{"id":3627,"date":"1958-04-01T01:00:00","date_gmt":"1958-04-01T01:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rbc.com\/en\/about-us\/history\/letter\/april-1958-vol-39-no-4-finding-and-keeping-customers\/"},"modified":"2022-11-28T13:14:33","modified_gmt":"2022-11-28T13:14:33","slug":"april-1958-vol-39-no-4-finding-and-keeping-customers","status":"publish","type":"rbc_letter","link":"https:\/\/www.rbc.com\/en\/about-us\/history\/letter\/april-1958-vol-39-no-4-finding-and-keeping-customers\/","title":{"rendered":"April 1958 &#8211; VOL. 39, No. 4 &#8211; Finding and Keeping Customers"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"layout-column-main\">\n<p class=\"boldtext\"> EVERY BUSINESS enterprise is made up of                     four activities: financing, producing, accounting and selling.                     Without selling ( the finding, winning and keeping of customers                     ) none of the others can stand up.<\/p>\n<p>There is no textbook that gives a ready-made plan for                     every business, but there are many little things that may                     be learned and put into practice as principles by anyone whose                     success depends upon marketing goods or services.<\/p>\n<p>The principles may be collected in a rough and ready way                     under two headings: (1) why does the buyer want what you have                     to sell; and (2) why should he patronize you instead of some                     other seller? The answers to these questions are equally vital                     whether you have a small cross-roads store in the country                     or a huge factory in a city; whether you sell your personal                     services or deal in the highly sophisticated field of industrial                     goods.<\/p>\n<p>A good policy for making the most of your opportunities                     is not arrived at by chance, but is the outcome of careful                     thinking about a number of important factors. The old idea                     that anyone with a little money can start a business is fast                     giving way to a realization of the value of knowledge.<\/p>\n<p>The most recent report of Dun and Bradstreet of Canada,                     Limited, on Canadian business failures points up sharply the                     need for study, preparation and constant watchfulness. Of                     1,320 failures in 1956, 1,273 were due to lack of experience                     or incompetence resulting in conditions such as inadequate                     sales, receivables difficulties, inventory trouble, competitive                     weakness and excessive fixed assets. Of ail these, inadequate                     sales afflicted 48 per cent of the firms.<\/p>\n<p>It is, then, necessary to know what people want and make                     it available to them in a pleasant and convenient way. The                     perfection of selling either goods or yourself is to appeal                     to people individually. By your personal effort you see through                     the buyer&#8217;s eyes, and know the things that must be cleared                     away to enable him to appreciate the good points of what you                     offer.<\/p>\n<p>John G. Jones tells an illustrative story in his book <em>Salesmanship                     and Sales Management <\/em>(one of the Alexander Hamilton Institute                     Modern Business texts). A mild, grey-haired man who was                     after a large machinery order said, early in his interview                     with the company&#8217;s president: &#8220;I&#8217;m not much of a salesman.                     You see, I have been on the buying end nearly all my life                     and I find myself constantly taking the buyer&#8217;s point of view&#8221;.                     It was not until he walked out with the order in his pocket                     that those who had heard him began to realize just how much                     of a salesman he really was.<\/p>\n<h3>Some things to know<\/h3>\n<p>Before you start trying to find customers there are some                     things you should know and do. What are your prospective customers                     going to need? Have you made an accurate selection of goods                     or prepared your services to meet those needs? Have you fitted                     yourself by study and inspection to demonstrate that the goods                     or services do meet the needs?<\/p>\n<p>Knowing how to appeal to customers through their particular                     wants is the secret of successful selling. People buy things,                     not for the things themselves, but for the service those things                     perform. They appreciate it when you show a genuine, friendly,                     interest in helping them to get the best goods for their purpose.<\/p>\n<p>There is a bonus value involved if you can send the customer                     away with a lively anticipation of enjoying what he has purchased.                     The customer has not bought a suit, but his appearance in                     it; he has not bought a vehicle, but a car of prestige; he                     has not bought professional service, but freedom from trouble.                     An advertising agency advised shoe stores: &#8220;To women, don&#8217;t                     sell shoes ( sell lovely feet&nbsp;!