What are some common mistakes to avoid when diagnosing customer problems?

1. Making customers wait. 2. Failing to create the right communications mix. 3. Using outdated methods of customer service. 4. Ignoring touchpoints in your customer service journey. 5. Not proactively engaging with customers. 6. Expecting agents to learn on the fly. 7. Not actively listening to your customers. Refocus on your customer service.

Not owning the problem. To be trusted by a customer, you must be their advocate and partner. Trying to avoid blame instead of solving the issue is not what customers need. I was working in a hospital setting with communication gear that failed. My company ordered me to not admit blame, I knew it was our issue and pledged to the Hospital VP that we would fully commit to resolving asap. The VP later said if I had not come in with that response he would have found another vendor immediately. Even though we did suffer from issues periodically, the hospital had complete trust in us and I was placed on their IT advisory team as the only vendor.

It's important to avoid common mistakes to make sure we get things right. First, don't assume you know what the problem is without fully understanding what the customer is saying. Ask questions and really listen to what they're telling you. Also, don't ignore what the customer is saying—value their input. Show empathy and let them know you understand their frustration. Start with simple solutions before jumping into complex ones, and always document the details of the customer's issue and the steps you take to fix it. Keep them informed about what's going on and follow up after resolving the issue to make sure they're satisfied. These steps can help provide better customer support and prevent common mistakes during the diagnosis process.

One of my favorite solution selling terms that best describes the situation of pitching a solution too soon... "pre-mature elaboration."

This is critical. It also has a name - Critical Criteria. If you dont help to define it, in simple terms, clients get confused. Dealing with this confusion during selection of an Enterprise System, is a multi-billion dollar industry. Enter the Selection Consultant. And if you are not a vendor with a relationship with the particular selection consultant, BANT, MEDDIC and other methodologies, simply won't matter. Your process will be defined for you.

Stakeholders go blazing at the beginning of a project. While it is ambitious to solve all at once, this approach is seldom successful. Prioritizing use cases to implement helps understand effort, resources required, and what can be achieved in the given period - and this exercise should be taken up by the solution consultant to pitch, with their experience in implementation and can help showcase the value of prioritizing use cases. This can be a back-and-forth, time-consuming process, but being proactive could resolve chaos during the build. Asking questions like "Why is this important?", "How does this impact your business?", "How urgent is this and why?", "Are relevant stakeholders involved?" can help with this prioritization exercise.

Yes, covering bases and especially connecting with economic and technical buyers are essential to getting commitment to evaluate your solution. Qualifying a new solution to an existing problem can be expensive and resource intensive. Using an ROI process and implementation roadmap to present the financial and efficiency benefits and timeline of your solution can be used build stakeholder collaboration and onboard new customers.

Have a next step defined at the end of the meeting. Dont wait to suggest it as a follow-up. But, of course, follow-up. The sooner the better while its top of mind with the client.

Not asking the right questions! Why? Why now? Why ever! Why you? Why is the most underrated question. It takes the noise out!

Make sure you understand the bigger picture of what they are trying to achieve from a business perspective. Then see how the issues relate: resources and priorities can be allocated appropriately.