Be Different or be dead

March 31, 2012

Why salespeople need to be accountable for fixing service mistakes

Source: Pexels

Why salespeople need to be accountable for fixing service mistakes.

Service recovery is a critical way to build customer loyalty

Service recovery = fix your blunder and surprise the customer with what they don’t expect.

Sales are in a critical position in the organization to influence the outcome of a customer screw-up yet they are rarely held accountable for it.

Service recovery is not a vital component of sales’ performance plans and as a result it is not reflected in their compensation plan for bonus pay.

To be successful in sales, recovery needs to be front and center in what they do.

Who is in a better position to initiate action when a customer has been disappointed? When the organization has broken a promise? When the solution provided doesn’t work to specifications? When the solution was not provided when it was promised?

Typically, if the salesperson has developed a trusted relationship with a customer they will get the call and will be expected to get things back in order. Yet in too many cases, the salesperson will pass this service complaint off to others in the organization whose role is to deal with after-sale matters.

Sales needs to take the lead in the service recovery process.

They are responsible to build meaningful relationships with customers and therefore must include actions taken when things go wrong.

The sales behavioural charter defines those behaviors that sales must continually demonstrate - service recovery must be part of it.

Cheers,
Roy
Check out my BE DiFFERENT or be dead Book Series

• Posted 3.31.12 at 10:39 am by Roy Osing
• Permalink