&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>All the deep-seated elements of human nature are concerned                     in your effort to locate prospects and win customers. One                     that seems instinctive is the desire to get value in exchange.                     Smart people are price-and-value conscious. They                     will not insist upon lower-priced goods if they can be                     shown that higher-priced goods will give them better                     value in use.<\/p>\n<p>It is, then, necessary to know your goods, to be able to                     discuss their construction and performance in an intelligent                     way, to be confident when you emphasize the special qualities                     of your product or service.<\/p>\n<p>The top-ranking salesman is a gold mine of information                     and help. He has studied the merchandise he sells until he                     is an expert judge of quality, fit, good taste and appropriateness.                     He has absorbed ideas from the experience of customers. His                     function, as he sees it, is to help the buyer get the best                     for his money. He has respect for what he is selling, and                     that respect is contagious.<\/p>\n<p>Before approaching a prospect, why not list all the possible                     utilities he might desire in the goods? Many men will not                     want to know the horsepower of a snow blower, but do want                     to know if it will start in cold weather and move the snow                     off their driveways. A can opener must open tins easily and                     safely; a conveyor belt must run smoothly and bear without                     undue sagging the weight that will be carried on it; garments,                     besides having the desired good appearance, must clean without                     shrinking and face the sun without fading. If the salesman                     cannot tell the facts about qualities like these, he should                     say &#8220;I don&#8217;t know&#8221;, and find out.<\/p>\n<p>Finally, before approaching prospects with the idea of turning                     them into customers, we need to set our ethical standards.                     Quite as many articles are bought because of our faith in                     men as because of our faith in merchandise.<\/p>\n<h3>Finding prospects<\/h3>\n<p>Now, having put our house in order, we are ready to invite                     visitors. Who shall they be?<\/p>\n<p>Good generalship makes the location and definition of prospects                     a necessity. Your market is not merely people, but people                     plus needs, people plus purchasing power. People&#8217;s needs and                     the ability to satisfy them fluctuate in keeping with many                     changes: changes in the weather, in business activity, in                     the degree of inflation, in legislation, and in the state                     of the world.<\/p>\n<p>Personal contact is the best way to learn the present and                     probable market for what you have to offer. As an illustration                     of something that is true in every field of selling, consider                     the actions of the branch manager of a bank in rural village.                     He needs to take a sympathetic interest in farmers&#8217; problems,                     and give such practical aid in solving them as may be possible.                     He will keep posted on matters pertaining to improvement in                     seed varieties, methods of cultivation, marketing of grain                     and stock, conservation of soil and water, and all the other                     things that make up the work and crises of the farmer. Only                     thus does he reach prospective customers, making it easy for                     them to talk business with him. He is discreet: he does not                     pretend to knowledge or wisdom he does not have, but he is                     friendly and sincere in his efforts to be helpful.<\/p>\n<p>Or consider the salesman of a specialized sort of industrial                     equipment: conveyor belts. On one of his selling trips he                     noticed a new factory being erected beside the highway. He                     went in, was conducted over the plant, discussed problems                     and suggested solutions. The plant needed nothing in his line,                     but when its manager learned, months later, of conveyor requirements                     in another factory he recalled the friendly visit and the                     salesman got the order.<\/p>\n<p>Recommendation by friends is an excellent way to get into                     touch with prospects. That is why it is important to tend                     the fires of friendship among customers. Tell them of your                     appreciation every time they send in a prospect. Drop in on                     them at their desks, or phone them at their homes, depending                     on your line of business. Tell them about things that may                     interest or benefit them: magazine articles, books, business                     talk. Be &#8220;you-minded&#8221; toward customers and they will                     be &#8220;you-minded&#8221; toward you.