By Jack Speer, BizWatch Publisher

Many Businesses Survive Because of the “Whatever it Takes Attitude” for Corporate Customers

Bill Gardner, Director, AMD

Contracts for services and large corporate sales are the lifeblood for business survival. Large organizations rarely feel year-to-year loyalty to a vendor. The relationship is a one-day-at-a-time, what-have-you-done-for-me-lately relationship.

Those of you who work with corporate numbers know that losing just one large or even medium customer will make a major negative impact on a quarterly or annual profit report. It can often mean loss of market share and prestige, layoffs and downsizing. That’s why most of us who have large corporate and non-profit customers have the “do-whatever-it-takes” attitude.

Jordan Hunter, Vice President of Kinder Morgan, reflects the enlightened attitude of executives today when dealing with major clients. “Just today,” states Hunter, “we agreed to install a gas heater in Mexico to satisfy a major client. They are saying our product component is out of spec., but that is not the case. After we attempted to reason with them we decided to spend the money rather than to continue the fight.”

Cory Walton, Communications Executive at Emerson says, “Localized Emerson service has become one of our distinguishing, make-or-break assets in landing large sales contracts. Customers are willing to pay the little bit extra for Emerson Process products, not only for the extra quality, but also for the personalized response of local sales representatives, who often serve the after-sale function as trainers and trouble-shooters.” Competition is fierce for Emerson, and customer service is a competitive advantage.

AMD’s Customer Centric Innovation

Bill Gardner, AMD Director, tells us how AMD takes customer service to the next level. Its stated value proposition is “Customer Centric Innovation.” Customers should drive as many decisions as possible. If the customer only gets involved at the time of purchase, then the selling company is already disadvantaged. Imagine getting the customer involved in the visioning part of product development right on through the process with engineering. That’s what AMD, according to Gardner, is striving to do. I may make some purchases purely based on price, but if a company has essentially designed a product understanding my most basic needs and requirements, I’ll be willing to pay more because I will earn more in the long run.

Good Business to Business Service—Bad Consumer Customer Service

Interestingly enough, this corporate “can-do attitude” does not get down to the consumer level. “Just yesterday” states Hunter, “on my lunch hour, I went to Foley's to buy several pairs of slacks. I could not find a salesman to ask about alterations etc. This sale would have been $350-400, not a big deal, but a deal lost.”

Gardner states it this way, quoting Steven Brookfield: "If you want to learn how to be a better teacher, pay attention to yourself as a learner. I would offer that if you want to learn how to be a better salesperson pay attention to yourself as a customer."

“I personally am growing less tolerant of poor or slipshod service,” said Gardner, reflecting the mood of our readers, “and I am expressing my displeasure with my pocketbook. I would personally prefer when I buy high quality products that there is no service at all required after the fact. But given reality, if there has to be service after the sale, then it better be good. Otherwise they've lost a future sale.”