WORLD CLASS SALES ROUNDTABLE:

Ideas You Can Use

By Gerhard Gschwandtner
Publisher, Selling Power

IBM:  Improve customer satisfaction

IBM has a major department whose sole purpose is to monitor customer satisfaction. During the past five years, customer satisfaction has increased by 4 percent while the cost of sales and administration has decreased by 60 percent. All customers are surveyed annually through an independent organization. The surveys examine overall satisfaction and look at the transaction itself.

The results analyze the quality of the solution, the knowledge of the rep, the installation process and schedule, the technical support quality and the speed of service. The results are compared against IBM’s history and the competition. This feedback system ensures that the entire company continues on a path of ongoing improvement.

AT&T:  Recognize good performance and deal with poor performance

If an AT&T account executive fails to meet a mutually established skill or financial goal, he or she is given a warning and an opportunity to improve. If that improvement is not achieved, the executive is given 60 days to follow a new strategic plan under the guidance of the sales manager. The new plan is designed to give the salesperson every chance to work, providing the salesperson is willing and able to follow the plan. If the corrective action plan works, the employee continues; if the plan fails, the employee is outplaced.

As an alternative to following a new strategic plan, the salesperson can elect to seek another position during a specified period. Chances are that they will find a new position that matches their job skills. Once the decision between these two options is made, the employee has no choice but to improve or move.

Boise Cascade Office Products:  Database marketing paves the way to personal sales

All of the 950 sales reps of Boise Cascade Office Products are asked to put their top two prospects - the accounts they’d most like to win - on a special marketing database. Those prospects receive a mailing from Boise about once every six weeks. For instance, a recent mailing told them about the new Internet-based ordering system. A future mailing will introduce new software designed to help customers analyze their internal procurement costs. Some messages are designed to build goodwill, such as a copy of Zagat’s restaurant guide for the customer’s city. This simple direct mail program makes it easier for salespeople to get appointments with new prospects and capture new accounts.

GE’s field sales force uses a simple "find more, win more, keep more" approach to selling and servicing their accounts. Account managers are encouraged to find more prospects, create new customers and open new markets. Training programs provide them with the skills to win more business with new and existing customers. "Keep more" relates to managing the relationships within existing accounts. The key goal is to improve the profitability of every customer. To recognize achievement, GE created the Finder Award, the Winner Award and the Keeper Award. Throughout the year GE rewards those who have contributed to finding more customers, winning more customers and keeping more customers.

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Excerpted from Selling Power magazine,
January 1998

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