In some cases, our customers are facing flat or declining sales. On the other hand, sales are growing but the CEOs are looking for continuous improvement. In particular, they are interested in learning what changes needs to be made to systematically create “sticky” and more strategic relationships with their clients.
Systematization is essential to the success of the company. The lack of systematization leads to inconsistent performances. Inconsistent performance can destroy trust. If you live in an environment day in and day out, you can stop seeing what is around you. When we come into an organization to auditing, we examine all things that can impact the customer relationships and we can easily detect systemic errors that obstruct the sales growth and / or jeopardize trust in customer relationships.
The implementation of an effective system is essential to success, but it is insufficient. Systematization serve as a basis for growth. It is not the end of the game. If we builds a company for its customers, as customers change, the company must be willing to change. The key to this growth is not systematization but the adaptation. However, the adaptation should be based on customer insights. Customer insight will only come if you can get close enough to your customers.
You can only get close to your customers if you do not let them down. One of the questions we often ask “What does it take for someone to become your Trusted Advisor”? Among the answers we consistently get back is, “Be dependable. Prove to me that I can rely on you. Do not let me down.” The only way you can be sure not to let your customers down is if you have a system behind you that give a constant performance.
This is a good cycle. Systematization can build trust. Trust opens the door to the customer intimacy. The customer intimacy produce the customer insights. Insights lead to a meaningful adaptation. You can not have the meaningful adaptation without having the systematization first.