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Why Customers Leave (and how to win them back) - Alan Berg, CSPWhy Customers Leave – with David Avrin

I was reading (listening) to my friend David Avrin’s book “Why Customers Leave and How to Win Them Back” and there were so many good nuggets in there that I just had to have him on the podcast. We talked about the customer experience and how so many times you lose the sale without even knowing that you were being considered.

Listen to this new episode for some straight talk about the customer experience so you can find the kinks in your business pipeline and get more opportunities.

About David Avrin

One of the most in-demand Customer Experience speakers and consultants in the world today, David Avrin, CSP, Global Speaking Fellow, has shared his content-rich, entertaining and actionable presentations with enthusiastic audiences across North America and in 24 countries around the world. David helps organizations better understand and connect with their changing customers and clients to help future-proof their businesses.

David’s insights have been featured on thousands of media outlets around the world. He is also the author of five books including the acclaimed: It’s Not Who You Know, It’s Who Knows You!, Why Customers Leave (and How to Win Them Back) and his newest book: The Morning Huddle — Powerful Customer Experience Conversations to Wake You Up, Shake You Up, and Win More Business. 

www.DavidAvrin.com 

https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidavrin

https://www.instagram.com/therealdavidavrin 

 

If you have any questions about anything in this, or any of my podcasts, or have a suggestion for a topic or guest, please reach out directly to me at [email protected] or visit my website Podcast.AlanBerg.com

Please be sure to subscribe to this podcast and leave a review (thanks, it really does make a difference). If you want to get notifications of new episodes and upcoming workshops and webinars, you can sign up at www.ConnectWithAlanBerg.com 

– Why customers leave and how to win them back. Listen to my next guest and find out. Hey, it’s Alan Berg. Welcome back to another episode of the “Wedding Business Solutions” podcast. I am so happy to have my friend David Avrin on to talk about customer experience. David, how you doing today?

– I am really happy to be here with my friend Alan Berg. We have spoken together, shared the platform on stages around the world, which it’s kind of interesting that that’s like the best, most common times that we run into each other is in another country or at an airport or something else. But it’s the nature of what we do is we communicate and travel the world, spreading the good word, help people build their businesses.

– And fun fact, David and I got our CSPs on the same day in 2014.

– We did. And we are also a part of a select group that have achieved their global speaking fellow less than, what? Couple dozen or so around the world.

– I think we’re up to 40. We got a couple more last year in Dublin, which again, where were we together last? In Orlando, but before that in Dublin.

– Dublin, Ireland, yeah, so.

– And Mexico, I think that was the first place we met.

– Mutual admiration society but let’s get past this, so. People are like, enough.

– One of the reasons I wanted to invite you on is I listened to your book, “Why Customers Leave ” and thank you for reading your own book because some of our speaker friends don’t do that. And I always wonder, you’re a speaker, why are you not reading your own book? And I’ve been quoting you in some of my talks ’cause you talked about how you’ll never know when someone goes to your website and leaves ’cause they didn’t like what they saw. You can’t see that and that customer experience and it happens to us all the time. We go and we leave and that’s it. But you’re a great storyteller and you tell lots of stories in the book from personal experience ’cause we do travel so much. We are customers so much and we talk about experiences there. And knowing my audience, ’cause again, you have spoken at Wedding MBA, you have spoken in Mexico at the conference we spoke at there to the wedding and event professionals listening here.

– I am married. I had a wedding of my own. We’re covering all the bases.

– Absolutely. Your beautiful wife, Laura. I have met her as well in Dublin, Dublin, Ireland. Coincidentally there. So from a customer experience standpoint, as someone who is married and sort of recently, right? How long are you married?

– Well, we’ve been together about 10 years now. So really, really blessed, second time around. And we did it in Venice, Italy, so never take better pictures.

– That’s right, that’s right. So from a customer experience standpoint, where do you think that starts when someone gets engaged and they start the planning process?

