Customer Care Corner: What to do when your customers undermine your business….

As I was perusing Stampin’ Connection, a community for Stampin’ Up! demonstrators, I came across a post from a fellow demonstrator struggling because some of his customers where discussing and essentially promoting coupons and products from local craft stores, AT his events.

Early on in my career as a Stampin’ Up! demonstrator, I remember struggling with the exact same thing.  Month after month at my stamp clubs, there were two customers in particular, who kept talking about the fantastic deals they were getting on SU product off of ebay.  They essentially came to my clubs to learn, put in their minimum orders, and then spent hundreds of dollars on SU product on ebay which they were buying from a US demonstrator. US prices on SU product are lower than CAN prices - so I just couldn’t compete – nor frankly did I want to – I wanted my business to make money!

Then of course there were some of my other customers who would talk about buying their adhesive at the dollar store, or buying stuff at Michael’s with their 40% off coupon.

So what’s a demonstrator to do? Do you just hold it in, grin and pretend that nothing is happening, hoping that they’ll eventually stop? 

The short answer is no. Unfortunatey you will find that there are ALWAYS going to be people like that, what you need is to find some strategies for dealing with them.

If it’s an occasional thing, you can try some gentle humor to diffuse the situation.  For example, if they talk about a great deal somewhere else, you can jokingly say “yeah, but you don’t get a built-in teacher and customer service agent with it, like you do when you buy from me!”

If they just don’t get the picture, and the behavior persists, that’s when you need to work up the courage to talk to them directly.

The good news is that most of the time your customers don’t realize how their behavior is impacting you and your business. My suggestion would be to take the time to speak privately with each of the culprits one on one – not during the club or class - and gently say something like “I totally understand how excited you are about the coupons from x,y,z store – I get excited about great deals too! I’d really appreciate it though if you would refrain from discussing it during my card classes. As much as I love sharing my ideas with you guys and spending time making cards together, this is my business. When you discuss other companies and products here, it hurts my business.”

While this is a difficult conversation to have, in the long run, it’s in your best interests to be frank. If your customer gets so insulted that she doesn’t come back, then frankly, you are better off without her as a customer. If she values you and the service you provide, she’ll be understanding, and will respect you and your expertise.

Now it’s your turn….share your thoughts on this situation.  Has this ever happened to you? What did YOU do?  Did it help?  Do you have any other customer situations that you’d like me to talk about?