Have you ever had customers call you complaining that they are not being taken care of properly? Ever had them say this is not what they agreed to? How about this statement, “I think you need to come pick up your stuff as I no longer wish to do business with you?”
These are never fun conversations and most can be alleviated quickly and easily if we do this one thing. Before I tell you what this one thing is, let me give you a context of the issue in depth before providing the solution.
Large organizations today have multiple people that interact with the customer. We all know the sales person that is tasked to grow revenue and win new projects / programs. There are also others that are handling the customer on a day to day basis while the sales person is off selling other new prospects. These individuals are the customer service representatives also known as account managers. They are the crucial in growing the relationship with the customer.
Customer’s rely on constant communication about shipments, payments, bills, etc. The customer needs to know what is going on so they can build their product / service, utilize the investment they have made, and grow their portfolio. They need us to grow their business.
The key issue that I have seen multiple times in business is this. The sales person goes out and wins a sale, get the high five, and then is off trying to make the next kill (more on “kills” in future blog posts). The sales person likely has forgotten to communicate the rules of engagement with the customer effectively to those that handle the accounts on a day to day basis. This means that any negotiations or agreements made outside of the standard programs have been missed and the day to day individuals do not have this knowledge.
This would upset me if I agreed to doing business a certain way and the organization decided that it was outside of the parameters and rejects what I agreed to. I would be infuriated, wouldn’t you? Most likely resulting me calling the sales person to pick up their products and services.
This was the issue with one organization I worked for when I started out my sales career and there were some very unhappy customers. So much so that the owner of the organization was receiving calls on his cell phone which resulted in not so pleasant conversations with the entire sales team. When I say unpleasant, I mean usage of a great deal of the urban and regular dictionary adjectives.
What derived out of this and what can be applied to any organization dealing with customers, is a review of the terms of the agreement and a kick off meeting prior to the first shipment of goods / services. This allows everyone to get in alignment so that rules of engagement with the customer is well understood. Today with the sharepoint drives and team sites, it is even easier to load the terms of the agreement so that anyone can quickly review them. This also helps in case a customer tries to exaggerate the terms of the agreement to receive a little extra benefit.
In implementing a good standard of communication of new contracts with the teams, the customer relationship will function smoothly and growth can happen faster. Making sure the customer is taken care of is the top priority!
Remember the old saying, “the customer is always right!” Sometimes we just need to have all of the facts about the relationship.
Have a great day!
Sincerely,
Kevin Sidebottom
“Businesses wonder why the majority of their sales teams struggle at winning profitable business. I teach your sales team to walk with the customer through the five buying decisions, and in the correct order to generate more sales with high margins!”