– You know what, the market has changed for so many different industries. What’s really different, profoundly different today than it was, I would say even 15 years ago, maybe even 10, is that the process of seeking resources to put on a wedding, whether you’re doing something internationally, whether you’re doing it locally, and you’re looking for the photographer and the caterers and the flowers and all of that. What’s really different and profoundly different is that that process begins largely without your involvement. The first several steps of that is a weeding out process, which we all do, right? For everything that we buy, whether it’s the movie that we’re going to go to, the restaurant that we’re going to, the home improvement project. We do that initial research, that social proof is so incredibly powerful. You had mentioned at the beginning of that, you know, the people that go to your website, I mean, I talk about this on stage. The biggest source of lost revenue for your business is the customer or client that you never knew about because you were either weeded out early because there was a perception that you didn’t fit. Whether it was capabilities, whether it was price, whether it was just that they weren’t easily finding what they were looking for and they clicked away. So much of that happens without you. So the process begins very early, excuse me, but we need to move way upstream to make sure that everything that they’re seeing and finding and discovering online says what we need it to say. And not just verbally, but non-verbally as well. So the process, by the time somebody is reaching out to you, you are already a finalist in many cases. That’s the good news is a pre-qualified person. The bad news is they’re also looking at several others who are also finalists. So now you’re in real competition.

– Right, now, have you ever done a cold calling in sales?

– Of course.

– Right. Most of the people listening have not. But you’ve done it, I’ve done it. I did it for 10 years. Driving around, knocking on doors, hoping that there would be an interest in what I was talking about.

– Sure.

– What I always tell this audience is by the time they’ve gone to your website and filled out your contact form or gone to your online ad or your social whatever and contacted you, this is not cold calling. They have eliminated most of the other people.

– You’re on that short list, but you don’t know why, right? You don’t know what it is that made you make the list as opposed to not, what is it? Tinder is swipe left is bad or something like that.

– I shouldn’t know, so I don’t.

– We shouldn’t know that, so I’ve been told. But now you made this short list. So I always tell ’em, that’s your sale to lose. You just have to continue the conversation they started, give them an experience consistent with whatever it is that they’ve already had ’cause clearly they like that whatever that was, and then just be better from that point on. But you’re not fighting against 50 other people. You’re fighting against three or four or five.

– And those three or four or five are also very, very good. Now here’s one of the things though I will challenge is at that point where they’re reaching out, this is where, and we may disagree on that, and that’s okay, is I think a lot of people, even at that point, will lose that prospect because there’s a contact form. And I’m not anti-contact form. I’m very, very anti-contact form as the sole way of getting in touch with you. And we deal with that with our colleagues. And I’ve spoken to a lot of speaker chapters around the world as well, and I tell ’em, I said, “For all of you who don’t have a phone number on your website, but you have a contact form, I’d like to thank you for putting my kids through college because I’m getting all of your gigs.” And not because I’m so great. I am, as are you. But no, it’s because I’m a lot easier to reach. So by the time, because people are like, “But I’m out, I’m on airplanes, I’m gone.” Well, by the time they respond, I already have a contract on the way because I am ridiculously easy to get in touch with. I’m ridiculously easy to do business with. So one of the things, I mean, I have multiple small businesses. I’ll be honest, they all have contact forms and they also have cell phone numbers for myself and every one of my team members. We have WhatsApp, we have email addresses. If I could have a cranial implant, Alan, I would’ve right here where they could directly access my cranial cerebral cortex because this feeds my family. Now, the pushback I get all the time. “Yeah, well, don’t you have life balance?” Give me a break. You’re not that popular that you’re getting calls at all time of the day and night every day. And if you do, then you’ve got, you know, God forbid you should have such problems. The reality is I have tremendous life balance as many of us do because whether we work from home or something else. But if that occasional call comes in and I can grab that before someone else, if they can reach me faster than someone else, right? There was a great study came out in the Harvard Business Review. It said that there’s a hundred times better chance of landing a gig, not 100%, a hundred times better with the response within five minutes. Now, it doesn’t mean that that’s always realistic, but what it speaks to is just one basic fact. Whoever gets the call first. If you fit and you’re priced competitively, oftentimes you get the gig. So I’m fine if somebody has a contact form, but my god, please, friends, if you learn anything, put your phone number on everything. Be ridiculously easy to get in touch with. Even if it’s saying, listen, I’m in the middle of a meal with my family. Can I call you back in an hour? You’re managing expectations. But don’t wait for people to fill out. I saw a statistic, or actually I heard a statistic, I’ve been trying to find it that said 86% of people will never fill out a contact form. 86, I won’t. Never do. I’ll just move on to the next one.

