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Companies today, must involve lots of people in the process of serving a client, and clients understand that. But, we need to never lose sight that the ORIGINAL contact, the salesperson, the person who convinced the client to buy the product/service … the person who created rapport, confidence and trust with the client … should NEVER drop out of the process.
Even though we have to “PASS THE BATON” from one person to another to service a client, I feel it is critical for the original salesperson to “STAY IN TOUCH” … letting the client know they are on top of EVERYTHING, seeing that EVERYTHING is going to happen as PROMISED.
I heard a senior executive complain how the salesperson dropped totally out of the process once he had made the decision to make the purchase. He said, “At the beginning, I was very impressed with the salesperson. They were on top of everything, great questions, research, sending recommendations in accordance to what we were looking for and he was the only person I dealt with; I thought this guy had it ‘going on.’ THEN, once I made the decision, I was passed around to several different people and never heard from the salesperson again. I have not spoken to him once since the decision was made and the contract signed.”
He went on to say that he had spoken to lots of other “different” administrative people and service techs at the company, but the salesperson became a ghost. His last statement was very telling. He said, “I went from being treated as someone very important to … nothing. The salesperson was on to the NEXT client. I guess I will only become important again when he tries to get me to reorder … which, by the way, won’t be happening.”
Being ushered from person to person and never hearing from the salesperson again is NOT GOOD! As I said at the beginning, I feel it is critical for the original salesperson to “STAY IN TOUCH;” letting the client know they are on top of EVERYTHING, seeing that EVERYTHING is going to happen as PROMISED. It’s just one more way to impress the client, reinforcing how important the client is to your company, and helping to make them want to do business with you again. It also helps to ensure the baton was not dropped along the way, which could possibly kill the chance of any future business.
It doesn’t take long to check in on things, make a few phone calls and send a few emails, letting the client know you are staying involved. Top salespeople know they will need to “pass the baton,” but they are still responsible to see that team crosses the finish line, on time, and EVERYONE is happy.