Are Your Customers receiving a “Luke Warm” buying experience? …if so it’s costing you more than you know…
The climate for business is difficult with consumer confidence low, the access to cash tight and record unemployment. However some organizations are thriving while others know something is wrong, and they are just blaming the economy. The economy is a factor; however it may be the main “why” behind your organizations’ struggles to make numbers if your clients are receiving a “Luke Warm” buying experience. Luke warm employees create a “just enough to get by “buying experience and that simply is not cutting it in this highly competitive environment. I discussed how the buying process has changed over the last year in my post: Are you Enabling your Sales Force or Emasculating them? With these added pressures, the last thing you want is for your clients to have a poor buying experience and seek out your competitors.
I just finished a book by Francis Chan titled; Crazy Love. It’s a book about growing your spiritual life.. In chapter four he discusses “the profile of Luke warm” and I thought how the wisdom he shares with regards to our faith life also applies in the business world. Chan describes how a Luke warm faith life is worst than being hot or cold and I feel this is also true for businesses and their employees. Specifically this is most evident in the buying experience.
What is it like to buy from your company? Are your salespeople trained and knowledgeable? Do they know how to find buyer problems and set out as if on a quest to solve them?
Or are you like most organizations who have built inside out service models and you hear executives challenged by “how our clients just are not smart enough to see the value in what we provide.” Or maybe you have downsized your sales and customer service teams and you are wondering why your business is declining and your customer satisfaction is at an all time low?
Luke warm team members produce Luke warm service levels.
The Bible discusses how being Luke warm is worst than being hot or cold and this rule also applies to your team members. I would much prefer a team member who tells me: “I just don’t get our plan and I am having a hard time getting motivated to execute my indicators” than someone who says they are on board and is just going through the motions to just get by.
As I discussed in my post: Third Part of truth …Motivation; Are You willing to go the extra mile like Chick-fil-A? As a consumer we instantly recognize good service and an organization that has clearly set an expectation for how customers should feel in the buying process.
I need to ask…How you want your customers to feel in the process of buying your goods and or services.
Once you intentionally create this vision, you will need to identify team members who will need to be trained, and in some cases replaced.
14 warning signs a team member may be Luke warm and negatively impacting their service to internal and external customers
1.) They do what they believe is expected of them and only what they believe is expected of them
2.) They choose to follow Hippos, they do what is politically correct but may not be right
3.) They are striving to survive not win
4.) They rarely share their knowledge and experience as they use knowledge as power and not a gift
5.) They focus on comparing their results to that of other team members versus their key performance indicators
6.) Their actions serve themselves more than others ( customers both internal and external)
7.) Their service is conditional, selective, and often comes with strings attached
8.) They are focused on today and what’s in it for them today, they lack a future vision
9.) They spend more time with their bosses than their subordinates and customers
10) They do the bare minimum , and their goal is to be “good enough”
11) They play it safe, they know the rules better than anyone in the organization and often site them
12) They are visually busy, but not necessarily adding value
13) When things go wrong they quickly blame others
14) They seek the safety of their silo’s, and lack a “one company-one team” mentality
A half hearted commitment to the organization’s plan; mission and vision can be felt by customers. A Luke warm commitment to service disrupts your team from within and in the market if left unchecked.
If you read the above and could apply at least four of them to specific team members; employees, managers, supervisors, you now have to ask yourself a tough question;
Will I be a Luke warm leader and look the other way? Or will I take the market leader position and address poor service resulting in a bad buying experience?
What about your organization?
When you read the above did specific employees come to mind?
How about you, did you personally identify with any of the above?
How have you helped Luke warm employees become energized value adding producers again?
Have you experienced a loss due to not addressing a Luke warm employee and you would like to share?
What should you do if your boss is Luke warm?
Thank you to Francis Chan for his book; Crazy Love, as it challenged me on many levels.