– Well what we have to understand is everybody isn’t us. So let’s give them what they want.

– We give ’em choices. Give ’em every possible way to reach you. Semaphore flags, smoke signals.

– There was a DJ reached out to me through Instagram message. I hate Instagram message. We have so many other things. I don’t need another one, right? But if my clients want to use it, I’ll use it, right? That’s how I started using WhatsApp. Nobody domestically uses it. Everybody it’s international, right?

– All of our international colleagues use WhatsApp.

– Exactly. So he messages me on WhatsApp, we message back and forth and I said, “You know what, let me just pick up the phone and call him.” So there’s no phone number on his Instagram. I go to his website, can’t find a phone number. Not in the footer, not on the contact page, not anywhere. And I messaged and I said, “Hey, you know, how come there’s no phone number?” He goes, “Well, they don’t want to call me.” I said, “How do you know?”

– Right, exactly.

– How could you possibly know? So two months later I saw him. I said, “Why don’t you put it on?” He said, “I’m going to get spam calls.” I said, “Yes, but why don’t you put it on?” Two months later, he tells me mostly spam calls, but two mothers of brides called him asking for information.

– Yeah.

– ‘Cause that’s their method.

– It’s same thing as like we had moved into a new office and we kept hearing this sound. I was trying to figure out what it was. You know what it was? It was my phone. We had to buy a new phone ’cause we had moved in a new office. I didn’t know what that ringtone was and we never get calls. But it’s not worth getting rid of that number because three times a year, I’ll get a call from somebody who will, because we put our phone number, office, and all of our cell numbers. And at the price point for what we charge for what we do, it paid for years and years and years of service. Once again, not to belabor the point, but don’t be hard to get ahold of because you have no idea the business that you never heard from because they walked away.

– There’s a WeddingWire and The Knot, the two biggest wedding websites, Wedding Pro, couples, one of their biggest complaints is that the vendors don’t reply to them at all, right? But they also said about 50% of couples choose the first person who responds, right?

– ‘Cause everybody’s qualified and everybody’s good, or they wouldn’t-

– Everybody’s got five star reviews, right? Everybody’s got five star reviews. So at Wedding MBA where you’ve spoken, I’m doing a presentation this year on my experience of secret shopping, wedding and event businesses, specifically venues for this one. And at this point, we’re between 150 and 200 companies worth shopping. And get this David, 20% never replied to us.

– Yeah. And here’s the unintended consequences. It may be that you’re overwhelmed, good for you, right? It may be that it’s not something you’re particularly interested in. The challenge today is those people who feel slighted because they didn’t get a response, they go online and trash you. You never even worked with them. You had no interaction with them other than a rejection of their outreach, which people today take very personally. Because everybody’s fragile, we can’t control all of that, But the reality is, we have vehicles and venues to do great harm. You can’t ignore anybody, even those who you disagree with. If you can’t, just a simple response, “Listen, I’m very overwhelmed. It doesn’t seem like a great fit for us.” My suggestion is, give a referral to someone else, right? Send business to your colleagues. What do they say? The behavior that’s recognized and rewarded is the behavior that’s repeated. You send them business, they may send you, but you make such a good point, Alan. No message should go unresponded. You get that with contractors, right? Flooring contractors and things like all that. They just overwhelmed, they just don’t respond. Well, we have tools at our disposal that could do great damage.

– And now the other side of that is, if their preferred method of contact is text or WhatsApp or email or whatever, then that’s what you’re going to use, at least initially.

– 100%.

– Right, so just the other day, I’m preparing my slide deck for the Wedding MBA and talking about that, you know, if they wanted to call you and your phone number was on your website, that was a choice. They did not choose that. They chose to fill out your contact form, email you, text you, whatever it is. Don’t immediately ask them for a call because that’s going to add friction. Our friend Shep Hyken always talks about friction, right?

– Sure.

– So coincidentally, over the weekend, I was just in the UK and I was trying to take a credit card for a book, and Square, which we use here, doesn’t work there.

– Yeah, you can’t do it, right?

