The Spotlight’s On You—Your Customers Notice More Than You Think

You may think that you and your work goes unnoticed by your customers. Sometimes people don't notice, but other times, they are paying attention.

Here’s what you may not realize that your prospects and customers are noticing when they look at you and your work.

Cutting corners will create problems for you later.

Some salespeople think it’s acceptable to cut corners. They think, why not? No one will notice. And yes, sometimes customers won’t notice, but it’s a horrible idea.

What I have found is that when salespeople cut corners, they create problems for themselves down the road. Selling requires a lot of attention to detail, which may include data entry and paperwork which takes time. Many salespeople don’t like doing data entry or paperwork.

I’ve seen salespeople fill out customer information incompletely because they think no one will notice. However, then what happens is that their customers get incorrect billing. Who has to correct it? It might be someone else who makes the correction, but the salesperson will end up having to do more work to get the invoices corrected. That’s a waste of time. And, customers notice—and don’t like it—when they get incorrect invoices.

They’re watching you when you think they’re not.

Then there was the salesperson who was running late for an appointment. He was under the misguided assumption that his sales call started when he was in front of his customer; no one would notice him before he got to his customer’s office. Wrong!

The company receptionist told me that she noticed the salesman who was obviously late for his appointment. She knew he was late because she heard the screeching of tires as his car raced into the parking lot. She then looked out the window to see what would happen next. With windows across the front of the building, the salesman, now turned track star, was running into the building while trying to put his suit jacket on and holding his suitcase.

There were people in the lobby who had also heard the screeching tires and noticed the activity, as well as company executives whose offices were along the front of the building. The receptionist told me that the salesman was the plant's afternoon entertainment. He was the joke at the plant for the next week.

Who knew that so many people would be seeing him? Certainly not him. You never know when people are watching you—always assume they are.

This message also applies to your driving behavior on the way to appointments and after you leave an appointment. People do notice. I won’t even share with you the unfortunate story of the salesman who lost a big deal because of his rude behavior on the road. Yes, the other driver turned out to be his prospect.

Things come back to you in unexpected ways.

Then, there’s the opposite effect. This is when something good happens when someone notices you and your work. You may not know it when they see good things.

I remember a customer who had a problem. As I would do for any customer, I quickly learned what the problem was and told him what I would do to solve it. Then I went to work and fixed the situation. He was happy with the solution and continued to do business with me and my company. I didn’t think anything more about it.

I received a pleasant surprise months later at my annual review with my manager. After reviewing my results with me, he showed me a letter that the customer had written to him saying how grateful he was to be working with me. He was so appreciative to receive excellent customer service and wrote my manager that my company was lucky to have me working for them. How’s that for a wonderful surprise?

People may or may not notice what you do; however, you should always be on your best behavior. After all, it’s good for business and good for sales when you do the right thing.