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 does the following in the customers eyes:

• 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).  You really should be looking for the top 5 or less, as those are the most important.
• 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.  Write me at Michael.Parker@BlackSalesJournal.com.

As a Black professional in a white business world, you have plenty of chances to interact at work and socially, with coworkers and management.In many cases this interaction can either help create, or destroy, the persona that you want to project.

_______________________

The Three Unmentionables

No matter what your level of comfort with certain topics, I suggest you avoid discussing these three topics, even when prompted:

• Politics
• Religion
• Race relations

Politics can go nuclear at any moment. There’s a good possibility that just as your race may be different, your politics will vary widely also. This was obviously a big issue during the campaign of the first Black president.  Do not be baited to discuss politics with your co-workers unless you are prepared to have that same conversation with management.  Word about diverse views spreads quickly and without accuracy.  Your views are your own, and unless you have some other motive, they are best left that way. “Red state” versus “blue state” issues do not generate fodder for a conversation that you need to open a door to.

Religion discussions are a ticking time bomb. It is as personal as any subject could be, and it is dangerous for a workplace discussion, even if you are of like color with those you work with.  Sunday morning hours are the most segregated hours that American society can produce.  I would avoid discussions of religion for all the right reasons, so you know how I feel about this when you are of a different race and religion. Besides, it is frankly none of their business.

Race relations are undoubtedly the 800 pound gorilla in the room. No one believes his or her stance on race is an issue, until it butts up against another person’s stance. At that point the other persons stance is perceived to be the issue.  I think you get my drift.   By the time the discussion starts the relationships can be damaged. At the root of this is the 3P’s (Preference, Perceptions, and Prejudice), his/hers and yours.

I’m sure that I don’t have to dive to deep into any of these illustrations; many of you have lived this for years. Recognize that it is easier to stay above some of these dangerous conversations than to think you can change someone’s perspectives. Additionally it is easier to avoid these conversations than to try to repair the aftermath. Everyone you work with is not your friend so you have no obligations here. Besides, you have important sales to make.

Discussions about religion without empathy, tolerance, and an open mind will drag someone down an abyss. Discussions about politics are polarizing.  I respect everyone’s religious beliefs.  One’s politics are one’s own business. You just don’t need to put your business out there.

A Special Word on Discussions About Race Relations

Before I close on this topic, I do want to focus for a moment on the topic of race relations. This topic can be radioactive. There are friends that cannot have a gentle discussion on this topic.  With so much at stake, you cannot be assured that the discussion is sincere or an effort to pull you into the ‘rip-tide’ of controversy.  So with that in mind, leave that one for relatives and those people you have a close and sincere relationship with outside of work. Since it is impossible to ‘put toothpaste back in the tube’, this is an unmentionable.

We can strengthen the ill effects of the 3P’s with some of our actions. The impact of preference, perceptions, and prejudice can be made rock-hard when our stances are the opposite of those people who can have an effect on our employment future.

I certainly look forward to your comments. Please take a moment and share them with us.