– I saw that PayPal works. They gave me a QR code, but you have to have a PayPal app, have a PayPal account, you have to scan, the customer has to scan it, approve paying by QR, I mean, look at all the hoops here. People were so good that they did. So I reached out to Chase my bank ’cause Chase is worldwide. And I said, “Hey, do you have this?” I sent an email. I get an email back saying, “Thanks so much. We’re going to get on a phone call. We’re going to talk about this.” I’m like, you didn’t read my question. I just had a question. And this is exactly what I was talking about. I don’t want to get on a phone call with you. Could you answer my question? So I emailed them back and I said, “This is the question. And if you answer yes, you can do this, then let’s get on a phone call. But if it’s no, let’s not waste each other’s time.” And of course it was no.

– I ask audiences all the time. Does anybody notice that your customers, your clients are a little more demanding, a little more impatient? And of course you get the look back like, “Yeah, welcome to my life.” Well, we all are, right? Because there has, especially COVID ushered in a whole new generation of conveniences. And for consumers right now, life is pretty awesome. I mean, there’s almost nothing that you can’t get delivered to your house same day. I mean, I’m in Denver. We have multiple Amazon warehouses close by. 80% of what we order daily come same day. Same freaking day. And somebody was on several months ago from Bed Bath & Beyond. They were talking about that they had had multiple down quarters and they were challenged with supply chain and that people weren’t finding certain items. And I looked at my wife, I said, “That’s complete spin. It’s garbage.” We’re not not finding what we want at Bed Bath & Beyond. We’re not going to Bed Bath & Beyond. And guess what happens? A month later, they file bankruptcy. Right? And now overstock.com bought their name and they’ve just changed it for their online thing. But it wasn’t because they were doing anything wrong. They just didn’t recognize that how we buy has changed. And I think that’s the lesson for wedding professionals. ‘Cause recognize that, yeah, you’re going to get people who are far more demanding. We know the photographers are challenged with all of the intermarriages and everything else, and who won’t be in a picture with somebody else. But now it’s everything because everything is so easy and so convenient. If you are not easy and convenient and responsive and accommodating, you will be left behind. But I think if we have the right filter, Alan, I think we have, instead of being resentful for all the things we have to do, being grateful that we understand the code, we can have a great competitive advantage. We can be very successful in a very wonderful and satisfying industry by being ridiculously easy to do business with.

– I think if we would just look at it, I did a podcast. I’m not sure if it’s coming up before or after this. If you can’t walk a mile in their shoes, at least take a few steps, you know? How easy is it to do business with you? What are they seeing? And if you were the customer, I always look at this. I got a two-page, we’re secret shopping a venue, and I got a two pages of full text email response from someone. And I was like, would you read that?

– Right, no.

– You wouldn’t read it. And then there was an attached online magazine. You ever see those called Issuu, I-S-S-U?

– Yeah.

– Look at that on your phone because that’s how most couples are reading, right? It’s a two-page spread on your phone this big. Like, you can’t read that, and then attached-

– Couldn’t zoom.

– Not even pinching, you couldn’t even read it ’cause it was a two-page, right, it was so small. Got another one in today, had six questions they’re asking in response immediately and then asking to get on a call. It was like, no, this is not a Gen Y, Gen Z thing. This is a human thing.

– Well, but it’s also when you’re having a conversation with a couple who’s looking to get married, as opposed to, and we may disagree on this, as opposed to sending them a 30-page questionnaire to fill out, interview them and you fill out. And I love this podcast because you have the same approach that I do. And you can see behind me, I’ve got a podcast as well, is that you and I are both asked to be on a lot of podcasts. So I do several a week. But they’ll say, “Would you like to be on our podcast?” And I said, “Sure, I would love to do so.” And then they give me homework for their podcast. And I’m like, I’m not filling out this four-page. I mean, I’ve got assistants who can give ’em my bio and we want to be easy to do business with, but don’t make me do work. But I think the analogy is for those families, those couples, those parents, whatever, mother of the bride, who are looking for resources, don’t put work on their plate. They’re hiring you to take it off their plate. And so the more we can be reassuring in our conversation, “Listen, I got that. We’ll take care of that,” they can breathe as much as they can until it’s over.

