I preach it and you know it--no one has more customer trust than the service person who has done his job well. No one. Hence, it would be lousy management not to try and tap into this trust to influence customers to do things that are good for them (aka selling). I have lots of examples, and I bet you do also, that demonstrate that when a trusted services professional makes a recommendation (e.g., upgrade a contract, perform an assessment, take a serious look at some new software) often the customer just nods her head and does it--no bake-off with competitors, no haggling over price--providing value to the customer and sales to your organization, the easy way.

And, as this month’s article focused on the field service engineer’s role in selling points out, it can be relatively easy to tap into this potential. Explain to the services pro the benefit to the customer, provide some training, reinforce, and give incentives and recognition.

However, like so many good things, there is a potential downside--and this is something you must guard as you would the code to a nuclear missile launch. The split second a customer thinks that the friendly, there-to-help, he’s-on-my-side, no-hidden-agenda service guy starts to act “salesy,” internal sirens go off in the customer’s head like a five-alarm alert at the local fire station. “Has he crossed over into the dark side (sales)? What does he get out of this? How long has this been going on?

In minutes, that deep cauldron of trust built up over weeks or months or years is drained down to the size of a Chihuahua’s water bowl.

So the point is, yes, you should encourage and support, train and reinforce your frontline service personnel on the what and the why and the benefits of selling professionally. But as a manager, be heavy on the training but light on the compensation. Stop your people from crossing the chasm.

Tags: professional services, selling services

I get lots of questions from my consulting, speaking, and training engagements, and I thought I’d share some in my blog. If you like it let me know, and pose a services question that is on your mind.

QUESTION: I have some really great support account managers, but a few have a tendency to sometimes be too open. For example, a key customer asked one of my SAMs if he should upgrade systems. Our guy said to him: “No, you don’t need to yet, wait six months or so until the bugs are worked out.” The background is that the company’s highest profile salesperson had made that recommendation and was counting on the revenue to meet her quarterly quota. You can guess what happened…within minutes my phone started to buzz, and I spent a few hours being chewed out by the sales rep, her boss, her bosses’ boss, and finally the big boss. What can I do to get my guys to be better team players?

ANSWER: Oh, the downside of transparency. :’> Here are a few thoughts:

1. Grit your teeth and take the beating. Most importantly, you have to back your man (or woman) 100%. Yes, he possibly could have handled things more tactfully, but you know he was correct in what he said. It is no fun being abused, but better you than him. On the positive side, word gets out very quickly and your measure of a manager (and hence your respect) will be greatly enhanced when people know you support your people 100%.

2. Avoid this scenario in the future. Here are a couple options:

• Meet with sales leadership and politely let them know that the honesty of your people is the key to account trust, and if put in situations like the above, they will tell the truth. They live and breathe integrity and will respond transparently if put in this spot. Dialogue with the sales exec on ways to proactively address this situation. Get her opinion as to how to prevent this type of thing in the future. Get on the sales meeting agenda to talk about how SAMs can make Sales successful.
• This is a great topic for your SAM training. Talk with your SAMs and reinforce to them that integrity is vital and that you expect them to always be truthful. However, with that said, explain what happens when the situation above occurs. Discuss how they can tactfully, yet honestly, respond to customers in this type of scenario. Ask for ways to not have to deal with the above. Suggest they take the initiative and talk to their sellers about the best ways to work together.

Readers, if you have any additional thoughts, please share them.

Tags: managing technical talent

In my current Alexander Insights newsletter, I shared a format for making brilliant presentations to executives. In it I pointed out the need to share stories of customers or competitors to best make a point.

Here is a format to add intensity to your story. The format is called SODAR (Situation--Opportunity--Decision--Action--Result). Let me give you an example of what a services exec might say to illustrate a point in a top management meeting:

“Let me share with you a story showing the concern that many of our most important customers are having with the new system. Here was the situation: Billy Brown, a vice president from our largest customer, Big Time, called me personally. He was mad—saying that he was only getting one-half the output that our salespeople told him he would get.

While he unloaded his disappointment, I pulled up his information in the CRM system to get a better understanding. There I saw an opportunity to turn him from a naysayer into a loyal supporter of our organization at minimal cost to us.

Here is the decision I made: After acknowledging how he felt, I told him we would take full responsibility to make sure he gained maximum productivity on his system. I recommended that he apply his consulting credits to have a full assessment done and that I would personally make sure that one of our very best people did it. He agreed instantly and thanked me for taking ownership.

The action I took was to call Tom (head of professional services) immediately and ask for his help. Within three weeks the assessment was completed and the customer implemented our recommendations.

The results were an immediate bump in performance, but more importantly, a ticked-off customer is now a champion of ours. In fact, Billy has agreed to provide us with a testimonial.”

SODAR is a great format to use in storytelling--give it a try.

Tags: differentiation, selling services

The natural tendency of anyone brought up in the services industry is to say yes. Yes, to helping a customer with something “just a little” beyond scope. Yes, to meeting marketing’s seemingly endless requests for showcase account examples. And yes, to bailing out a salesperson who promised a ridiculous date on a client go-live. In fact, yes is often the first word that comes out of a services professional’s, services manager’s, or services leader’s mouth.

In many situations, it is the right thing to do--suck it up for the good of the client, your colleagues, and the company. A little extra effort on your part can do a lot of good. It is worth it.

Yet, there are some very negative aspects of saying yes too often. Based upon your agreeable past behavior, you set an unrealistic expectation with the people you deal with, as they assume you will always say yes to any request. So when the customer or the salesperson or the marketer comes to you with a truly outrageous request and you refuse, he looks at you with disbelief and mutters phrases such as “I wonder what has gotten in to him! or “she must be having a really bad day.”

Furthermore (and, of course, it was not your intent), you establish a perception that you are a pushover. This will never be stated, but most cultures (especially Western ones) don’t respect people who “don’t stand up for themselves” or who “lack backbone.” So your attempts at being a good team player backfire, and you are seen as being a weak manager.

So what is the answer? If you have fallen into the “pattern of yes” described above, you can’t just start saying no anytime you feel justified, or you’ll get the reaction described earlier--it is too abrupt a change. You have to earn the right to say no. You accomplish this by making a “just say no” personal strategy. Do your homework up front by defining appropriate boundaries of what you will do and what you will not do to make your services organization successful while supporting the overall business. Involve senior management in the process to gain agreement on how to handle all the special requests that you know from experience will occur, and get their commitment on how they will be handled. By involving other executives, and by having fair plans on what is acceptable and what is not, not only can you “do the right thing” for the business, you can build and maintain your own personal credibility.

Say yes when it counts, but just say no when it doesn’t.

Tags: professional development, managing

In the 10th commandment of selling services, “Continually Learn and Grow,” I talk a lot about management’s responsibility to expand the personal capabilities of their sellers. However, when it comes right down to the nitty gritty, the core essence, the prime directive for learning and growing requires individual ownership. Serious folks wanting to succeed welcome management’s help but don’t assume any assistance. They chart their own course and take full responsibility for success.

“So, Alex, where do I start?” you ask. That’s easy… research I’ve done shows that customers place a very high value on sellers and consultants who understand their business, their market, and their industry. They very much value the attribute of business acumen and will pay more to get it.

So if you want to stand out from your peers, get smart about business. If you take 20 minutes per day, five days per week, to study some aspect of business, you will be an expert in a few months.

Are you serious? If so, drop me a note, and I’ll send you some suggestions on how to get started.

Tags: training, differentiation, selling services, managing technical talent