Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1499197
22 PCB007 MAGAZINE I MAY 2023 this type of reasoning. I shudder with disgust when I hear a salesperson say that the only thing his customers care about is price and there is nothing that can be done about it. In your heart, you know that's not true. You really cannot figure out what else you can do? ere is no way for you to shake things up? No way to be so much bet- ter than anyone else? I disagree. In fact, I vehemently disagree. I disagree with extreme prejudice. While price matters, there is more to it. I want to share one solid idea to enamor your customers so much they will fight tooth and nail with their accounting department to pay extra for your services and products. ese are ways to get intimate with your customers and keep you at the top of their approved vendor list. Create a Co-company Partnership Create a peer-to-peer relationship between your team and their team. Ask permission to bring the members of your team to visit their facility where your team will learn not only their needs but what it takes to make their jobs easier and more productive. For example, have your shipping person visit with their receiv- ing person to find out how your product is received. Learning what your customer does with your product when it arrives will teach your shipping team how to better meet your customers' needs. Once your person sees how the product is received, he can ask the receiver how he can make his job easier and then imple- ment those ideas into his shipping process. e same can apply to all levels of both compa- nies: Engineers to engineers, quality to quality, accounting to accounting, sales to sales, and even sales to purchasing. Get everyone working together so that both companies are completely in sync and operat- ing as one cooperative and productive unit. Now, before you pull out the tired "50 rea- sons why this is a bad idea and won't work," keep in mind that this idea has worked in the past. Years ago, I was a regional sales manager and part of sev- eral programs that were based on this idea. Some of you might remem- ber the old Digital Equipment ship-to- stock program which was very similar to what I am proposing. In fact, I'm sure some of you are already involved in similar programs with your customers and can testify that this kind of thinking works. Great Customer Service Stories We all love wonderful customer service sto- ries. For example, how about that time a Nor- dstrom employee gave a customer a refund for the snow tires he returned even though the company doesn't sell tires? Or when a Saturn representative personally brought a new seat to a Saturn owner in Alaska whose passenger seat had broken? Or have you heard about the waitress who paid two firefighters' breakfast bill one morning, and instead of the check, she wrote them a note thanking them for all that they do? Again, we love those stories, especially when they have a kicker. Regarding the last story, the two firefighters found out that the waitress had a GoFundMe, trying to raise $17,000 for a wheelchair accessible van for her quadriplegic dad. ey shared her cause and helped raise more than $85,000. It's a heartwarming story that almost makes you tear up. ere are many more of these stories out there; things like this Get everyone working together so that both companies are completely in sync and operating as one cooperative and productive unit.