– Yeah, until it’s over. When we first moved to New Jersey, what is it, 12, 13 years ago, we were 100 miles away from where we used to live. So we need a new everything. New mechanic, new doctors, new everything. And we asked in our neighborhood, there’s an email group, “We need a new primary care.” And people came back and said, “Oh, here’s the doctor, here’s the doctor.” And a couple of people came back and said, “I love Dr. Gitterman.” I was like, okay, not here’s my doc, I love. But somebody said, “I love because he actually takes the time and listens to you.” I was like, okay, that’s different social proof, right?

– Referral with a reason.

– Right, so I go to go there and guess what I didn’t get? I didn’t get the forms in advance that I should fill out. And I called and I said, “Are there any forms you need?” They said, “No, we’ll take care of that when you get here.” So I get there and I check in expecting a clipboard. No clipboard. I said, “Anything I need to fill out?” They said, “No, not now.” I said, “Okay.” Go in, doctor comes in, never met this guy before. Comes in, sits down, and I was sitting up on the table. He said, “No, sit over here in the chair.” We’re sitting in two chairs, we’re talking, talked for a few minutes, and he opens up his laptop. He said, “Okay, let me get some info.” And he asked me all of the questions that would’ve been on the form. A doctor did that. Well, so who knows the info better? Somebody who scans a piece of paper that I hand wrote or who actually took the info themselves? It’s exactly what you’re talking about.

– Yeah. But you think about all the things that have been shifted and you can look at across a variety of other industries, things that have been shifted to the customers. There’s that wonderful scene in “Back to the Future” where he goes back to the town square for the first time and he’s watching with wide eyes all of these things from the 1950s, right? The one that made me laugh was that when this car pulls into the gas station, it’s immediately attacked by four people. One’s checking the air, the other one lifting the hood, checking the oil, the other one’s washing the windows. And I’m just laughing. And my kids are like, “What is it?” I said, “This was how I grew up,” right? This was what we called full service. And now there’s only self-service. Now you go to the airport, they want you to tag your own bag. My cart is overflowing at Walmart and they’re trying to send me to self-checkout. And I’m like, what’s going to take me 45 minutes? Now here’s the point, I’m not elite. It’s just overwhelming. And I think we have an opportunity as small business professionals to not be that, right? You go to a doctor’s office, they have some new technology that you are not trained on. I see so that the receptionist doesn’t have to fill in the information. Let’s give it to the guy who’s bleeding profusely from his head. Let’s make him do the work. I think we can be better. And it is a distinct competitive advantage when you offer the things, not even about adding, offer the things that others no longer do, and you will stand out. I think the bar is really low.

– It’s incredibly low.

– Just be super responsive and take burdens off your client’s plate.

– Well, if the bar is, some of your competitors are not replying at all, that’s how low.

– Pretty easy bar.

– I actually just changed a different doctor ’cause this one doctor I had did not, they had an online portal, but it really wasn’t much there. You can’t make an appointment online. You can’t message the doctor. You’re not getting texts for confirming it. Boom, confirm, we’re done there.

– Yeah, but for most, that’s table stakes today. So if somebody isn’t, they’re way behind.

– Right, and again, I like the doctor, but he’s making it too inconvenient for me to do business with him, but with these other ones, I get a text, “Are you coming to your appointment?” “Yes.” “Thanks, see ya.”

– Right, when you look at it within the context of a competitive marketplace, Alan, do you have choices? Of course you do.

– Absolutely.

– So, yeah. I mean, for everybody who’s listening or watching, and I love this podcast. I think you cover great, great content. We’re all in very highly competitive marketplaces. And because there has this been this great leveling out of talent because the posers have been outed, right? It’s Yelp, it’s TripAdvisor, it’s Rotten Tomatoes, it’s Glassdoor. If you aren’t good, you’re not going to survive today. What has been left is a marketplace replete with talent. The people you’re up against, especially the finalists are damn good. And sometimes there’s this perception that, you know, that they have yet to discover us and they’ll realize that we’re head and shoulders. They’ll say, “Why you?” It’s because, you know, I get this. I’ll ask people, say, “Why you?” And they’ll say, “Honestly, I’m just going to be honest. We actually do what we say we’re going to do.” And I look at ’em and I go, “Oh, bless your heart. You actually believe that, don’t you?” And they’re like, I said, “Do you really believe that? I mean, how on God’s green earth are your competitors staying in business with all of that, not doing what they say they’re going to do?” Give me a break. Those competitors, most of them, here’s the worst part, Alan. Most of your competitors are really, really nice people. And they’re working hard just like you. And they’re, you know, or here’s the one that I love. I said this, I did a Million Dollar Round Table, like 10,000 people in Bangkok. And I said, “Look around. There’s 10,000 people. They’re all good.” I said, “What makes you different? Please don’t tell me it’s because, ‘Here’s what’s different about, we really listen to our customers and we tailor our solutions to meet their individual needs.'” And I’m like, do you honestly believe that your competitors don’t listen? Do you honestly believe that your competitors aren’t saying that what makes us different is we, everybody listens. Stop with the basics, the pedestrian stuff. What are the extras that make you stand out? You may be good, but you haven’t created the cure for cancer that tastes like chocolate. You’re not that good.

