You are a sales professional who labors to give the best in service to your customers.  The best in service means being responsive, innovative, and creative when it comes to your customers business needs.

Your retention of customers is good, and your acquisition of new customers is solid as well.  So what is missing?

Most sales professionals do not ask their customers “how am I doing?” and “what can I do better?”

Why it is important?

This one might be simpler to explain than you might believe.  Sometimes we forget that asking questions does more than just generate a response.

Asking those questions:

• Shows a sincere desire to give the best service possible.
• Opens the feedback channel to allow someone who appreciates you to get what they may be missing in a relationship.  It promotes communication.
• Shows confidence in the relationship by allowing constructive criticism in the quest for continuous improvement.
• Opens a window to what aspects of service, responsiveness, and fulfillment are most important, and allows you to focus on these.
• Sets up that next conversation in 6 months or a year where you ask again and get the positive feedback that you are doing all that has been asked.

You may ask for feedback in your relationships and marriage, and you may ask for feedback from your employer (in the form of a performance review), yet most often we make the assumption that our relationships with customers, especially those with longevity, are solid and rewarding.  Sometimes you need to make certain.

Your customer will feel privileged that you are asking, and will sense your sincerity.  It will create a bond that will help you when your other sales advantages, such as price or product superiority, disappear.

How to do it?

This is very easy, yet will come with some degree of surprise to many customers.  Why?  Because so few sales professionals ever ask the question.

I would suggest that this be done during an in-person meeting, one-on-one with the buyer for the first meeting.

Here is a simple suggested format:

• Ask the customer what attributes of a sales professional are most important to his/her operation.  This could be responsiveness, communications, credibility, or many other strengths.
• After getting them on paper, ask him to help you rank them in descending order (the most important attributes get a 1, and least important gets the highest number).
• Now, have him help you rank your performance against those attributes.  Use a simple A-Excellent, B-Good, C-Average, D-Below Average, F- Failing.  Rank each one, and if there are areas that you have not done, they can be incomplete.

The last bullet above will be the “moment of truth” as it will tell you what the customer perceives.  No matter how well you believe you are doing, this is important!  It is actually the point of origin of your continuous improvement program, or confirmation that you are a solid sales professional who should look to maintain your efforts along with some incremental improvement.

This does not need to be any more difficult than this.  You are opening a window or door to communication that will make more concrete your relationship with your customer.

The Manager’s Role in Customer Feedback

Managers should always feel comfort having this type of discussion with the customers of their sales professionals.  It won’t have the depth of the comments above, yet is should be designed to get meaningful input regarding the customers sentiments about the performance of their sales professional.

When I say it will not have the depth, I mean that it is difficult for the manager to get the level of feedback that the sales professional could get.  The manager’s role is to get some feedback regarding whether the professional is doing a good job and “taking care of the customer,”

With major customers, it should be expected, and it should be done with a sampling of smaller customers.  The result of asking is the same as above…you get ‘points’ for asking.  The objective is to make sure that the customer is being given good service.

Here is an example of how this can be done:

“Mr. Johnson, I am Rick’s sales manager here at ABC Corp.  I wanted to introduce (or reintroduce) myself and ask how everything is going in your relationship with our company?”  “How is Rick doing in taking care of your companies needs?”  Note here that this question must be an open probe.  It should result in conversation and not a yes or a no.

The responses start the conversation, and this should be a fairly short conversation.

Where Do You Go From Here?

I would make the following suggestions as to how you go about this activity:

• I would start with customers who you already have open communications with.  It will allow you to hone your process.
• I would do it with every customer that you feel is important.
• Always follow-up and practice continuous improvement.  Correct the issues and you will have a customer for life.
• Do it once a year on average.
• No matter how uncomfortable, or how much you modify, do it!  Initially, it will get you a better rapport with your important customers.

Give it a try and see the difference it makes in your business relationship.

We appreciate you comments.

This is an interesting topic, and that is why we would like to cover it here.  God has given us the gift of being different.  We come from so many backgrounds that it is difficult to point them all out.  There are as many variations in our culture as there are reasons to rejoice about it.

