Business, Profits and Strategy

Andrew B. Zezas, SIOR
Relationship Manager,
Strategist, President
(908) 245-5999 x11
andrew.zezas@realstrat.com

Results? It’s the Experience, Silly!

How many times have you done an outstanding job for a customer or client, only to watch her hire or buy from your competitor the next time around? You’ve probably scratched your head and asked yourself “What did I do wrong?” Then you might say “I worked hard for that customer, I made sure they got a great deal, and I gave them a rock bottom price. They couldn’t have gotten a better price from anyone in town. And, this is the thanks I get!” Ah! The salesperson’s lament!

Every good salesperson understands that price isn’t everything. In fact, if price were the most important component of every sale, luxury brands like BMW, Coach, Four Seasons Hotels, and Nobu would not succeed…because they’re expensive.

So, let’s assume that you provided your customer with more than just a great price, and that you got them good terms, too. In business-to-business services, like corporate real estate, we hear brokers exclaim all the time “I got them such a good deal on that property…I cut their price by 20%, and secured huge landlord concessions, too. And, they hired my competition for their next project!” In the service business, results are important. After all, results are what drive decisions, how executive bonuses are calculated, how purchases are made…right? While that may be true, people make decisions based on many factors, including but, not only based on, results.

Here are a few questions:

Remember the last time you bought or leased a car? You may still be driving that same car. If you’re lucky, you drive a great car. You may enjoy getting into it, driving it, maybe even being seen in it. Perhaps your great car takes you and your loved ones safely and in style to places where you have loads of fun. The results of buying or leasing your car are great.
But, do you remember the experience of buying or leasing that car? Was it fun? Did you trust the salesperson? Was he truly interested in you, your needs, your challenges, and creating an optimal solution for you, or was he more interested in selling you a car and moving onto the next customer? Would you like to do it again? Would you go back to that same salesperson again based on your first experience?

If you answered “yes” to the last few questions, consider yourself lucky, and don’t let that salesperson go. Unfortunately, if you’re like most Americans, you will not have answered “yes”. Why? Because in many cases, sales and service people, especially those in consumer oriented businesses, focus on the end-game, the final transaction, the results. To often they don’t focus enough on the process of achieving those results from the perspective of the customer. In fact, too few companies compensate their sales and service personnel based on the customer experience. They typically compensate them based on results. So, if you were a salesperson, where would you put your efforts?

It’s a fact that people buy based at least in part, on emotional factors. Trust is not a results driven basis for buying a product or engaging a service provider. Feeling that the person on the other side of the conference table is truly looking out for your company and your personal success is not results focused. Sure, results are extremely important when it comes time to demonstrate to your customer that you accomplished their objectives. But, results are not the only factor that will ensure your customer will engage you again. It’s the experience, silly!

That’s right, it’s the experience that counts, and that keeps customers coming back. People aren’t robots. They don’t remember sales or service people who got them great deals. They remember people who looked out for them, who they could trust, who did more for them, as people, then they promised, who’s company they enjoyed. Sure, great results look good on your resume but, a long list of repeat customers, who are so comfortable with you that they’ll engage you again and again, and will tell your future customers about what great experiences they had with you, is what success is really about. It’s about the experience you provide for your customers, not just the results.

Andrew B. Zezas, SIOR, is Relationship Manager, Strategist, and President & CEO of Real Estate Strategies Corporation, Publisher of "Business, Profits and Strategy", a monthly online publication read by thousands of business, financial, and real estate executives nationally, and, is the author of two new real estate books, The CFO's Guide to Understanding Corporate Real Estate Transactions and The CFO's Guide to Hiring the "Right" Real Estate Service Provider, both of which will be available shortly at www.thecfosguide.com.

Mr. Zezas is well-known for his ease and informative style of public speaking, and has given talks, presentations, and has lead educational programs for business, professional, government, and trade associations, including the Building Owners and Managers Association, American Management Association, the U.S. Postal Service, RealComm, Society of Industrial and Office Realtors (SIOR), and others. Andrew is National Chairman of the SIOR Tenant Representation Specialty Practice Board, and is a licensed real estate instructor in Texas and Indiana. He can be reached at 908 245 5999 or via email.

Real Estate Strategies Corporation, located in Kenilworth, New Jersey, and serving clients throughout the country, helps companies create and execute Business DRIVEN Real Estate Solutions...and Opportunities, faster and with less risk. Visit www.realstrat.com.

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