We were approaching an important product launch that we hoped would address customer issues created by our current product. We had identified key customers who we needed to win before the launch in order for us to start with momentum. One of those customers was in Europe and their CEO had been very public about the negative experiences his company had had with our current product and our lack of support. It was necessary that we talk to him face to face so we got on a plane to see if we could rectify the situation.
The GM who managed the global relationship with this customer scheduled a 9:00am meeting. We arrived the night before, fine-tuned our agenda and showed up at the customer’s office at 8:45am the next day. At 9:45am the CEO still had not sent his assistant to escort us in. We had asked the receptionist three times if it would be better if we rescheduled, but she said no and that he would be available soon.
At 10:00am we decided to leave. We told the receptionist that we would reschedule and turned to walk out. We got half way across the lobby when she said, “He’s ready now.” We turned and one of his VPs was coming out of the elevator to take us up to the CEO’s conference room.
10 minutes elapsed before the CEO entered. We stood, shook hands and, as we sat, the CEO started a monologue about how bad we were and how much we had hurt his business. During his tirade he posed questions and, while we tried to engage, it was clear they were rhetorical. Even more clear was that he wanted to vent and to see us sweat. Given many of his observations were accurate, and given that we were in suits on a warm, humid day – he saw us sweat.
At around 10:30am the CEO paused and my co-worker said, “We clearly need to do better but there’s nothing we can do today to prove that we’ll be reliable going forward. All we can do is show you.” We got up, thanked him for his time, reached out to shake hands and he said, “But the past doesn’t mean we can’t work together in the future.” He asked us to sit down and we had a very productive conversation for the next hour.
To win lifelong customers we need to earn:
- VISABILITY – Being seen in the right way, by the right people, at the right time
- CREDABILITY – Having superior knowledge about your industry and that of your customer’s
- VIABILITY – Business that fits the needs and abilities of both the seller and customer
- CAPABILITY – Delivering on the personal reasons people make business decisions
- RELIABILITY – Being accountable when the unexpected happens
On that day we were good on all areas except for RELIABILITY. The CEO was very angry about our lack of support in past dealings. Our goal was to take the first step towards earning RELIABILITY with that CEO, and we did.
Many people think RELIABILITY is something you focus on only after you’ve won the business. In enterprise selling where our job is to earn lifelong customers, we must earn RELIABILITY before we can win any business. On that day, RELIABILITY was demonstrated by being on time, waiting, and listening, while he told us why we lost his business before and no matter the discomfort, we remained eager to engage. We gave him reason to believe that he could do business with us again.
RELIABILITY – Being there when the unexpected happens because it always will.
©2015 Rick Wong – The Five Abilities LLC
