Monday 12 May 2008

Step 5: Sell Internally Not Just Externally

In selling we have two sets of customers - those that are external, that buy our products and services and those who are internal, who help us to serve the customer to our best ability. Selling is a team game and your internal customer - the people who support the efforts that you bring to the market place - are as deserving of your attention as the external customer.

Take time to nurture the internal relationships that can determine the speed and quality of response that you provide to your customers. Not everyone is commercially aware of the importance of meeting customer needs and its the relationship built on a 'thank you' or a lunch spent with some of your support people in marketing, telesales, customer service, distribution, finance and so forth that can often be the critical lever when you just have to meet a particular client's needs and deadline.

Also these team members can provide valuable information on the client that you may not always get when you are customer -facing all the time. How good are they at paying, what comments are passed when they are dealing with them - information that can be vital to customer management.

So remember to sell internally as well as externally and if you are a business owner, we also need to remember that selling internally also improves the likelihood of improving retention and morale of good quality workers in the new digital age. Welcome to the r'evolution.

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