Principles of sales

and negotiation
Week 9, lecture

Dr. Nikola Drašković, college professor

Agenda

 Expanding customer relationships

 Assess customer satisfaction
 After sales service
Expanding customer relationships
Sales process overview
Ways to establish customer relationship

 Build goodwill: Convert new customers into lifetime customers by

continually adding value to the product
 Handle complaints in a timely and thoughtful manner
 Process requests for rush deliveries willingly
• Assure the customer that the salesperson will do everything possible to make
that request happen
Ways to establish customer relationship

The process of converting new

Building customers into lifetime customers by
Goodwill continually adding value to the
product.

Adding The process of improving a product

Value or service for the customer.
Ways to establish customer relationship
How to react?

 The delivery was late, although your company loaded goods on the
truck on time. Obviously, it is the carrier’s responsibility.
 Commercial terms: DAP (customer’s location)
 Your client is complaining. You received an email from your client in
which you were accused for the late delivery.
 How would you handle this issue?
What to do?

 You are a sales manager and you manage a sales team.

 On of your sales representatives is making weekly visits to one of your
C customers (ABC analysis)
 Although you know that this C customer appreciates visits from your
sales reps, this customer’s profitability is low, so you consider that as a
waste of time.
 What would you do (with the sales rep)?
Traditional versus relational sales process
Customer satisfaction

”Being on par in terms of price and quality only

gets you into the game. Service wins the game.”

— Tony Alessandra
Customer satisfaction

 Ensures customer trust

 Salespeople should:
• Perform post-sale follow-up activities
• Anticipate and adapt to changes in situations
• Regularly provide product information
• Gather customer satisfaction information through surveys, feedbacks, and social
media
Customer satisfaction

 Simply ask the customer for satisfaction feedback.

 Develop a plan for seeking customer satisfaction feedback.
Four sequential components
of effective follow-up
Maximize the number of critical Develop and maintain contact with
encounters with buyer and multiple influential individuals in the
encourage effective dialogue and buying organization.
involvement.

Coordinate and interpret

Apply relevant information and
understanding develop insight
and insight to regarding buyer’s
create value-added interactions with changing situation, needs, and
the buyer. expectations.
Salesforce automation tools

PC based
applications

Maximizer ACT!

Goldmine
Internet-based
applications

Salesforce Netsuite
Harnessing technology to enhance follow-up and buyer-
seller relationships
 Customer contact management tools are used in multiorganization
intranets and extranets
• Intranet: Organization’s computer network that offers password-controlled
access to people within and outside
• Extranet: Computer network created by an organization for use by its
customers or suppliers
• Linked to the organization’s internal systems, informational databases, and intranet
Intranet and extranet
Extranet – compatibility issues
Harnessing technology to enhance follow-up and buyer-
seller relationships
 Customer relationship management systems (CRM)
• Links buyers and sellers into a rich communication network
• Establishes and reinforces long-term, profitable relationships
• Helps salespeople to build and integrate multiple forms of customer
information
• Can be synced to social media to pull customer information
CRM structure
CRM example – Tondach
Relationship enhancement activities
Relationship enhancement activities

• Providing useful information

 Continue to develop and enhance the relationship after the sale by
providing useful information.
Relationship enhancement activities

• Expediting orders and monitoring installation

 Track the order
 Keep the customer informed
 Demonstrate concern
 Supervise installation
 Ensure satisfaction with installation
Relationship enhancement activities

• Training customer personnel

 Ensure customer has access to appropriate training
 Serve as a training facilitator
 Ensure satisfaction with training
Ethical dilemma
Customer complaints

 Complaints will never be completely eliminated by any company, but

they must be addressed and resolved.
 Companies usually have special departments to deal with customer
complaints.
Typical customer complaints
Customer complaints

Main categories of product quality complaints:

 Visual defects (e.g. scratches on the battery housing)
 Functional defects (e.g. battery capacity below specs)
 Critical defects (e.g. exploding batteries)
General procedures for handling complaints

 Build the relationship to the point you customers are comfortable

complaining
 Listen carefully and get the whole story
 Ask the customer what s/he would like you to do
 Gain agreement on a solution
 Take action — educate the customer
 Follow through on all promises — add value
How to react?

 You are a sales manager.

 You just receive an email from your key account. Apparently, your
company delivered wrong article. Deliveries are managed by the back-
office sales staff.
 To solve the problem, you delivered the right article. Additionally, you
collected the wrongly delivered article at the company’s expense.
 What would you to ensure this is not going to happen again?
Other ways to add value

 Maintain open, two-way communication

 Expand collaborative involvement
 Work to add value and enhance mutual opportunities
 Provide quality customer service
 Look for ways to exceed expectations
Collaborative involvement

Customer co-creation
 Process in which the buyer’s organization and the salesperson’s
organization combine to improve an offering
• Customers can provide insight on how products can be improved
• Companies can hold training sessions, seminars, and social engagement
workshops for its customers
Customer expectations of salespeople
Adding Value and Enhancing Mutual Opportunities for the
Customer

• Providing quality customer service

• Meeting customer expectations
• Developing a service strategy
• Concentrating on the dimensions of customer service
Developing service strategy

• Service Strategy:
A plan in which a salesperson identifies his or her business and
customers, what the customers want, and what is important to them.
Developing service strategy
Customer service dimensions

Service
Communication
motivation

Customer Service
Two-way flow of information
between salesperson and
Dimensions Desire of a salesperson to
serve customers each day
customer

Resilience

Salesperson’s ability to withstand customer’s verbal

assault and get right back up with a smile and ask for
more
Thank you for your attention!