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Chapter 21 - Your Responsibility to Your Client

The author is concerned that many whom he encounters in the sales profession are concerned with their own interest (moving product and making commissions) and not at all concerned with the interests of their customers. This results in a competitive and adversarial relationship, and generally a very short-lived one.

The author is interested in a fostering ongoing relationships, and recognizes that the sales relationship is mutually beneficial: the customer must feel he has gotten a good value for his payment, and if that is the case he will continue to give his business to the salesman and refer others to him as well. Such relationships are sustainable and highly profitable.

Honesty

The author looks to media coverage of corporate scandals. What he takes from this is that a lie cannot be perpetuated forever. You can keep it going for quite a long time if you work hard enough at it, but eventually the truth will come out, and the game is over.

A salesman can lie to a client to get him to buy a false promise, but when the service is delivered there will be no denying that it doesn't meet the expectations that were set: you will lose the account, and you will lose the potential to do business with anyone they tell about the situation.

Maintaining a good reputation is critical to the long-term success of a salesmen, to the point that the author considers honesty to be his "first rule of responsibility" when dealing with clients.

Service Problem

The second rule of responsibility is to take ownership of any service problems that arise. He's spoken of the "disappearing salesman" act before, and the way in which failure to satisfactorily handle any issues that arise is a quick way to lose their future business, and that even though supervising the personnel who render the service may not be your job, it should be a matter of great concern.

Responsible Communication

Being proactive in maintaining contact with clients is another part of the author's "formula of responsibility."

He relates a personal experience, as a teenager working at a department store during the Christmas rush. One of the more experienced clerks told him of the work he did to maintain customer communication (such making calls to his best customers to let them know when items they might like are coming up on sale), which in turn made customers loyal to him as a clerk. This was a revelation, as his perception of store clerks was that of employees who idly stand behind a counter waiting for customers to show up.

Touching base regularly with customers is especially important in services, to ensure that they are satisfied with the service they are receiving ensures that you will not be surprised when their contract is up for renewal, gives you an opportunity to discover opportunities to sell more services, and adds to your service a personal touch because many of your competitors will fail to do this.