– And if I go to your website and take your logo off and put your competitor’s logo on.

– 95% applies.

– Exactly, so what is different? This circles us back to social proof again. ‘Cause if you really want to find out what makes you different, listen to the people that you’ve already worked with ’cause they’re going to say it. They’re talking about that in their reviews, in their thank you notes, in their video testimonials. They’re telling you what’s different if you’re listening for that nuance.

– Right. And if they aren’t, then it’s time to get to work.

– Right, because maybe you’re not different.

– Well, because quality is table stakes. Now, when I talk to, I’ve done a lot of CEO round table groups and I’ll ask ’em, I say, “What’s the competitive advantage?” And they said, “At the end of the day, it’s about quality.” I did a keynote and the CEO was on right before me. He goes, “At the end of the day, it’s about quality. We’re going to win on quality,” and the crowd goes crazy. And I thought to myself, I could not disagree more. At the end of the day, it’s not about quality. At the beginning of the day, it’s about quality. Quality is the entry fee. For those listening, watching, you have to be damn good at what you do and the marketplace will figure it out. That’s the entry fee. But at the end of the day, it’s about competitive advantage. It’s not what do you do well, what do you do better than others who do it well? it might be communication, it might be responsiveness, but in terms of the quality of the photographs, you’re going to show that online. People can look at your portfolio. When my wife and I got married in Venice, we went online. We found all the photographers that served that area. We chose the one that we liked based on the kinds of images we want. She had nothing to do with it until we had a final conversation. We made our decision based on everything that we saw. And they actually did a great job. They displayed all of what they do. Think about what you can control. And first and foremost, especially in this industry is responsiveness.

– Yeah. Again, what would you want if you were the customer, if you sent someone a message, if you called? I had a guy called me and I answered the phone. He goes, “I’m old school, I like to use the phone.” I said, “I’m old school too. When it rings, I like to pick it up and answer it.”

– There you go, right.

– And it was for two months later and he booked me for that, right?

– Well, you’ve heard the line that the best predictor of future behavior is past behavior. So what message are you sending? If it’s hard to find information, if it’s hard to get a timely response, it says to them, we’re going to get close to the date. I’m not going to be able to get in touch with her. I’m not going to be able to get in touch with him. And that angst alone causes them to move on.

– Right.

– So you set the tone earlier.

– But it’s also, we’re all humans. Let’s say we do fill out somebody’s contact form and that person responds right away, but we’re busy so we don’t respond. And then our email box gets filled and we forget about it. Well, is it the customer’s job to reach out to you again? No, it’s your job to reach out again, right? I’d say the biggest opportunity everybody listening has is someone that’s reached out that hasn’t yet told you no.

– Yeah.

– That’s the big step to me.

