I believe there is a case for not getting in your own way. I find people who are solving a problem that was previously a big problem for them do sometimes get in their own way. It’s almost as if it fuels their passion – but they aren’t yet detached enough to be objective.
How do you protect and grow an account when the customer is dissatisfied for good reason?
It happens. Buggy software. Late delivery. Escalations. Sometimes we disappoint customers. It happens. But then how do you protect and grow the account in these situations? How do you start a turn-around? There are strategies that can help.
Taking your advice is your customer’s decision not yours
You need to respect your customers decisions, even when/if you don’t agree with them. There is no such thing as one true path – and only fanatics think their way is the only way. Most importantly, part of being a confident professional is that you have the capability to work within this type of framework.
The prospective customers that potentially need us the most are often the ones that understand that the least
If customers already knew the full value of what we offer, they may be getting it from somewhere else or already have solved the problem for themselves. So often, the ones that need our help the most are the ones that see our value the least.
In a customer-first culture customer-facing teams are servant leaders
Servant Leadership is often used to describe how people lead internal teams. Leadership that inspires, enables and encourages success. That focuses on removing obstacles. That promotes collaboration. Providing people with what need to be successful and achieve their best outcomes.
Only the people who love us tell us when there’s food on our faces
Outside of your circle of long standing customers it can sometimes be really hard to get solid actionable feedback that can help improve our businesses. Yet, one of the best ways to get quick wins in business is to be able to quickly and proactively respond to constructive feedback before it turns into an escalation that also needs damage repair. It’s also important to not fall into the trap of only listening to the squeaky wheel.