I am going to give a definition of your culture that is slightly shortened from Webster’s Online Dictionary (Definition of Culture):

The integrated pattern of human knowledge, belief, and behavior that depends upon the capacity for learning and transmitting knowledge to succeeding generations.  Additionally, the customary beliefs, social forms, and material traits of a racial, religious, or social groups.

In other words, that which is part of you because of your surroundings and your past including that which is learned and absorbed, and that which you will be passing on to others.

This is a broad interpretation.  I think you will agree that it is interesting that culture, in the form of one’s diverse background can actually be a lightening rod for criticism or even a reason for exclusion in the world of corporate employment.  Comfort, likeability, even preference is affected by one’s background, color, and certainly culture.  Now these are not synonymous at all, they just blend to make a concoction that many employers avoid drinking.

Decisions on hiring, promotion, and even things as simple as who gets referrals and redistributions are done on the basis of how you are perceived.  Is it always fair?  I am more than certain that it is not!

What Are You Suppressing?

It is always wise to be yourself while in the office or work environment, as it is easier that way.  But…the self you need to be is the one that not only got you hired, but the one that can sustain your employment.  I am not saying you should be a chameleon.  You need to know how to be you, the business professional during the hours that you are selling the services and products that provide your living.

The workplace is a vessel of many principles and traditions.  You don’t have to conform to all of them, yet need to know which ones are important enough to follow so that you don’t damage your chances of success.

Suppress your culture?  Suppress it only if your culture runs afoul of the principles and traditions of your customers and your employer, and then, you only need to suppress it at work.  Should you wear your culture on your sleeve while you are at work?  I think you will agree that the answer is a resounding NO!

Let’s be Practical

Here is a brief look at some of the situations that commonly occur just to give some practical perspective.

Promotion - Your interview for a promotion is much anticipated.  You are working, in a conservative industry (commercial banking), for a conservative bank.  What do they expect from you in terms of your delivery, your approach to customers, your educational background, and your appearance?

Job Interview – You are in search of a position fitting your years of experience and your success in the past.  You are known as a solid sales professional and you want to move up in position by taking a sales manager role.  In addition to all else, your results have indicated that you are the likely candidate.  What will get you hired in this coveted position?

Reduction in Force – You are a solid performer, yet you recognize that they are considering layoffs in your sales department.  You feel you are a key performer, yet realize that there are others who have done a good job as well.  Your numbers are solid, and your product and industry knowledge are exemplary.  How are they going to make that decision as to who stays and who goes?

In each of these examples, there are two common denominators.  One is the fact that you are competing against others.  The other is that you still have a customer who has expectations from a business standpoint.

In each of the above, you could have problems if you stray from being race neutral in your approach.  Also note that you still deal with the forces of the 3P’s, Perceptions, Preference and Prejudice. Cultural diversity can and will sensitize this.  Whether you are black, brown, tan, yellow, or white, you need to recognize that if you are race neutral in your professional manner, you have a better chance of professional success.

I don’t care whether you are white or brown, if your organization has a policy against dreadlocks, braids, and Mohawks, you may want to avoid fighting it, and consider a profession or employer who does not care.  Keep your individuality, and exercise it when you are on your own time.

If tattoos and piercings are part of your culture or appearance, you should consider a sales career where those things don’t matter.  Most sales careers are not the place to be too different as there is a customer out there who will make the decision on degree of difference.

There is no doubt that you need to be the image of the consummate professional in the customer’s eyes.

Is this selling out?

This is a good question.  What I am actually sa

ying is that you must play the professional role in this theater.  Be as different as you want during your off hours.  Your alternatives to conforming are self-employment and other careers.  You are not selling out by being the professional.

One Last Word

You can be an activist in the street, a militant about social issues, or a pacifist about conflict.  I am advocating that when it comes to professional sales, be the consummate professional (while at work) who is also an activist in the street, a militant about social issues, or a pacifist about conflict.

It can be done.  It is done in sports and in many other arenas.

Be the best!

Your comments are welcome.