The Service-Driven Sale

All salespeople claim that people buy from them because of the great service that they provide. But without a prospect becoming a customer by placing an order, how is he or she to know if that is true?

Wouldn’t it be great if the service came first? Before the sale?

Every once in a while, it does.

On a Friday afternoon a few weeks ago, I was driving my best friend’s new used car. She had just picked it up not 45 minutes earlier.

Heading up the highway on the way to dinner, I noticed a strange sound coming from the engine. We shut off the radio so that we could both listen and feel it.

Not good.

Since the car was a Jeep and we were one exit away from a Jeep dealer, we pulled off the highway and into the service bay.

The service manager came bounding out of his office with a clipboard in his hand and a big smile on his face. I would expect that kind of reaction at 10 o’clock on Monday morning but not at 4:50 p.m. on a Friday afternoon. He had every right to put a, "Darn it! We were just about ready to close!" attitude up for us to see and honestly, I would've understood completely.

What came next was truly, in the words of Seth Godin, remarkable. He pulled the car in and began checking it out himself (despite the fact that he had lots of other things to do in that moment).

Meanwhile, we strolled around the showroom and looked at all the new offerings.

The bad news came quickly: Do not drive this car. The coils have corroded and it is unsafe! We called the dealer where the car was purchased and they were horrified. They brought another car to us immediately and promised to make it right.

When we pulled into that Jeep service that day, we were prospects. But with the bad transaction having been reversed, we are set to return this weekend and become customers.

Service drove that sale. Pun intended.

It does not happen all that often but look for opportunities to demonstrate the kind of follow up and service that comes with doing business with you.

Additional free content can be found at sales.epicomm.org. Contact Bill at (781) 934-7036 or bfarquharson@epicomm.org. In addition, if you’d like to talk about your sales challenges, book time on Bill’s calendar here: www.meetme.so/BillFarquharson