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Building Lasting Sales Relationships by Providing "Reliable C.A.R.E.™" To Every Customer: Five Ways to Build Immediate and Lasting Credibility with a Client!

Building customer loyalty is essential to effective long-term selling. Studies repeatedly illustrate that it takes more time, money and energy to gain one new customer, than to keep an existing customer.

For several years and across three continents, while conducting Service-Leadership© focused executive development programs, JEFF MAGEE INTERNATIONAL/JMI, Inc. (now www.JeffreyMagee.com) surveyed and collected information from more than 10,000 participants on customer service issues. Surveyed questions:

  • “When you are the customer and spend your hard-earned money, what do you look for from the vendor you go to?
  • “Conversely, if they did not provide you “X,” you would look for another vendor- partner?”

The research project across the United States, Canada, Australia, Europe and England revealed that customers measure their loyalty to a vendor/individual based upon the vendor's credibility. And credibility is measured in a combination of five ways.

This model is called the "Reliable C.A.R.E™" formula. You need to measure yourself personally against this model and then measure the others in your organization who deal with your customers (other sales professionals, customer service coordinators, billing representatives, receptionists...). But until you pass all five categories, don't talk to your colleagues about their shortcomings.

Whether you are engaged in B2B, B2C, C2C exchanges or deliver from a virtual or traditional market variables, customers want to do business with credible people and organizations (aka Vendor’s, You). Credibility is measured from the customer's perception of your ability to meet or exceed these five measurement categories:

  • Reliable - how reliable are you and what you represent? Do you deliver what you say you will? Do you do what you say you will? Do you produce what you say you can? Do you deliver on what’s expected of you by the consumer? This is one of many factors that create your brand – what does your brand tell the market about you and what you represent?
  • Care/Caring - does the customer feel that you genuinely care for them, appreciate them, respect them, understand them, have their best interest in mind? Of all of the responses in our survey, the number one responses were ‘appreciate’ and that falls into this second category – CARE!
  • Attractive - are you and your organization an attractive option to them as compared to others in the market place? Do you meet or exceed the initial expectations of the customer? Do you look professional, act professional, sound professional, standout as best-in-class, etc.?
  • Responsive - does the prospect or client feel that you address their needs in a timely manner? Do you deliver and follow-up in a time frame which is expected or ahead of expectations? Are you accessible to them and the marketplace? What touchpoints do you have and can you become appropriately more accessible and transparent in your connectivity to the marketplace?
  • Empathy - does the customer feel as if you understand and acknowledge them position or views? Are you genuine or phony? Do you make them feel safe in your presence?

Ironically, any new WOW business that grabs market attention, accelerates its’ traction to success, you will find that they are merely providing the marketplace Reliable C.A.R.E.Reliable C.A.R.E. variables. The consumer is easy to please, and not very forgiving when you fail!

Another way to benchmark yourself off of best-in-class actions, trade industry reference points, and what your best profile clients/customers expect, look into each category of the Reliable C.A.R.E. for endless ideas and answers.

So, imagine:

  • YOU are an Association and you are looking to evaluate why people love you (want to join, advocate you to their circle of influence and followers and give freely as they can) or hate you (aka are not attracted to you or to come back a second time to you), run the model and solicit feedback?
  • YOU are a Start-Up Business and you are looking to evaluate why people love you (want to patronize your establishments, advocate you to their circle of influence and followers and re-engage you freely as they can) or hate you (aka are not attracted to you or to come back a second time to you), run the model and solicit feedback?
  • YOU are a Military Leader and you are looking to evaluate why people love you (want to be a part of your Unit/Company/Command) and are proactively happily engaged or hate you (appear complacent, disengaged, bitter and never appear proactive in your Unit/Company/Command and look for the least to do for the maximum paycheck and are any winner is fast tracking themselves out of your presence), run the model and solicit feedback?
  • YOU are an Established Business and you are looking to evaluate why people love you (want to patronize your establishments, advocate you to their circle of influence and followers, re-engage you freely as they can, and speak constructively about you to their on-line platforms) or hate you (aka are not attracted to you or to come back a second time to you, and speak ill about you to their on-line platforms), run the model and solicit feedback?

If you can use this Reliable C.A.R.E. formula as a benchmark in evaluating your personal engagements with customers and score high marks in each category, then and only then do you arrive at the right to hold your peers accountable to deliver the same.

Consider designing a fast, simple evaluation grid for each of these “letters” and asking your valued customers to occasionally score you. Compare their feedback to how you would have scored yourself. You can use a score template of:

  • 1-point = did not meet customer expectations
  • 2-points = meet customer expectation
  • 3-points = exceeded customer expectations

You could further enhance the effectiveness of such a score grid by asking the same questions to Reliable C.A.R.E. formula for both the human equation (you) and the product equation (what they received that you delivered or facilitated).

This is a powerful means to influence the DNA of an organization to become W.O.W.® (the original 2003 book of the same name, that countless others have duplicated the book title since, https://www.amazon.com/Beyond-WOW-Defining-Customer-Service/dp/0971801037/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&&ie=UTF8&&qid=1506784637&&sr=8-1&&keywords=wow+book+by+jeffrey+magee) oriented and Service-Leadership focused!

This formula can be used as a template when interacting with any customer. You can reference any or all of these categories when designing a survey questionnaire to solicit feedback from happy, unknown customers and upset customers to gain their insight as to how they rate you in each category. Their feedback, whether in a phone conversation transaction, face-to-face interaction or other format can be valuable in determining future courses of action and interaction.

This insight can also aid in determining future product or service expansions, determining where to address labor attention and additions to process improvements for the sake of the customer to your core business!

In today's fast paced, highly competitive market place, your only advantage may be your credibility ... do you truly provide customers with "Reliable C.A.R.E™"?




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