– And if you, and right, everybody gets emails that get stacked up under two, 300. It’s your responsibility to put systems in place for reminders, for ticklers, for autoresponders. All of those things that say we heard you. Even in things like when I’m on a, I mean, I’m fortunate that I have staff, but when I’m on a plane or something else, there’ll be something that says, “I am currently in the air. I will respond the minute I land.” I mean, let’s just manage expectations. But silence, nature abhors a vacuum. They will fill that vacuum, that space with negative scenarios, right? “Oh, I see, now they don’t care.” “Oh, I see, they were working really hard until they got me. Now they don’t respond at all.” Now I go, you’re like, “Dude, I was at lunch.” Dude, just like, I mean, it’s like my kids. When my kids were teens, they’re all in their 20s now, and they’re like, “Dad, dad.” “I’m in a meeting,” “Dad, dad.” And I’m like, “Dad, why don’t you pick up?” It’s like, “Dude, I’m in a meeting.” “Where’s the remote?” You know, it’s like, but everybody’s like that now. It’s like you stand in front of the microwave going, “Come on, come on, come on, I haven’t got a minute.’ I mean, but it’s, do not blame them, friends. It’s us. It’s everybody. Okay, but knowing that, acknowledging that, how do we work with it? How do we leverage it? How do we differentiate because of it? Take the voice out of your head right now that says, “I can’t be all things to all people. I can’t be available 24/7.” You’re going into scenarios and everybody does this that, “Well, what happens with the,” there’s a lot of outliers. But let’s talk about a general rule for how you decide as a team, as an individual, here’s how we’re going to do business. And we are going to be ridiculously responsive. And even if we can’t, there’s auto instance. “Just to let you know, I got the message. I’m on another call right now. Please add whatever. I’ll get back to you within 15 minutes,” right? There we go. That’s fine.

– But then do it.

– Then do it, Mike, absolutely.

– I was doing a mastermind day and I secret shopped all of them beforehand. And one of them happened to be a friend of mine and he had a fun autoresponder. It was written in a fun way. You know, I hate autoresponders as much as you do, but I’m busy with some other couples and I’ll personally get back to you within 24 hours. And then he didn’t. He never followed up, he never. So six months later I’m in another conference doing the same thing. He’s there again, shopped him again, same thing again. I will personally get back to you within 24 hours. And then he didn’t. So my friend who knows who he is, if you’re listening, I hope you’re not doing that anymore.

– Listen, even if your business is riding high, and we’ve all had those times when we were overwhelmed, like I said, God forbid you should have such problems as being overwhelmed with business. We all know it will not always be that way. And so keeping that pipeline full. And I always throw a thing of saying, “I’ll get back within whatever. However, if it is crucial, here’s my cell phone number. If it is crucial, here’s how to reach my team.” Because some people are fine as long as we manage expectations when they’ll get a call back. Some people need an answer now because they’re trying to get the next vendor, and that’s dependent on this vendor. And if they can’t find you, they’ll just find somebody else for one basic reason, because they can.

– Right. It’s just too easy.

– It’s too easy.

– Yeah. So wrapping this up, you want to get “Why Customers Leave ” by David. And again, if you’re an audio book person like I am, you definitely want to do that. His other books, “Visibility Marketing,” and, “It’s Not Who You Know, It’s Who Knows You!”

– And my newest book, we’ll throw it up here as a quick plug. it’s called “The Morning Huddle Powerful Customer Experience Conversations To Wake You Up And Shake You Up and Win More Business.” This is on Amazon and this is, it’s conversation starters for your team. Just things to think about before they come up. And as always, lots of stories. And of course if you’re interested in any of the phenomenal wedding business books from my friend Alan Berg, look behind him. It is a plethora, it is a cacophony of, a cornucopia of wedding business wisdom. See, I plugged you too.

– Well, thank you my friend.

– Look at us both with our books strategically located next to our heads.

– And thank you for having a real background and not a virtual background where body parts start disappearing there.

– If I see one more palm tree or Golden Gate Bridge, Alan, I swear I’m going to open a vein. Oh look, look at Jim. He’s on a tropical island with palm trees. That’s so funny. Guess what? It’s not funny Jim. It’s not funny anymore. It’s not funny. It’s been three years. Three years. No more Golden Gate Bridges.

– Yes, we can do this all day. So thank you David.

– We’ll do another time soon.

– We will, davidavrin.com if you want more information. And David, thank you so much for joining me.

– All right, friend, thank you.

I’m Alan Berg. Thanks for listening. If you have any questions about this or if you’d like to suggest other topics for “The Wedding Business Solutions Podcast” please let me know. My email is [email protected]. Look forward to seeing you on the next episode. Thanks.

Listen to this and all episodes on Apple Podcast, YouTube or your favorite app/site:

©2023 Wedding Business Solutions LLC & AlanBerg.com

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