When I see that clients in a company are treated in a way that makes them uncomfortable, I immediately understand that this is not just a problem of a specific manager, but a problem of the entire company, starting from the top, and that this company has no future. It’s a kind of Darwinian selection. I have always been amazed, for example, at how a well-known, now bankrupt tour operator treated its clients—travel agents.
We are witnessing the gradual decline of a well-known television operator, which, as a monopoly, has managed to lose everything. I haven’t seen anyone who is happy with their services or who isn’t trying to break free from their grasp. Fortunately, there are now dozens of other ways to access the internet and TV, and that’s what people prefer to do. Eye-catching billboards proclaiming super tariffs won’t restore the public’s trust. The demise of this company is just a matter of time.
We have another company that sells cars and is facing the same problems. When you dig deeper, it turns out that the reluctance to fix a rust spot on the body is just the tip of the iceberg. A little further down, you discover that the head of the dealership earns only… 3000 hryvnias in salary. The company is essentially inviting him to steal. How long can it survive like this? Probably not long, as sales are gradually declining, and dealerships are starting to sell other brands of cars.
There’s also a wonderful, very large bank whose ATMs I personally make a point of avoiding, and when I ask those around me, I find out that others do the same. It’s uncomfortable to withdraw money from these ATMs. By the way, it’s also uncomfortable to exchange currency there now. Once, I drove 500 meters in reverse just to withdraw money from a different ATM. How do you think this will end in about 10 years?
What happens in such companies? In these companies, what can be called a crisis of customer orientation occurs. If a salesperson or a front-office worker— as it’s fashionable to say now—doesn’t understand that the dental treatment for their children is paid for by the customer, that the contents of their refrigerator, as well as the refrigerator itself and the electricity for it, are paid for by the customer, and that when they go on vacation, it’s the customer who pays their vacation salary, not the company, then there will be no results. Customers tend to develop consumption habits. We go where we feel comfortable, and day by day we choose other companies instead of those where we don’t feel at ease.
However, this problem cannot be solved by hypocritically hanging up posters about customer orientation. In fact, this issue stems from the top. The sales manager treats the salespeople not as one should treat those who bring in money, but rather “as a boss.” Yet, once again, the electricity bill is not paid by the company, but by the work of his subordinates. He is the one who depends on them, and their success in dealing with clients brings him money. They are his clients, and he should treat them as such. After all, he is their… cartridge Текст для перевода: ..
Where will the seller or the girl on the phone get a customer-oriented model of behavior if their own boss doesn’t set an example of such behavior? And the boss can only develop this behavior when their superior also views the lower level as clients. And this continues all the way to the top. That’s why this post has such a title.
It’s not the company that pays you money; it’s the clients. That’s why you need to build relationships with clients, treating them like friends or even better. You wouldn’t think of sending spam to your friends. You wouldn’t think of hanging your portrait in front of your friend’s house, hoping that they would love you more. You wouldn’t think of sending a business proposal to a friend instead of inviting them for a beer. There are many things you wouldn’t consider if you looked at clients the way you look at friends.
Ask any villager whom they will devote more time and attention to — their neighbor or their cow? The cow will always come first, and if the neighbor is a friend, they will understand this and not take offense. After all, the cow provides milk, while with the neighbor, you can only spend money.
How many friends do you have who would pay for your vacation? Or friends who would come over and bring you money to buy clothes? Friends don’t bring money, but clients do. So why not treat clients better than friends?