The Objection Opportunity
By George Anderson
One thing that any salesperson worth their commissions knows is that every prospect or customer objection represents a selling opportunity.
A study out of the automotive retailing industry conducted by Maritz Research bears this out. According to the study’s findings, 60 percent of customers with complaints came back to the dealership when buying a new car if they felt they were treated fairly the first go around.
Interestingly, only 38 percent of customers who never had a complaint were likely to come back to a deal when looking to replace a car.
Moderator’s Comment: Are stores taking advantage of the disgruntled customer opportunity to increase shopper loyalty? How do retailers create an environment
that adequately addresses the needs of shoppers with complaints?
Having spent six months working at a Trader Joe’s as part of our ongoing education within the business we can say without question that handling customer
complaints is one of the biggest reasons for this retailer’s success.
A case in point: While working at a register and speaking with a female customer, she complained about a product she decided to try while shopping on a
previous trip.
After taking the price of that item off her order current order, the customer said it wasn’t necessary, she was just trying it to see if she and her family
would like it.
Our response was that it was necessary because Trader Joe shoppers deserve to be happy with what they buy in the store.
She proceeded to tell the store (it did make us a little nervous, we admit) that this is one of the reasons why Trader Joe’s is her absolute favorite store.
She probably told quite a few people outside of the store, as well. –
George Anderson – Moderator