 |
In My View: Improving Relationships
Norman Rich
"Theories aside, deep down we all know how customers want to be treated...because we are all customers ourselves. We have all experienced the same problems that our own customers face, and we have taken our custom away from places where we do not feel welcomed."
-Dr. Paddi Lund, BDS, FRACDS, from the book, "Customer Culture: How FedEx and Other Great Companies Put the Customer First Every Day"
A little more than fifty years ago, there were no computers and no sophisticated databases that track customer spending, preferences, and behaviors. No ecommerce. No toll-free numbers and a lot fewer people used credit cards. Salespeople had to get up from their desks and into their customers' homes or offices if they expected to sell them something.
Manufacturers focused on creating quality goods and delivering the highest levels of customer service. Intimate, first hand knowledge of their customers' needs, wants, and buying habits enabled them to evolve product lines and supporting services. And their high-touch form of customer relationship management enabled marketers and decision makers to respond to customers' needs quickly.
The costs of computer-based customer relationship management (CRM) come directly off of the profit line. Sophisticated CRM solutions can demand a significantly higher top line from the organization footing the bill without always guaranteeing sufficient topline growth to compensate for the initial investment and continuing costs of maintenance.
One alternative to a high-priced CRM solution is to view customer relationship management as a company-wide practice and philosophy that is supported and implemented using a combination of technology and good, old-fashioned people power. Making CRM work means making the decision to establish enterprise-wide awareness of who your customers are and why they're interested in doing business with you in the first place.
To thine own self be true.
Many relationships rely heavily on contracts, agreements or formal instructions to define the roles, responsibilities and required contributions from each party. However, our most cherished relationships are usually those that have endured and overcome adversity. And, while most of us are familiar with the lesson of growth through adversity, few of us are willing to invest the time and energy required to take the adversity that is part and parcel of our most meaningful relationships and link it to personal success and organizational profitability.
Step One: Manage expectations.
If you find yourself in an adversarial relationship that is spiraling downward, remember that the first step in improving the quality of any broken relationship is to understand and document what's needed and expected out of the union by the parties within it. Don't make the mistake of applying undue importance to something simply because it is urgent and you're expecting it to be done right away. Just like urgency and importance, needs and expectations are two distinctly different things.
Step Two: Understand the roles of the different players.
The second step in improving relationship quality is defining roles and responsibilities. Documenting audience and stakeholder needs and expectations facilitates both individual and organizational focus while reducing the amount of time contributed to unprofitable efforts.
Step Three: Make sure that yours is a win-win relationship.
Ensure that everyone involved has an understanding and appreciation of the reciprocal value gained as a result of their efforts. Everyday challenges will complicate things, but they also force stakeholders to develop solutions and techniques that can be used to overcome future challenges and loosen troublesome bottlenecks.
Determining needs and expectations.
Start by establishing, defining, and communicating the rules and boundaries. An example might be a statement like this one: "Two of our core values at Lighthouse Strategic Group are honesty and integrity. We seek the same values in our employees, customers, and suppliers." This statement of needs and expectations facilitates effective relationship management for one of the stakeholders, Lighthouse, but it doesn't reflect the benefits to the other parties involved in the process.
Learning about the needs of others and demonstrating a willingness to evolve contributions to the relationship based on that knowledge, leads directly to enhanced relationship value. Openly inquire about the needs and expectations of your fellow participants - especially when they are less verbal or non-communicative. Merge the various points of view and expected outcomes to form a value proposition that is unique to the relationship: "Two of our core values at Lighthouse Strategic Group are honesty and integrity. We believe that these two values are the most impactful to our ability to improve the quality of life for those that we interact with and we seek the same values in our employees, customers, and suppliers."
Know your role in the relationship.
Make sure that you know the role you play in each relationship, if yours is the same role in most relationships, how does this new role compare with your self-image or corporate image? The answers to these questions are important to know at the beginning of the relationship and to track as the relationship matures and evolves.
Communicate the Value Proposition.
A politician appreciates the value of her constituencies: the voters, business community and civic leaders that are affected by her votes and influence. If she can deliver on the expectations of these audiences, she dramatically increases the likelihood that she'll either find herself re-elected or elected to a new, higher post. That's why our heroine is not shy in her efforts to communicate the value of continuing the relationship whenever election time rolls around. It's far easier to remind those that we already share a relationship with (customers, employees, partners, etc.) of the value that we bring and expect than it is to educate complete strangers (prospects, job candidates, new acquaintances) about how wonderful we are.
In business and organizational life, the customer and contributor vote with their wallets and the employee votes with his skills, experience and commitment to the enterprise. No partner wants to hear a constant litany of your successes without also hearing a similar recognition of their own contributions.
We don't just want to talk about our clients' businesses, we work alongside them to make those businesses better. For our solutions to work, we have to find ways to appeal to three customer groups: The customer inside of our clients' organizations, the customer outside of their organizations and the customers inside of our own organization. We understand that we are shaped by adversity like kites against the wind and we look for ways to overcome adversities, sharing the resulting techniques with our clients and associates.
1/9/2004
|
