Pay Attention to Existing Customers

I've been working with another vendor on a project for a mutual client. I need the other vendor to assist with a piece of telephony equipment they installed, and I can't do my portion of the project until they do theirs'. Well, it's been weeks and neither the client nor I can get the vendor to contact us to get things moving. Last week, the president of the vendor company was at a meeting I attended, and was talking about a recent big job he had completed...then I remembered.

Several years ago, the president and I spent many many hours together talking about business. I always admired his sales skills (I really like good sales types) and his mastery of the technology he represented. At that same meeting, he confessed to me he really enjoyed selling, but not so much the rest of his business. He was energized being in front of prospects, making the pitch, and closing the sale...then he loses interest. “I can't wait to get on to the next prospect,” he told me, “it's probably wrong, but I'm not interested in the delivery, installation and service.”

Apparently, his style has established the culture of his entire company; and I don't think he has even noticed what has happened. I've had several customers of his, large and small, tell me they can't get anyone to return phone calls, respond to emails, or even finish the installation! As a recovering salesman (and I was a good one), this is the kind of vendor I would target to appropriate every account on their books.

I was never interested in making one sale to a customer, I wanted a customer for life. I would make repeated calls on even with my smallest account because, well...you never know. I wanted long term relationships with my clients, not a quick sale...and it paid off. To this day, I continue to call my old clients on their birthdays even though I no longer am in the business. They were my livelihood, I became a trusted member of their team, and they became my friends. I cared, and still care, about their businesses and their success.

I'm going to call the president and have coffee with him. I hope he accepts my observation for the aid I mean it to be...if not, I'm going to have to re-evaluate my opinion of his business acumen.

Next time, we'll talk about the value of existing customers vs. new customers.