<\/p>\n<h3>Bringing in prospects<\/h3>\n<p>Having located your prospects you must get them into your                     store or office. Every one is a potential customer, so pay                     attention to the stranger and show that you find his visit                     important. You are not trying merely to make a sale to a prospect,                     but to build solid new business out of his patronage.<\/p>\n<p>You will, of course, have primed the pump with advertising                     properly designed to bring desirable custom. You will have                     made your necessary goods appear attractive, and your attractive                     goods seem necessary.<\/p>\n<p>Writing an advertisement is not something to be taken casually                     or tossed off in a spare rive minutes. Your audience is not                     a captive audience; it can get away from you ( and probably                     will ( unless you interest it. You need to get attention,                     offer a benefit, prove your case, create desire, and motivate                     people to come in to see for themselves what you have to offer.<\/p>\n<p>To produce an advertisement of this character you need to                     make it simple, genuine and descriptive. There must be ideas                     behind your words, ideas in terms of the prospect&#8217;s wants                     and feelings.<\/p>\n<p>False promises made in advertisements are quickly revealed                     when the prospect comes face to face with the goods. Half-truths,                     insincere comparisons, fraudulent claims and misleading assertions                     can do nothing but harm to your business. Advertising that                     brags, with an accompaniment of exclamation marks and underlining                     and black face type, is only 60 per cent as effective as straight                     consumer-benefit headlines, according to a survey by                     Gallup-Robinson.<\/p>\n<p>Consider the case of a prospect brought into a store by                     an advertisement of a blouse. The advertisement treated the                     blouse lyrically: &#8220;new fabric! darling buttons! pastel shades!&#8221;                     The prospect&#8217;s first question was: &#8220;Will it wash?&#8221; and there                     was no sale. The January issue of <em>Sales Trails <\/em>(Bulman                     Bros. Ltd., Winnipeg) has this to say: &#8220;We suggest a return                     to plain honesty and plain English. Tell the truth about the                     product as clearly, arrestingly, forcefully ( and as honestly                     ( as possible&#8221;.<\/p>\n<h3>Salesmanship<\/h3>\n<p>This brings us to the point where we need a sense and knowledge                     of salesmanship. Some people still think of selling as a more                     or less necessary evil, a sort of stepchild to production.                     It is not so. Selling is a creative function. The salesman                     shows prospective buyers how certain goods may satisfy certain                     wants.<\/p>\n<p>Much of the salesmanship one encounters in stores is negative.                     The salespeople display the desired merchandise on a &#8220;here-it-is&nbsp;&#8230;                     take-it-or-leave-it&#8221; basis. They do not                     try to see the merchandise from the customer&#8217;s viewpoint and                     answer the reasonable questions that arise in the customer&#8217;s                     mind. They allow the prospect to walk out, carrying along                     a proportion of the money that management spent for the advertising                     that brought him into the store.<\/p>\n<p>To put it bluntly ( as the editors of <em>Fortune <\/em>do                     in their <em>book Why Do People Buy? <\/em>( there is no substitute                     for plain hard selling, and all the appurtenances ( market                     research and the like ( are nothing but tools.<\/p>\n<p>A sale is not a coldly scientific process. It is a friendly,                     red-blooded, person-to-person transaction.                     The salesperson needs to understand and apply basic principles                     of human behaviour. He needs to analyze the customer&#8217;s true                     needs and to develop recommendations that result in satisfactory                     sales transactions. He needs to apply himself beyond the requirements                     of the immediate sale, to build goodwill for his firm.<\/p>\n<p>Can people learn this art? Up to this century it was commonplace                     to say &#8220;good salesmen are born, not trained.&#8221; Today we are                     quite convinced that if a person bas the trading instinct                     in rudimentary form he may be trained into ability to do a                     good sales job.<\/p>\n<p>This is proven by a <em>Fortune <\/em>survey which revealed                     that stores where sales were running counter to the prevailing                     slump were stores that had concentrated on raising the ability                     of their sales force. Being taught how to sell, and given                     the incentive to sell, salespeople sell more, serve the customer                     better, and get a great deal of job-satisfaction.