Question

All too often, I have seen senior managers stick their heads into the sand when, instead, they need to take their heads out of the sand and be redirected to where the roses are... and smell the darn things.

Where are the roses? At the customers.

I have often espoused in both undergraduate and graduate marketing courses that it is all about the customer. The concept of customer-centric companies is bannerized everywhere. Executives speak it, marketers ballyhoo it, and textbooks expound on it.

Yet, what's not always happening? Management loses focus and gets caught up in all of the "puzzle palace" tasks and challenges found within the company's four walls. Yet, it is going outside those four walls... or going slooooowly.

Yet, this is where the best roses are to be found. If a company is going to serve its customers, it should do everything in its power to understand what's important to those customers.

Put yourself in the position of an account representative who is calling on Johnson Controls, a company that utilizes your company's widgets to make some of its automobile products.   You have successfully convinced your VP of Business Development to join you at a meeting, one in which you will get to meet with several senior managers at Johnson Controls to discuss ways to enhance the relationship that your company has with Johnson Controls

Were you to "coach" a senior corporate manager who will accompany you on the sales call to meet with some of your customers at XYZ Company, what would you encourage this senior manager to ask and that would demonstrate your company's sensitivity to customer concerns, as they relate to new product development?

Answer 1

It is important for the senior corporate manager to know about the recent proceedings in terms of the deals, business volume, issues/escalations etc. concerning the particular partner before going to the meeting and he/she will/should be completely apprised about the same. If not already aware, he/she would have the required details through the available documents/reports, discussions with the respective project managers and sales managers handling the account etc. However, due to continuous interactions, the account representative may have additional information which should be duly communicated to the manager. Inputs like any concerns that are needed to be addressed, relevant risks and issues should also be conveyed. The account representative should/may also seek his guidance in order to address any particular concern.

That the senior manager has been present in the meeting will surely send a positive message to the partner team. While the account representative takes care of the tactical and transactional business matters (a PPT presentation with status updates helps in some cases), the senior manager may engage in productive result-oriented discussions including strategy, future plans, value creation etc. which will help strengthen the relationship with the client.