I am shocked at how often the people who are the most critical to the success of the organization have no clue how to answer either of these questions. Take steps to make sure this is not the case in your company.
Customer Indifference from Managers
Because your competitors are more motivated than ever to begin more aggressive attacks on your customer base, more attention than ever must be paid to how well your company is treating its customers.
Invite customers and prospects onto your turf. Organize customer educational seminars, open houses, training sessions, etc.
Failure to Quantify Service Claims
I have never met a salesperson who didn’t claim that his or her company provided outstanding service. Yet many companies so often fail to measure the service they are so proud of. As a result, customers are motivated to buy on price because price is the only claim they can quantify.
Organizations that measure their service levels and are able to express on-time delivery, the instance of back-orders, the accuracy of deliveries, customer satisfaction, etc. in measurable terms will be in the best position to convince customers of the oftentimes huge difference between cost and price. So I encourage you to put a number to your service claims.
Take these steps to keep your organization as threat-free as possible.