<\/p>\n<p>Training is not a matter of class-rooms, instructors,                     textbooks and examinations. It consists of helping a person                     organize his ideas so that they can be used to advantage in                     talking with people; it includes knowing where to find information                     and how to make use of it; it is based upon the sound principle                     that the salesman must look at other people and their motives                     to get a true picture of his goods and their selling points.<\/p>\n<h3>Keeping customers<\/h3>\n<p>Even in this age of thought manipulation there are many                     old-fashioned people who believe that the best way to                     keep customers is to give them value for their money, intelligent                     service, and personal attention. The golden rule of keeping                     customers might well be: don&#8217;t ignore customers or their changing                     needs.<\/p>\n<p>A satisfied customer remains the foremost factor in developing                     new business. He is kept satisfied by your demonstration of                     interest in him, interest in his affairs, his family, his                     hobbies, or whatever is uppermost in his life. Goodwill is                     made up of fair dealing, courteous and efficient service,                     and sympathetic interest.<\/p>\n<p>Under the heading &#8220;courteous service&#8221; consider counter service.                     Alertness to avoid irritating delays; unfailing attention                     to the details of the customer&#8217;s wants; efficient display                     of goods; patience: these are the minimum of good counter                     service. But there is a plus value to be built by adding graciousness.<\/p>\n<p>Everyone, from the big manufacturer who is accustomed to                     depositing cheques in five and six figures down to the shoe-shine                     stand operator who jingles his fortune in his pocket, is in                     the business of serving people. The secret of winning customers                     and keeping them is to perform this service, not passively                     when asked, but actively, eagerly and spontaneously.<\/p>\n<p>Alertness on the part of the staff to do some service, no                     matter how small, for everyone approaching them in connection                     with business, can revolutionize sales. Little services, unimportant                     in themselves and consuming little time, will be thought of                     as important by the people receiving them. As Longfellow phrased                     it: &#8220;Give what you have. To someone, it may be better than                     you dare to think.&#8221;<\/p>\n<h3>Service with a smile<\/h3>\n<p>Lots of sentimental things have been written in prose and                     poetry about a smile, but its plain, practical value is easy                     to prove in winning and keeping customers. Anyone can gain                     almost miraculous results for himself by personal experiment                     in smiling. Friendliness is sought by everyone, and everyone                     is pleased when he meets it in others.<\/p>\n<p>No matter how big your concern may become, you should make                     an effort to maintain a &#8220;home attitude&#8221;, in which every member                     of your staff is part of a well-bred family and every                     prospect or customer is treated as a guest. The visitor is                     warmly welcomed, pleasantly and patiently waited on, and carries                     away the feeling that his visit was appreciated.<\/p>\n<p>What is the proof of this? We can find it in ourselves.                     There may be a dozen stores selling the same articles, or                     a dozen banks giving the same services, but we continue to                     go to one place because someone there seems to be glad to                     see us and is interested in us.<\/p>\n<h3>About complaints<\/h3>\n<p>Did you ever think of the importance of spending time in                     saying &#8220;no&#8221;? It is even more important than when you are saying                     &#8220;yes&#8221;. If you haven&#8217;t a required commodity in stock, or if                     you believe from your study of the goods and your customer&#8217;s                     need that what his mind is set upon would not be his best                     buy, take time to explain why. This is one way of minimizing                     the number of complaints.<\/p>\n<p>But even when both the buyer and the seller are competent,                     careful and well-intentioned, some purchases are bound                     to go wrong. There will be returns to accept and adjustments                     to arrange.<\/p>\n<p>Be tactful and patient with those who are difficult to handle.                     Get complaints out into the open. Apologize promptly and without                     reservation when the mistake is yours. Never allow a customer                     to lose face, even when he is in the wrong. Follow up, if                     possible, to correct any misunderstanding.<\/p>\n<p>We might well be on the look-out for real and fancied                     grievances so as to give customers an opportunity to air them                     before they rankle. Apply this to inactive accounts. You may                     find that they have lapsed because the customer, having a                     grievance, did not give you an opportunity to adjust it. A                     letter, or a phone call, or a personal visit, may be instrumental                     in restoring a former customer to activity.