Service / Counselling / Matters of Trust
High-end services are a matter of trust. Especially if we are talking a service that is not a “commodity”. Then, trust is all. But trust is something that develops step by step, it takes its time.
When all is said and done, the only persons who can build up trust are those who deliver. They have to do the right thing. If they do a job well for the customer, then there will be some kind of word-of-mouth marketing. The circle of those who trust you will increase and additional “trust-based” turnover will develop. This is how you get constant growth, which, however, usually will not be exorbitant.
In our growth-oriented world, this process is too slow for many enterprises. They have high expectations, the growth must be sped up by all means. This is why enterprises, again and again, try to sell even high-end services “through professional promotion”, building up their own sales and distribution machinery.
Mostly, this will not work. Why?
You will hardly ever have sales persons who have a) the emotional conviction and passion for the service product , b) the technological competence and c) the very special feeling for what the customer actually needs to the degree the experts who do the job in-loco have these qualities.
And if they fail, they will always be able to explain their sales failure away easily. After all, they had to fail! In order to be successful, they would have needed a clearly defined product with a precisely describable added value.
Except – is it possible at all for a service which is totally tailor-made and offering support, on top of completely taking into account the customers’ needs, to be such a simple product?
I see the entire question as an encouragement for the honest owner of a medium-sized enterprise. It is one more reason for the “small ones” to have a chance against the “big ones”. Because in a concern, the first thing that matters will – for structural reasons – never .be the customers’ interest. Instead, they will always focus on optimization of their own goals and processes. And, of course, the sales department has to sell what is in accordance with the goals of the enterprise, rather than what is best for the customer.
And consequently, I know a number of enterprises that tried to achieve quick growth through the employment of a sales person. With beautiful regularity, the end result was “a waste of time and effort”, along with the expensive lease of a sales limousine that is still sitting in the driveway.
RMD
(Translated by EG)
P.S.
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