Sales Truths : Company Policy is Typically Written in Terms of The Company, Not the Customer.

BY DAVID RICHARDSON

Published in the April 2014 issue.

WHY IT IS TRUE: Company policies typically tell you what you can’t do for the customer — not what you can do. Company policy and customer service are oxymorons, (direct opposites). Customers never want to hear the word “policy.” The customer doesn’t care about your policy; they want to know what you can do for them.

PLAN OF ACTION:Review your policy with your sales and management team. Address the things you can’t do, and ask why. Now begin to rewrite some of the parts that focus on what you can’t do, and change them to what you can do. Begin with the phrase “in order to be fair to everyone…” and then conduct a serious discussion. Listen to everyone, even the new part-timer. Dismiss nothing without serious discussion. Don’t quit until you have a “customer policy” that is fair and one that works. — DAVE RICHARDSON