! Manager manage to give me some solutions even without any special approval from him or her.

10) Be a superhero
I was a sales account manager in my previous telco industry and I handled a fair bit of international customers. Not only did I need to sell them, I was their HR, their book-keeper, their accountant, their delivery girl, their customer service and even their technical support. I remembered I was awoken up by a call from some big shot in the company at 4am on a Saturday morning because he was having issue with his Blackberry. He panicked and complained nonstop to me how his Blackberry couldn’t detect the wi-fi signal in his hotel room. All I did was to ask him to reboot his mobile and his mobile latched on to the signal seamlessly. Troubleshooting only took 5mins but lending a listening ear? Half an hour. Yawn! Couldn’t go back to sleep after that but I got a complimentary letter from him later that week.

So think it’s tough to get me as your customer? Not really, just treat me as how you will like to be treated yourself.

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