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Bob Zagami is the National Sales Director, Engineering InformationSolutions for Image-Max; a single-source, national provider of document management solutions. He studies the RV industry as a hobby and has owned trailers and motorhomes. You can reach Bob at 978-461-2143 or via e-mail (zagami@tiac.net).
Pick up any sales related magazine, business journal or seminar brochure from any sales and marketing company and you are almost guaranteed to see something about CRM. This catchy acronym stands for Customer Relationship Marketing, the process of finding and keeping customers forever.
Isn't that what we all try to do?
Don't get me wrong, I'm a strong advocate of sales training and a continuing education program in any sales related environment. Professional selling skills can always be improved upon. Rookies can learn from veterans, veterans can learn from rookies, and we should never become satisfied with our level of expertise or complacent to the point of being ineffective.
I've been reading a lot about CRM lately to see what others are saying and try to understand the message they are trying to deliver to those of us who serve customers everyday.
One of the things that is frustrating to me is the notion that this is some great new idea that we have never been exposed to, never learned in business, and never considered as part of the selling process. That's simply not true.
One does not have to go far these days to witness mediocrity in many selling situations, and I'm not just talking about the RV industry . . . it plagues every industry and doesn't distinguish between products or services.
Are we that bad that people can make a great living telling us what we should already know?
However, and I'll be the first one to admit it, this is a hot topic. It is generating a lot of interest in the business world. People are reading magazine articles, buying books and attending seminars on the subject. Therefore, we must conclude that part of the problem with poor customer service, inept sales people, failed products, and an overall frustration with any sales and marketing environment is indeed directly related to a generation or two that simply never learned how to sell and market in the first place.
How else can you explain this phenomenon that has swept into every sales department like a tornado destined to turn sales and marketing upside down.
I've just finished reading an excellent book on this subject: Relationship Marketing - New strategies, techniques and technologies to win the customers you want and keep them forever. The book is published by John Wiley & Sons Canada, Ltd. and written by Ian Gordon, a management consultant with over twenty years of marketing and strategy experience.
Gordon defines Relationship Marketing as the ongoing process of identifying and creating new value with individual customers and then sharing the benefits from this over a lifetime of association.
This is an excellent definition, but not earth shattering news to a sales and marketing professional. This message was first taught to me when I worked afternoons and Saturdays in a paint and wallpaper store while going to high school. I didn't forget the message, and I didn't forget the teacher: Arthur Tapper.
Every customer was an individual with different wants and needs. Every customer contributed something to my paycheck and you would treat every customer as a king/queen and make sure that they came back to our store when they needed paint and wallpaper.
When did we stop teaching these principles? I do believe some people stopped teaching along the way because we have an awful lot of sales people, and the companies they work for, who never learned the value of a relationship in the selling process.
The "relationship" is everything . . . it should be the primary reason we pull ourselves out of bed everyday to meet the next challenge and start the process all over again with a new prospect.
Let's look further into Gordon's definitions and see if it doesn't make sense to you. As you review these points, ask yourself how you should be changing the attitudes and skills of the people you are entrusting the very survival of your business to.
The italicized words are Gordon's definitions and the standard indented text is my comments.
Relationship Marketing:
Seeks to create new value for customers and then share the value so created between producer and consumer.
If we can't show new value, then why should they do business with us in the first place? Keep in mind, this isn't just for dealers and their sales people. The customer of the manufacturer is the dealer. We should not have two sets of rules in this industry . . . manufacturers should sell to dealers the same way they expect the dealer to sell to the consumer. Manufacturers should treat their dealers the same way they expect their dealers to treat their customers. Manufacturers should handle complaints and warranty problems the same way they expect their dealers to handle complaints and warranty problems.
Recognizes the key role individual customers have not only as purchasers, but in defining the value they want.
We have all seen companies that created a product in a vacuum and then couldn't understand why nobody purchased it. We have often written about focus groups and customer feedback . . . that's what Gordon is talking about here. Involve the customer in the process. Create new products and services with customers, not for them.
Requires that a company, as a consequence of its business strategy and customer focus, design and align its business processes, communications, technology and people in support of the value individual customers want.
