Getting Your Company and Your Customers on the Same Side

Focus on ways to get your teams and customers on the same page during each interaction.

Kyle Habben Leave a Comment
Getting Your Company and Your Customers on the Same Side

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In this ever-changing world, end users now rely on integrators to serve as an extension of their team and solve their toughest business challenges. 

It’s no longer about the technology you can offer; instead, customers want to know how you’ll partner with them to accomplish their goals. This shift in client expectations has pushed industry leaders to focus on ways to get their teams and customers on the same page during each interaction. These partnerships can be built in several ways. 

Developing a Customer-Centric Sales Process 

As the first point of contact, your sales team sets the stage for the future of the partnership. From prospecting through to a closed order, the sales process should be created to align with customer expectations. This process should include ways to find and engage with the right stakeholders, utilize key discovery questions to uncover your clients’ business challenges and priorities, and offer recommendations and solutions. 

Based on these recommendations and client interests, you can then initiate the design process. To assist in the design process, you should develop tools that serve as guidelines for your team as they interact with customer stakeholders.

Related: How to Use Customer Service as a Growth Strategy

Facility and technology questionnaires, checklists, assessments, site surveys, clear scopes of work, unambiguous definitions, responsibility delineations and available support options are all critical pieces of information that can be collected and delivered as part of the project packet. The packet will be delivered as part of the project handoff to the operations team once the project is sold and the partnership starts. 

Operational Alignment with Customer Expectations 

Operational alignment begins with having a structure in place that serves as a foundation for each customer interaction. This foundation allows you to develop processes that evaluate each internal and external customer touchpoint for successful execution. 

The structure also serves as an outline for technical and non-technical roles alike, empowering them to identify customer requirements properly across roles. Putting the right people in each of these roles is integral to keeping the client and your team headed in the same direction. 

Each customer should have an operations-based point person who serves as the communication liaison and organizational specialist. This person should assist in keeping everything on track and updating the rest of the team throughout the process. 

With a customer liaison in place — this could be one of many titles or roles — technical teams can focus on integrating and supporting the technologies on time, on budget and as specified to address customer technology needs and desired business outcomes. 

Client Support Throughout the Technology Lifecycle 

More and more clients are turning to integrators to establish a technology plan they can follow now and in the future. This plan could be in the form of a technology roadmap, budgeting and financing options, or continual service and support. 

It’s important for you, as an organization, to create a program that defines your offerings. Moreover, you should build a team dedicated to support, and you should document support procedures to meet the needs of your customers with every interaction. This dedicated team gives you additional customer-interaction opportunities to ensure technology systems and customer teams are up to date, trained and running efficiently. 

In order for these partnerships to evolve, it takes a concerted effort, excellent communication, and a willingness to change and adapt to clients’ needs. Focusing on the long game and trying to align people, processes and systems with the customer will be a work in progress that continues to pay dividends to your company and the clients you serve. 

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