10 Top qualities of Fmcg product salesman to solve quality complaint from customer

August 11, 2021 Team DigitalGumma

Sales problems come in all shapes and sizes, but the solution is usually found in this simple inbound philosophy: Always create value for your prospects, leads, and customers. That can mean going the extra mile to resolve an issue they’re having or simply taking an authentic interest in them.

Make this your mantra and sales problems, no matter how tough, will melt away!

Long before he comes to know the product, mostly during his childhood and growing-up experience, the future successful salesman is developing the human qualities essential for selling.

Everything you do in sales and marketing must create value for the customer.
The process must create value for the participants involved.
In God we trust, everyone else must bring data
The purpose of a process is to achieve a goal.
Respect for people.

There is no question that businesses need a better method of managing marketing and sales. Lets hope more companies will choose to manage by process, instead of continuing with the same tired old approaches they have always used.

What are the many attributes of a Fmcg salesman in solving a customers issue?

What do we mean by Problem solving in Fmcg sales?

Every sale solves customer’s problems. The term Problem solving sales is however reserved for complex business relationship involving pre-sales, sales and post sales phases. Complexity of the business relationship is a function of three parameters. Given below are two ends of spectrum on each of these three factors.

Product being sold: – One end of the spectrum is “stand-alone standard product”. Other end is the “system selling”.
Support needs of customer: – Aftersales support for 6 to 12 months at one end of the spectrum and … Design advice, participation in evaluation of alternatives, continued relationship after sales or even partner status at the other end of spectrum.
Width of contact: – Only a few (2 or 3) people from either side involved in the sales process …. Many more.

Many dimensions of problem solving Fmcg sales

An important part of this type of business relationship is the forming, short-listing and fine-tuning of your solution in terms of its technical aspects. While formal technical qualifications are useful, you may find in practice that many successful salespeople without a technical education are excellent problem solving salespeople thanks to their experience and application orientation. This is because in solution selling the solution has to be right on three counts as below and only one of the three can be somewhat aided by basic technical qualification:

Solution has to be functionally right. It should do the work it is meant to do. That depends on whether or not technical aspects are proper.
Solution should be attractive for customer in relation with his various possible buying motives e.g. cost, other working methods, acceptance by workers/ operators, aesthetics.
Solution should be right from our point of view – should be possible to deliver!

This is the salesman with good empathy. He senses the reactions of the customer and is able to adjust to these reactions. He is not simply bound by a prepared sales track, but he functions in terms of the real interaction between himself and the customer. Sensing what the customer is feeling, he is able to change pace, double back on his track, and make whatever creative modifications might be necessary to home in on the target and close the sale.

The salesman’s empathy, coupled with his intense ego drive, enables him to home in on the target effectively and make the sale. He has the drive, the need to make the sale, and his empathy gives him the connecting tool with which to do it.

If a customer is unhappy, he or she will voice their complaint. In this article, we share how you can track, monitor and categorize customer complaints.

How do you respond to a complaint that you have received? Here, we share 5 ways to handle the complaint, and provide suggestions on ways to stop the complaint from going viral.

Most customer complaint handling is reactive and reacting to customers after they have encountered an issue. Learn how to go above and beyond with a proactive complaint handling strategy.

In today’s Internet-driven world, customers have more power than ever.

If customers have a positive customer experience, they will share this experience with friends, family and connections, which in turn can lead to new business. All at zero cost.

But what happens if you fail to provide a positive customer experience?

The answer is simple. Your customers will complain.

According to research by Esteban Kolsky, 13% of unhappy customers will share their complaint with 15 or more people.

Furthermore, only 1 in 25 unhappy customers complain directly to you.

And for customers that don’t complain, they just stop doing business with you.

There is a silver lining here:

A customer complaint highlights a problem, whether that’s a problem with your product, employees or internal processes, and by hearing these problems directly from your customers, you can investigate and improve to prevent further complaints in the future.

Furthermore, research finds that customers’ whose complaints are handled quickly can often turn into loyal customers and even brand advocates.