I think an excellent example of this statement is the success of slide-outs in all types of RVs and diesel pushers. There was communication between consumer and manufacturer and between manufacturer and dealer. The industry listened to what the customer wanted, not the design engineer in the back room. Now there is nothing wrong with the design engineer in the back room . . . but what he/she works on should be what the customer wants, not the CEO. Don't forget . . . the dealer's customer is the consumer . . . the manufacturer's customer is the dealer. The rules should be the same for both.
Is a continuously cooperative effort between buyer and seller. As such, it operates in real time.
That's where the relationship comes in . . . a relationship built on trust and confidence by both parties. They communicate. They listen. They want to do what is right for the customer so that he/she will want to come back . . . again and again, over a lifetime.
Recognizes the value of customers over their purchasing lifetimes, rather than as individual customers or organizations that must be resold on each purchasing occasion.
This is what a lot of sales and marketing people are missing today. Again, this was taught to us early in our selling careers . . . you built a relationship with a customer, you didn't just sell them something. This was drilled into me at the paint and wallpaper store and it has been the foundation of my selling process for over thirty years. My best customers don't have to be resold . . . they buy because of a relationship they value because it values them. We've got to get back to basics. This isn't a new strategy. This isn't a new way of thinking. It's plain old-fashioned selling the way it was done years ago.
The sad thing is that we have to teach it all over again.
Seeks to build a chain of relationships within the organization to create the value customers want, and between the organization and its main stakeholders, including suppliers, distribution channel intermediates and shareholders.
The rules apply to every link in the chain. From suppliers to manufacturers, manufacturers to dealers, and dealers to customers.
Let me close with two real world examples of what the author is talking about. I recently decided it was time for a new trailer. My first challenge was to select the trailer I wanted based on the amount of money I wanted to spend and the way that my family uses the RV. Having done that, and having made my selection of the manufacturer and model that I wanted, it was time to find the dealer that I wanted to do business with. Every dealer in our area that sold this particular model was professional and ran a good dealership. The decision came down to the relationship I had with each dealership. One dealer stood out above the others. This particular dealer first introduced me to the RV lifestyle about 25 years ago, but never sold me an RV. At that time, and a few other times, I had selected products that he did not sell.
Many dealers would write off this type of prospect. He didn't. Instead, he continued to develop the relationship through my visits to his lot, and discussions at trade shows, as I began writing for RV News. He was doing exactly what Gordon writes about . . . and did it long before Gordon wrote about it . . . he was building a relationship that would someday benefit me and him.
From our first meeting, and the loss of that first sale because he did not sell the motorhome I wanted to buy, he built a relationship. I told him 25 years ago that when I decide to buy a product that he sells, he would have my business.
Would you be willing to wait 25 years for a sale? If not, why not?
I recently visited with the dealer principal who had built this relationship, told him what I wanted to buy, and he priced out the unit. I didn't play money games with the other dealers, I didn't try to nickel and dime him to squeeze all the profit out of the deal, I didn't ask for any special favors . . . I simply wanted to reward him for the relationship. He earned my business. He provided me a very fair price for an excellent product.
Could I have paid less somewhere else . . . you bet. The point here is that he didn't have to play the game because he had the relationship. There was mutual trust and benefit on both sides of the table. I get the product I want, and he gets the opportunity to keep me as a customer for life.
Isn't that what we should be doing every day?
How many customers do you have?
How many relationships do you have?
Having purchased a new trailer, I then decided to get a new tow vehicle. Off to my dealer who I've written about before. Another "relationship" that has been built over time. It took exactly fifteen minutes to buy the new truck. I told the sales rep what I wanted to buy, we went down the list of options, the owner priced the deal based on our "relationship" and the number of cars I have purchased, and I told him to order it. No haggling, no squeezing, and no complaining. It was a very fair price that rewarded me for my continued business and rewarded the dealer with customer loyalty. We both win.
The lesson is clear, and it's not new. Build a relationship, don't just make a sale. If you are not building relationships then you may have missed this lesson somewhere along the way. If you did miss it, then I would strongly recommend this book so you won't miss it again.
Anybody can make a sale - only a professional can build a relationship that will be rewarding for the buyer and the seller, for the dealer and the consumer and for the manufacturer and the dealer.
Good luck and good selling.
RVN
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