How do you look after customers?
I once interviewed a sales executive, a top-flight chap selling photocopiers in London at the height of a 1990's boom. I asked him about repeat sales and, to my astonishment, he answered, “I never call back on a customer once sold. Too much chance of a problem…”
Wow! I won't bother with my questions about referrals and testimonials then!
Well, the case is the same for poor customer service. If you don’t treat your CS team as sales executives, or lack a policy for your sales team to maintain regular, diarised, contact with new clients – every day will become Groundhog day for your organisation. Cold call, make a meeting, … cold call…make a meeting...
We invest so much time, marketing dollars, man-hours, leg-work, etc., in landing a new prospect. If you take the annual cost of all your teams in this process and divide it by the number of active clients you have, you'll get a glimpse of the cost. Correct customer service will ensure you keep them as customers. Simple.
For some, customer relations will come naturally. Great KAMs will have this built-in. But never assume in sales. So, appreciate and preserve what you already have, and set a policy for your executives to both learn and conduct great customer service.
Comments