This is an extract from Real World Selling, For Out of This World Results By Maura Schreier-Fleming

Chapter 1 - Your Customer

Customers Have Responsibilities, Too

Being a salesperson has a pretty obvious job description. Have you ever seen a job description of being a customer? There is none; but they have responsibilities, too. If they shirk their responsibilities, we lose our business. We can’t have that, yet how do you help your customer do his job? Here’s how to help your customer do his job so you can do yours.

What are your customers’ responsibilities?

A customer who buys a car has to make sure that the oil is changed periodically, that routine maintenance is done and that the car is operated in a safe manner. Our customers need to place orders reflecting lead time requirements, use products as recommended, and advise us when problems occur so we can fix them. It’s easy to see your responsibilities as a car owner; it’s difficult for customers to see their responsibilities.

Start talking

It is your job to initiate the discussion about customer responsibilities.This discussion is designed to be a dialogue in which you learn what your customer expects from you. You also need to define your expectations from your customer. When I was in the industrial lubricants business, I inherited a territory from a salesman who took very poor care of his customers. He ignored both his company’s as well as his customers’interests. This forced many customers to move up the chain of command to get their business handled. Once the contacts were made at a high level, it was easy for these customers to call my company’s headquarters whenever they had a complaint.When I assumed his territory, I didn’t want my customers calling headquarters when they had a problem. I wanted them to call me. During the first meetings with my customers, we discussed their expectations of me. I asked, “What can I do to help you sell more oil?” Establishing what they wanted gave me clear goals to meet. It also demonstrated to my customers that I shared their goals. I wanted to increase their business.Then I turned it around and talked about their responsibilities. I said, “I know that in the past, calling headquarters was your only option. But, I would prefer that when you have problems now, you first give me the opportunity to handle them. Then, of course, if my work is inadequate,please feel free to pursue your old contacts.

My customer seemed relieved to be dealing with known expectations and agreed to my proposal. Because of our agreement, I got the chance to earn my customer’s business. By first asking them to allow me to accept my responsibility to them, I was able to ask them to honor their responsibilities to me.I would love to think that my customers will call me when there are problems or if there is something I can be doing. That’s a bad assumption. I can make it easier for them to call me. By discussing both of our responsibilities in an open dialogue, you can learn what to do to ensure a solid working relationship. Your customers will also learn what they should do. We love our good customers. You can help more of them succeed at their job by writing their job description.

Selling Pointers