As participants in this thing we all call life, we experience customer interactions from the vantage point of being the customer.
As parents, and in other situations where we are working with children, we gain experience delivering goods and services to customers, who are often demanding, grumpy, and very difficult to please.
As business owners making and selling handmade paper crafts, we learned about customer interactions from the vantage point of the ones attempting to make a sale. From this position, we juggled and applied each of the following balls and had many opportunities to turn frowns into smiles, potential customers into actual customers, and one-time customers into faithful regulars. It is our firm belief that as you apply them you will see similar opportunities arise.
To respect someone is to consider them of value. When people are respected they will not be treated as a wallet to get money out of and will be treated as more important than making the sale or closing the deal. It is very important to remember that people always have a choice in whether or not they patronize your company/organization. If they leave feeling disrespected or undervalued, they will think twice before returning and are likely to choose to go somewhere else next time. On the other hand, if they leave feeling respected, valued, and good about their overall experience, they are very likely to return. It is also important to note that people talk. Their experience, good or bad, will be shared with their family and friends and any stranger that will listen and thereby influence the choices of all of these other potential customers.