In fact, a study by Harvard Business Review found that customers who have a complaint handled in less than 5 minutes go on to spend more on future purchases.

Simply put, a customer complaint can become very profitable when you can resolve their problem quickly.

How to analyze customer complaints

Complaint analysis is used to track, categorize and handle customer complaints.

When a customer makes a complaint, he or she is voicing a concern in relation to your product or service. However, not all complaints are to be treated equally and there are several questions to ask yourself before you take action, including:

Has this happened before?
Have the complaints been recorded?
How often does the same complaint arise?
Is there a pattern to this complaint in how it was received?
Has the same customer reported this previously?

By answering these questions, you can take the necessary steps required to prevent them from happening again.

For example, if several customers complain about a specific issue, you can use their feedback to improve your product or service. Or, if you are currently working on a solution, yet you still receive complaints from your customer base, you can create an email template for support that explains, in detail, how you are going to solve it.

Create customer complaint guidelines & policies

If you want to provide a consistent, satisfactory experience with your customers, establishing formal guidelines and policies helps to log, investigate and resolve any customer dissatisfaction and problems.

The overall goal of these guidelines and policies are meant to:

Turn a dissatisfied customer into a satisfied customer
Align your customer service team’s response and actions
Analyse areas of your business to improve experiences

Customer complaints are opportunities to collect information about a customer’s needs, opinions, attitudes, and beliefs. In most cases, upset customers are looking for help and clarity, not trouble, and are simply responding to common issues such as:

Product or service quality
Safety concerns
Timing
Color and sizing
Overpricing
Accidental charges
Shipping errors
Broken promises
Misleading advertising

The key to overcoming these common issues is by creating a clear process and a coordinated response that addresses the customer’s complaints.

Here are a few best practices when it comes to training your employees and creating guidelines and policies for how you business handles customer complaints:

Any problem must be documented and reported to the appropriate person for resolution;
Establish a ‘complaint owner’ (i.e., someone who is charge of resolving the complaint);
Deliver a response within a predetermined amount of time; e.g., a complaint is received within 24 hours and a plan to resolve it is established within 72 hours;
Define actions and behaviors your team must follow to deliver a consistent customer resolution experience;
Cases remain open until the root problem is identified and successfully resolved.

There are many ways to handle customer complaints effectively. Next, let’s look at 5 specific strategies that help to improve a customer’s experience.

How does a salesman act as a problem solver?

Best ways to handle customer complaints

The next time you receive a customer complaint, follow these tips to help transform it into a golden opportunity for your business.

Listen and understand Why the customer is angry?

Always listen to your customers. They have complained for a reason and it is important to understand why they are complaining. Research has shown that customers care more about quality than a fast response – Take time to listen and understand what their problem is. To maintain quality from all support personnel, use a customer service knowledge base

Apologize,You wont loose anything but gain

Don’t be afraid to apologize for a mistake. Many customers are simply looking for an apology and acknowledgement of their complaint, yet so many businesses are hesitant to admit when a mistake has been made.

Don’t underestimate the importance of an apology:

Research by The Nottingham School of Economics found that unhappy customers are more willing to forgive a company that offers an apology as opposed to being compensated.

In the findings from the study, 45% of customers withdrew their negative evaluation of a company in light of an apology, whereas only 23% of customers withdrew their negative evaluation in return for compensation.

The researchers concluded that when a customer hears the words “I’m sorry”, it triggers an immediate instinct to forgive.

But, don’t just stop at the apology; follow through with a promise to resolve the complaint.

Don’t convince or confuse. Find a solution

When your customer has a legitimate complaint, you need to find the root cause and solve it.

Give your customer service team the authority to handle the majority of customer complaints to avoid passing your customer onto a series of people and managers. If the issue has been or can be repeated, make the necessary changes so you do not receive another complaint.

Let’s take a look at a customer complaint example:

Imagine you have a customer whose account is up for renewal. You reach out to them manually, before taking payment (as required by GDPR) and they are happy to continue with their subscription.

