SHAKE HANDS WITH THE CUSTOMER

It takes all kinds to make a business work, many skillsets. Diversity rules.

But customer engagement is one skill that we should all polish.

I was terrified the first time I met a customer. I let my colleague lead the meeting, kept my mouth shut most of the time for fear of saying the wrong thing. Fortunately, that was very early in my career. After a couple more meetings, it felt good. Not long after, you couldn’t keep me away from the customers.

It’s been my pleasure to lead many teams since then. I’ve worked with great sales people, customer support experts, lots of developer and IT stars, product managers, consultants, and service technicians. Warehouse professionals, insurance brokers and bankers. Even accountants.

Since those early sales meetings, I’ve been committed to introducing every member of my teams to the customer.

Naturally, this is inherent in sales, service and support roles. But all too often, the “backroom” staff don’t leave the back room. The stereotype suggests that ‘technical people’ are uncomfortable with customers. Don’t believe it. I’ve known many colleagues who have crossed this bridge and never looked back. Besides, since when was being outside our comfort zone a bad thing?

For people who build things–like developers, QA, and IT–invaluable insights are gained from sitting with a customer, or by hearing frustrations and solving problems over the phone in the support centre. Helping to sell exposes us all to customer objections.

These folks stand to benefit the most from walking a mile in the customer’s shoes. Understanding how their work is being put to use, where it’s working and where it isn’t.

Because when they go back to their desks, they’ll be able to solve those customer problems that much better. They will build better things.

YOUR PEOPLE ON THE FRONT LINE

Write back and tell me about the last time you put your developers in front of a customer, or rotated new tech hires through your support centre. Give me a specific example and tell me what you learned from the practice.

If you’re having trouble coming up with an example, it’s likely you’re not shaking the customer’s hand nearly enough–and that’s hurting your business.

Send me your answer at graham@primeFusion.ca and I’ll provide prompt feedback.

… and if you missed these related articles, go back and take another look:

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