Another red flag is an executive team that doesn’t believe time spent with customers is important. “To what degree are the executives spending time in front of customers?” asks Jones.
“Imagine the message it sends either way,” he says. “If executives are spending time talking to customers, it sends a big message to the rest of the organization.” That message is that they deem it important to spend considerable amount of time with customers. Conversely, when executives don’t find the time to spend with key customers, it sends a message to the team that it is less of a priority.
Warning Sign #4: Bureaucracy
A warning sign that customer focus is on the wane is a lengthy, complex resolution process. A process encumbered with red tape indicates that a company is drifting farther away from keeping clients at the center of operations. Every customer is bound to have a complaint or an issue at one point with the sales organization. But how the company resolves those issues can differentiate them from competitors.
“Is the front line empowered to solve those problems, make those decisions?” asks Jones. In some companies, complaints or issues that surface get forwarded to the internal hierarchy. The concern is more on the procedures rather than swift action. Enabling the front lines to take a certain amount of control emphasizes throughout the organization that the resolution is a higher priority than the hierarchy.
Warning Sign #5: No Customer Feedback
“Feedback mechanisms from customers are vital,” says Jones. He stresses that both formal and informal means of capturing feedback is necessary so that there is a rich stream of information from the customer back to the organization around how you’re performing as a supplier or partner.
“The best organizations have really good discipline around that,” says Jones. “Many have customer feedback and advisory boards, host customer events and invest in projects oriented toward products and marketing.”
Oftentimes, there are multiple methods for focusing on the customer already existing in an organization’s makeup. Product experts, contacts with industry or market expertise, service line experts – all are in a position to solicit feedback that illuminates needs customers may have and provide value back to them. As Jones observes, a lot of companies are trying to leverage these channels without making it complicated to the customer.
This reverts back to Jones’ assertion that being in a vacuum is dangerous for sales organizations. “If you’re not validating ideas and decisions with customers and getting feedback, then you’re potentially developing solutions that people don’t need or won’t buy. For example, how would marketing know what messages are going to resonate unless there is feedback
from customers on how they like to access information and what information will strike a chord?” Discipline around implementing and maintaining customer feedback channels is key, says Jones.
Staying On Alert
A big part of staying aligned with the customer is ensuring measurements are in place that keep sales representatives, and any contacts that interact with customers, accountable. Jones suggests exploring whether the company is being measured on retention, customer satisfaction, or customer loyalty scores and whether compensation is, or can be, tied to them. Having accountability for such critical measurements can help companies maintain discipline in pursuing the right activities that enable close customer contact.
Preventative measures to keep the organization healthy are worth the investment of time and effort, just as any mechanic would recommend for a vehicle – before the “check engine” light comes on. The organization that watches for warning signs that tell when it has strayed from its customer-focus will be in prime position to readjust and ensure its longevity and health.
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