But, for some reason or another, you charge them twice for the same amount – and they are not happy and decide to cancel their account. Giving your employees the authority to handle these kinds of issues means allowing them to issue a refund and handle the request without having to escalate the case to a supervisor. It also means that the customer gets their issue solved quickly.

Once you have issued the refund, you can send them the following customer complaint refund email template.

Time is money and money, valuable. Follow up with the customer

Follow up with your customers to make sure they are satisfied with the solution. This can be in the form of a follow up email or survey asking for feedback on how the complaint was handled.

Almost 70% of customers leave a company because they believe you don’t care about them.

Very few companies follow up with their customers.

Following up shows you care. And this makes the customer feel important.

Not sure how to follow up?

Use the template below.

When you give more, you get more.Exceed Expectations

You have acknowledged the mistake, fixed the problem and followed up.

Now, it’s your chance to go one step further and exceed customer expectations, whether this is to send a hand-written thank you note or to give the customer early access to your new product features.

Remember that customers pay close attention to the small details when they’re feeling distressed. The way you interact with customer complaints after their problem is resolved sets the stage for future encounters.

In fact, if your post-complaint actions are done successfully, the next time your customer talks about your business, this will be the message they communicate most

If Customer is king? What about Customer complaint rule book?

Solving customer complaints is a lot like putting out fires. It’s reactive, and no matter how good your product or service is, it’s impossible to please all of your customers.

The next time you receive a complaint, use the following 5 step check list in order to respond, resolve and keep your customer happy.

Acknowledge the complaint
Inform the customer that you are taking action
Record and categorize the customer complaint
Resolve the complaint according to company policy
Follow up with the customer to make sure they are satisfied

Handling customer complaints is an ongoing process. You can use web forms to collect complaints from your website and then use customer service software to store the complaint on each customer profile. Remember to monitor complaints on a weekly or monthly basis so you can track new complaints and trends, and be sure to follow up on open complaints.

It’s worth reminding, but if a customer leaves you, you lose business. So, don’t be afraid to escalate reoccurring complaints to top management in order to get them resolved quickly.

Proactive complaint handling

As mentioned earlier, not all customers will complain directly to you.

The web enables customers to share their feedback in multiple channels, including forums, comparison websites, social media networks and more. Without taking the necessary steps, these complaints can snowball, and even go viral.

This means you need to engage in social listening and get proactive in customer complaint handling.

Finding complaints online is not easy, but here are a few suggestions on where to start:

Have any negative comments been made on your blog?
Has your brand name been mentioned on Twitter?
Do customers post messages on your Facebook brand page?
Has anyone left a bad review on your Google My Business page?
Are the comments made on your YouTube channels positive?
Is your brand listed in any complaint directories or forums when you search in Google?

All these channels will need to be monitored. If you don’t respond, readers will assume you don’t care. If you respond to messages online, it can be seen as though you are making an effort and that you do care. This act alone can inspire brand loyalty and customer confidence.

Bottom Line To Sales

Customer complaints are important.

And there’s no better way to collect direct feedback from your customers and improve your product or service.

However, the way you handle a complaint is the difference between keeping a customer or losing one. So, the next time you receive a customer complaint, listen to what the customer has to say, apologize (!), find a solution and follow up to see if he or she is happy with the way you are handling it.

In doing so, you are on your way to creating more loyal customers, improving your product and delivering a better quality of customer service.

How do you manage customer complaints?

Looking forward to hearing from you below.

P.S. If you’re looking for further tips on how to improve complaints, download the free customer service email templates white paper.

Customer Service

When You Worry About Price Way Too Much?

The Problem Your prospect may say he cares about price, but it is very rarely the real issue. The real worry is that the prospect’s needs and goals won’t be met by the product, that any benefits will be outweighed by a high cost, or that your quality of services won’t be worth it. Getting caught up on price is never advisable. Someone can always go lower.

The Solution Continue to ask those questions. Find out if your prospect’s price obsession is really about. Once you know how to get to the root cause of the prospect’s price concerns, it will cease to be an issue your prospects obsess over.

