Forget Customer Service – Think Relationship Management

“Wisdom is the integration of thought and analysis based on accumulated
experience.” Elkhonon Goldberg “The Wisdom Paradox”
Improvement starts with acceptance that a business doesn’t have to be
sick in order to get better.
Some years ago the CEO of a 3rd generation manufacturing company asked
that I conduct an evaluation of his credit operation. The company was
expanding into Europe and with the expansion came greater demands on
the ability to extend credit and cash flow. Following breakfast at my hotel
the CEO and I drove out to the factory and administrative offices. On the
drive out the CEO continued the story he’d started over breakfast. His
grandfather and father had built the business and now he and his brother,
who was the VP of sales, were trying to take the company to the next
level in growth.
We parked in the back of the building and as we walked through the
production area on the way to the administrative offices, we must have
passed by at least 20 production people…and there was silence. Not one
of the employees we encountered said good morning, hello boss or even
nodded…and neither did the CEO.
We met with the CFO, the Credit Manager, the Customer Service
Manager, and the A/R and A/P Managers…all women. The brother?,
he’d stuck his head into the room and then disappeared.
I’d ask a question of the group and as one of the women would start to
answer the CEO would butt in…soon the women shut up and the only
voices heard were mine and the CEO’s. After I broke up the meeting I
went to each member of the group individually to ask my questions.
On the way to the airport the CEO and I stopped for lunch and he wanted
to know what I thought needed to be done. I told him that his people were
approaching credit and A/R management in an old an out of date risk
management way…like many other companies. I told him that I had an
associate who in a week’s time could train his staff on our “profit ”
approach and that he could help organize and document the knowledge
needed to ensure proper implementation.
The company president asked why I wouldn’t be doing the training, and I
said to him, “I don’t like you.”
The man was shocked. “Why don’t you like me?”, he asked. I was hoping
he’d ask and I said to him, “All the production people we passed were
brown or black and you didn’t greet any of them and on their part they
looked away from us. All the people in the front office are white and every
time one of the women in our meeting tried to say something you cut them
off as if what they had to say was of no value.” I went on, “I don’t have to
look at any numbers to know that you have a high absentee and turn over
rate. Morale is bad because the employees don’t like you and that leads to
poor productivity and poor work quality. If you want to expand to Europe
you better know that those folks expect quality.”
All was quiet for a few minutes and I wasn’t sure if I was going to have to
catch a taxi to the airport, and then he said, “You’re right , we keep retraining
new people and we’ve had a big problem with quality and with employees
stealing from us. My father and grandfather were loved by the employees
and they would do anything for them but neither my brother nor I seem to
have that ability.” We drove to the airport in silence.
In my follow up report I suggested to the CEO that he and his brother find
themselves a GM (general manager) who liked people and wanted to be
liked in return. To his credit they found such a person and things got better,
he also had my associate out for the week.
The Point
Great Customer Service starts with great Employee Relationship Management.
It Will Make You or Break You
Marvin Minsky in his book , “Society of Mind” says that the human mind is
made up of thousands of learned agents/programs none of which on their own
define the mind, but collectively they make up the mind. Every business and
organization , including government, is a collection of people and none on their
own, including the CEO, define the organization but collectively they are the
company/organization.

Three Areas of Relationship Management
1. Employees. The highest priority is good relations with employees
because if they are unhappy your customers better look out. An
old friend once said to me, “If mama ain’t happy no one’s happy.”
2. Vendors/Suppliers. Vendors are critical to your success and if you
disrespect and abuse them they’ll get even, and the word (buzz) will
get out on your company and then others will demand a higher price
to work with you,… if they‘ll work with you at all.
3. Customers. You might be able to get away with abusing consumers
because so many businesses do, because they have short memories
and because there’s a lot of them and more on the way. Business/
commercial customers are fewer in number and they have generational
memory. Get on the wrong side of a business customer and you find
that long after the reason is forgotten the bad taste lingers on.
In Closing
In human society all real meaningful change comes from the masses.
Institutions fight change even if it’s an improvement. James Russell Lowell
wrote, “He who is firmly seated in authority soon learns to think security
(their own) and not progress.”
In a business change must come from the management team. Business
managers need to take time to seek out improvement or they’ll get lost in
the day to day details.
It’s up to the top managers to be leaders and set the example of what great
relationship management looks like, sounds like and feels like…and if they
can’t do it they need to get help.
Abe WalkingBear Sanchez is an International Speaker / Trainer / Consultant on the subject of cash flow / sales enhancement and business knowledge organization and use. Founder and President of www.armg-usa.com, WalkingBear has authored hundreds of business articles, has worked with numerous companies in a wide range of industries since 1982 and has spoken at many venues including the Shakespeare Globe Theater in London.