<\/p>\n<p>You will, of course, analyze complaints in some systematic                     manner so as to find ways of improving your products or services,                     your sales methods, or your delivery.<\/p>\n<h3>Looking forward<\/h3>\n<p>It is very easy for a firm, even one that is well-established,                     to find its business slipping, or not advancing, relative                     to other firms. Its products may be sound and good, but are                     not meeting competitive brands; its advertising may be technically                     perfect, but without producing prospects; its sales force                     may be adequate in number and competent in knowledge, but                     it isn&#8217;t making sales.<\/p>\n<p>This situation demands research and planning on the highest                     level: research to find out what the cause is, and planning                     to put the remedy into effect.<\/p>\n<p>One place to begin research is among competitors. What are                     they doing that makes their business top yours? Just because                     a sales plan or sales training works well atone factory or                     store does not mean it will be effective with a different                     staff at another place ( but it does mean that it is worthy                     of consideration.<\/p>\n<p>Look over your territory to detect additions and changes.                     Perhaps you have not obtained all the business you might have                     had from new-comers. Perhaps the character of your environment                     has changed, so slowly that you did not notice it, demanding                     a reshuffling of your stock and a new advertising approach.                     Be open-minded and willing to learn, and then have the                     courage to put the indicated changes into effect.<\/p>\n<p>As an illustration of the fact that &#8220;research&#8221; need not                     mean a big, expensive project, but something you yourself                     can do, consider the owner of a small restaurant who round                     business falling off. He started to observe systematically                     what foods were left on plates by his patrons, improved his                     bill of fare, and increased his custom beyond what it was                     before the slump.<\/p>\n<p>It is evident that increasing business is not done overnight                     by blatant advertising or blitzkrieg selling. It is a painstaking                     process demanding constant courage, active imagination and                     cheerful persistency. There are few short cuts, but rather                     a world of planning, study and thought. Fate seldom sides                     with the man who is not equipped with all of these. But when                     the firm has at its top a man with a definite forward policy,                     qualified to think and to plan, that firm can exploit ail                     its opportunities.<\/p>\n<p>As a last word about forward looking it may be said that                     planning cannot be successful if it is carried on by fits                     and starts. A series of piecemeal decisions, taken on the                     spur of the moment, may gain some temporary profit. But there                     needs to be steady application of ears and eyes to trends;                     steady pushing for improvement in advertising and salesmanship                     to meet changing conditions; steady raising of character in                     your business to give it stability.<\/p>\n<p>These things promote good public relations. Satisfied and                     enthusiastic customers form the foundation of lasting business                     success. If you have been successful in finding prospects,                     making contacts, winning customers and keeping customers,                     your next move ( and the clinching move ( is to make friends.                     Therein, you gear the slide rule of business to the Golden                     Rule.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":79,"featured_media":0,"template":"","categories":[1],"rbc_letter_theme":[],"rbc_letter_year":[38],"class_list":["post-3627","rbc_letter","type-rbc_letter","status-publish","hentry","category-uncategorized","rbc_letter_year-38"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.4 (Yoast SEO v27.4) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>April 1958 - VOL. 39, No. 4 - Finding and Keeping Customers - RBC<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.rbc.com\/en\/about-us\/history\/letter\/april-1958-vol-39-no-4-finding-and-keeping-customers\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"April 1958 - VOL. 39, No. 4 - Finding and Keeping Customers - RBC\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"EVERY BUSINESS enterprise is made up of four activities: financing, producing, accounting and selling. 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Without selling ( the finding, winning and keeping of customers ) none of the others can stand up. 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