When You Find Yourself Putting Off the Budget Discussion.

The Problem You’ve just gotten the customer on the line. They seem wary of opening up too much. You’re not sure what kind of budget he has or even what he can afford, but you’re not about to ask right now for fear it will scare him off.

The Solution Money can be a taboo subject, but it’s absolutely necessary to have the budget discussion with the prospect. Lofton explains that it let’s you know how serious the prospect is about solving their problem and also saves you from trying to go off of your own assumptions.

How do you handle customer service and problem solving?

Unsatisfied Customers Are Causing Negative Online Buzz.

In both B2B and B2C, people look for reviews they trust before they take action. Sadly, unsatisfied customers are much more likely to speak up than those who are thrilled. If they are the only ones talking about your brand, it makes a bad impression.

Solution

In the sales team, you’re probably keeping an eye on mentions of your brand, products, and hashtags. If you see someone raise a ruckus, don’t be afraid to engage – especially if it is one of your customers. Alternatively, escalate it to a customer care rep or other who can help.

Prospects Are Consistently Asking Unexpected Questions.

Weird and unexpected questions come from two directions. Sometimes, prospects are subject matter experts who want deep, technical information. Other times, they may be out of their area of expertise and reaching. Either way, a good answer from the sales team creates credibility.

Solution

Partner with the marketing team to review and refine buyer personas and gain a better understanding of where each type of prospect is coming from. Consider developing an internal knowledge base and a public FAQ to address questions for each persona.

Sales Follow-Up Is Ineffective or Non-Existent.

This problem cuts across B2B and B2C: Many potential customers make contact only to find that the sales team never returns their call. While some prospects are clearly not qualified, follow-up is the key to maximizing value from all your other efforts.

Solution

Figure out what part of follow-up is the most taxing – in time, technology, or plain old mental resources – and use technology to simplify it. Most teams can double follow-up rates and significantly accelerate the time it all takes by implementing a modern customer relationship management (CRM) system.

B2B Buyers Don’t Find Brand Trusted or Reputable.

In a truly efficient inbound sales process, your Web-based sales and marketing collateral should do a lot of heavy lifting. By the time prospects talk to you, they should have a sense that they know and trust the brand. If they are noncommittal or closed off, it represents one of the big sales problems.

Solution

Diagnose your messaging strategy to figure out the root of the issue. Are prospects finding your content on publications and platforms they know and trust? Is your brand active in developing its thought leadership credentials on sites like LinkedIn?

Poor Post-Sale Support Hinders Customer Lifetime Value (LTV).

Customers are most motivated right after they buy from you. They want to give you the benefit of the doubt, justifying their purchase decision. While many sales pros move on at this point, it is a terrible time to leave new customers feeling abandoned.

Solution

You work hard to build rapport with customers; now use it. Check in after a week and again after a month to make sure that things are going smoothly. If you’re not the expert who can solve their problems, put them in touch with that person. Stay friends now to avoid sales problems later!

The best salespeople don’t try to solve problems for customers. Instead, they solve problems with customers.

They learn about problems customers want to solve and outcomes they want to accomplish. They use these insights to shift their focus from products to customer solutions.

Focus on results

Successful salespeople consistently solve customer problems. They recognize that no product or service is excellent in and of itself. It’s only excellent if it fulfills a customer’s need, and it does that by creating an image of a satisfying solution that the customer can understand.

Economic impact

Selling a solution means presenting your product or service as something that will have an economic impact. That’s why every successful sales scenario is composed of three separate steps:

Understand the customer’s problems.
Develop as clear a picture as possible of the customer’s image of a solution.
Demonstrate how your company can provide a solution that fits this image.

Problem-solving facts

For every problem, there’s a dissatisfied customer. A business problem always causes dissatisfaction for someone. When you see dissatisfaction you’ve got a problem to fix.
Never try to solve a problem without the right information. Get the information first. Don’t think you know the answer and then go and find information to support your guess.
Take on the customer’s problem personally. Powerful things begin to happen when you go beyond the norm to try to resolve problems.