Business Success - Is everyone in sales?

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Is everyone in sales?

Chris Lytle, CSP, Author of The Accidental Salesperson

Providing customer support...

I still like it when a United Airlines flight attendant addresses me by name, even though I know it's prompted by a computer printout. It feels good to be recognized as an important customer, and because I do have a choice in air carriers, it builds loyalty. If United can get a flight attendant to call me by name, you might want to consider getting more of your internal support staff involved in providing customer service.

"As long as you're in business, you're in sales" is a pretty good maxim. Does everyone at your company believe that? Do your shipping and production people see themselves as the "trench workers" or the "end of the line sales department"? There's a big difference. Shipping managers who have actually used the product, visited the client, or toured their facility put more into making sure they receive their product than just labeling it and sending it out the door.

Imagine the impact that a phone call or voice mail like this would have on a new client:

"Hello, Mr. Voss. This is Linda from 'ABC Company' I'm the Shipping manager, which means I'm the one who sends you your materials so that they can reach you as ordered. Because you're a new customer, I wanted to call to let you know that your first shipment went out today and the next one will ship on Thursday. If you have any questions or need anything, you can call me direct at 271-3223. And thanks for your order, Mr. Voss."

All it takes to pull this off is a check-off box on the order form and a simple telephone script. And one more person in your company has become a part of the sales team. Getting calls from people other than the salesperson can motivate the client and the person who is serving the client. When more people at the company start thinking of the customers as "my customers," everyone wins.

James A. Belasco and Ralph C. Stayer wrote the book and appear in the video, The Flight of the Buffalo. They are strong proponents of the power of giving people in the organization "line of sight" to a customer. If you isolate workers from the end user and keep them in their cubicles, you'll develop a company full of "slot fillers" instead of customer-responsive organization.

Suggested action: Give anyone on your team four hours a month to see live, paying customers. Imagine the increase in productivity and responsiveness to customer concerns when your administrative people see themselves as part of the sales and customer service team.

When everyone starts thinking of the customer as "my customer" instead of "that jerk on Bob's account list," you will be on your way to having a high-performance culture.

This news arrived on: 09/10/2008

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