Educate Customers

By Steve Gillman

Why is it important to educate customers, and how can it increase sales and profits? Because potential customers don't automatically know the value of what you offer and existing ones need to be reminded. Let me offer a couple questions and a quick education about carpet cleaning to make the point.

Do you know why a truck-mount steam extraction carpet cleaning system is better than a portable cleaning unit or a dry-cleaning machine? Well, to start with, dry cleaners use chemicals that are often left behind as residue that can trigger allergies and attract dirt. Portable units can't match the heat and suction of a truck-mount machine, and so can't clean as deeply. But the dust mites and other critters... ah, that is where the hot-water-injection (misnamed steam cleaning) really makes a difference. Do you want the dust mites and other creepy crawlies left alone, or would you prefer that they are killed by the 190-degree water and sucked out by the high-suction machine?

Think about that the next time you sit on or lie down on your carpet. You've now been educated, and a certain percentage of readers of this page--perhaps including you-- will opt for a company that uses a truck-mount hot water injection system the next time they need their carpets clean, even if the alternatives are cheaper.

A carpet cleaner would be wise to include such educational information on his website, in his promotional flyers, and to the extent possible, even on his business cards. But that's not the only way to educate people. Talking is a good start. When I worked for my brother's carpet cleaning business many years ago, I watched as customers' eyes glazed over during his educational lectures. But despite their lack of interest in the details, they still got the basic message--and they immediately saw my brother as the expert.

The ways in which you educate potential and existing customers will depend on the nature of the services or products you sell. For example, if you're an accountant, you might offer a free educational seminar to teach people tax-reduction techniques. Afterwards, you will be the expert they think of when they need help--and you will have educated them on the importance of having a good accountant. If you have a car-detailing service and also sell related products, you could do do presentations at classic car shows to teach owners of these automobiles how to truly clean them. Of course, some will then buy your products, and those who don't want to do their own cleaning will know at least one expert who can do it for them

In my own business I find that I have trouble with many of the online services I use, which brings up another advantage of educating the customer: reducing costs. If they would educate me--if I had good simple explanations of how to use their product--I wouldn't have to call and email these companies so frequently. They would save the cost of handling those e-mails and thirty-minute phone calls. So if your customers are coming back with the same questions too many times, you probably aren't educating them well enough before the sale, at the point of sale, and beyond.

Finally, education is a way to arouse interest. I recall reading abut a successful marketing campaign by a rare coin seller. The materials told people about the history of the coins, the history of coin collecting, and more. People who never had an interest in coin collecting became fascinated by this education and suddenly wanted to buy some old coins. Educate customers!

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