Do you see your job as a never-ending series of transactional relationships with customers? If so, your behavior with each customer falls short of creating memorable and enduring customer experiences. The types of customer experiences which retain customers.
Here’s why.
In today’s digitally-connected age of customized and personalized products and services, any type of transactional experience is easily replaced. By an App or an intelligent software interface. Which just may offer customers a far more consistent and efficient experience than you do.
Do you consider yourself the equivalent of an App or an intelligent interface? I didn’t think so, either. However, if you feel you are nothing more than an app in your employer’s workforce, well, you give your customers the same impression. As a result, customers do not respect the value you bring to their business tables. Because when you work transactionally, you do not create the customer experiences which build loyalty: to you, your brand and your company.
Are you under pressure to race through a series of transactional relationships to meet your employer’s KPIs?
There is more to meeting those KPIs than, well, just meeting your KPIs and making your numbers.
One company I used to work for held quarterly contests for their sales teams. The goal: sell X number of new accounts and win a monetary bonus. Now, let’s just say, the contest backfired. Because within one week of announcing this contest, one salesperson was so far ahead in making her numbers, that it was mind-blowing.
So, no one else bothered to “compete.” Next, sales velocity decreased across the country because no one else competed for the monetary bonus prize. Then, regional management took a look at the quality of accounts this rep was selling so successfully. And, that is when the proverbial “stuff” hit the fan.
You see, she did exactly what she was supposed to do: sell quantity. So, she sold to the type of new accounts who would quickly buy what she was most comfortable selling. She sold, exclusively, to the lowest of low-hanging fruit. Not only that. The average contract size: barely over $1,000. Yes, this rep outpaced everyone else in the sales force trying to win the prize. However, her new sales contracts had a high probability of non-renewal, the next year. Because she was focused on transacting business, not building business that would stick.
Transactional relationships fall short on creating the aggregated customer experiences which drive customer success.
Transacting business sells both you and your customers short. There is no emotional or experiential co-investment in one another. The type of investment that drives year-over-year renewal, for starters.
This week, take an inventory of your customers. Which customers perceive you as nothing more than an order-taker? Which ones see you as an innovator, and a necessary component of their growth strategy?
Connect your story to theirs. Transform the reason and purpose of “why” you work. Learn more here.
Planning your next team, corporate or association meeting? Searching for a one-on-one catalyst to get you unstuck? Engage me to present a One Millimeter Mindset ™ program! Delivered virtually or in-person. Contact me here.
I am an extroverted STEM professional and left-brain thinker specializing in professional innovation, cross-functional leadership and client retention. I catalyze professionals to translate across communication and collaboration disconnects. Become more professionally visible, cross-functionally relevant and strategically valuable to your organizations. Better serve each other first so you better serve your clients together. One millimeter at a time. My One Millimeter Mindset™ virtual and in-person speaking programs leverage Voice of the Customer design methodology and storytelling to move individuals, teams, departments and organizations one millimeter beyond yesterday’s tools and today’s professional comfort zones My playbook of cross-functional collaboration, Do YOU Mean Business? is available on Amazon.com. Contact me here.
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