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Selling with operational excellence
The recession is ahead of our thinking about how to sell around it. Our first response is a tried and true strategy that is not right for all occasions. People will disagree with me, but so far we've seen a steady stream of one idea - staying close to the customer and attending to the customer experience.
There is nothing wrong with this customer-centricity and a lot to be admired. Attending to the customer experience is part of a customer intimacy strategy, and we should always stay close to our customers. But customer intimacy is not the only tool in the box. It should be one of many that we use, like a symphony conductor bringing in the strings and fading the percussion when the score demands it.
Customer intimacy is a great tool, especially when customers have cash and need to choose between alternatives. People buy from people, and they buy from the people they know. Today, customers don't have much cash; the credit markets have been shredded, and even worthy borrowers have a hard time getting the capital they need to do business.
The credit crunch affects us all because the economy is really one big cascade mechanism. My profits become your revenue in an unbroken chain that keeps people employed and products flying off the shelves. Absent credit and cash, the mechanism seizes up, and all the customer intimacy in the world isn't worth the proverbial bucket of warm spit.
What to do?
